Texas Border Business
AUSTIN, Texas – Governor Greg Abbott announced that his Public Safety Office (PSO) will administer over $528 million in grant funding for a variety of public safety programs and services in Texas, including victims services, anti-human trafficking efforts, border security, and law enforcement support. This grant funding is made possible through a combination of federal and state dollars.
“The State of Texas continues to prioritize the safety of all Texans through programs and services that safeguard our communities,” said Governor Abbott. “With this crucial grant funding, we will further bolster organizations and agencies in their work to prevent human trafficking, secure our border, and bring justice to crime victims, among other critical public safety initiatives. Working together, we will create an even safer Texas of tomorrow.”
The grants recently released include, but are not limited to, funding for the following:
- Body-Worn Cameras: 65 awards totaling $4.8 million to equip peace officers with body-worn camera systems to document investigative activities.
- Border Prosecution Unit: 19 awards totaling $29.2 million to provide prosecution resources for district and county attorneys along the Texas-Mexico border and for counties that are significantly affected by border crime.
- Bullet Resistant Vests: 134 awards totaling $14.2 million to provide peace officers with rifle-resistant body armor to prevent loss of life during tactical and emergency response operations.
- Crime Stoppers Assistance: 39 awards totaling $345,000 to strategically support, expand, and fund local certified Texas Crime Stoppers organizations that help protect Texas communities.
- District Attorney Forensic Evidence Testing: Eight awards totaling $699,000 to reimburse district attorney offices for costs associated with the forensic analysis of physical evidence.
- Homeland Security: 383 awards totaling $62 million to help prevent terrorism and prepare for the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk to the security of Texas and its citizens. These projects fund equipment, planning, training, exercises, and other activities for local, regional, and state-level agencies and strengthen core capabilities outlined in the National Preparedness Goal.
- Human Trafficking: 55 awards totaling $25.6 million for short- and long-term residential services, advocacy, and case management for survivors of human trafficking in Texas, as well as innovative projects that prevent, investigate, and prosecute the commercial sexual exploitation of people in Texas.
- Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforces: Three awards totaling $958,000 for projects that develop an effective response to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and internet crimes against children that encompasses forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance, victim services, and community education.
- Justice Assistance: 233 awards totaling $16.1 million to promote public safety, reduce crime, and improve the criminal justice system. The projects funded support personnel, equipment, supplies, training, technical assistance, and information systems for criminal justice purposes.
- Juvenile Justice and Truancy Prevention: 107 awards totaling $9 million to prevent violence in and around schools and to improve the juvenile justice system by providing mental health services, truancy prevention, and intervention through community-based and school programs.
- Local Border Security (Border Star): 78 awards totaling $5.4 million to provide for overtime and operating costs that support an increased law enforcement presence to detect, deter, and disrupt drug, human, and other trafficking along the Texas-Mexico border.
- Non-Profit Security Enhancement: 109 awards totaling $14.7 million for projects that support physical security enhancements and other security activities to nonprofit organizations, including synagogues, churches, and other religious organizations that are at high risk of a terrorist attack based on the nonprofit organization’s ideology, beliefs, or mission.
- Operation Lone Star: 64 awards totaling $50 million for projects that enhance interagency border security operations supporting Operation Lone Star including facilitation of directed actions to deter and interdict criminal activity.
- Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Improvement: Five awards totaling $1.4 million for projects that improve the quality and timeliness of forensic science or medical examiners services, as well as projects seeking to address emerging forensic science. Specific funding has been reserved for projects that support responses to the opioid epidemic.
- Project Safe Neighborhoods: 21 awards totaling $1.2 million for projects designed to create and foster safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in violent crime, including, but not limited to, addressing criminal gangs and felonious possession and use of firearms.
- Regional Law Enforcement Training Academies: 23 awards totaling $8.2 million for projects that provide quality, cost-effective training for law enforcement and criminal justice officials.
- Residential Substance Abuse Treatment: Six awards totaling $3.1 million for projects that provide residential substance abuse treatment within local correctional and detention facilities.
- SAFE-Ready Facilities: 35 awards totaling $1.6 million to assist medical care facilities throughout Texas with necessary training, equipment, and supplies to achieve and maintain Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE)-Ready designation as defined in Chapter 323 of the Texas Health and Safety Code.
- Serving Victims of Crime and Addressing Violence Against Women: 499 awards totaling $195 million to provide services directly to victims of crime to speed their recovery and aid them through the criminal justice process, as well as projects that promote a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to improve the justice system’s response to violent crimes against women.
- Sexual Assault Evidence Testing: Three awards totaling $1.1 million to reimburse local law enforcement agencies for costs associated with the forensic analysis of physical evidence in relation to sexual assault or other sex offenses.
- Specialty Courts: 75 awards totaling $10.8 million to support judicially supervised treatment, intensive case management, and other services to assist participants with substance abuse or mental health challenges move toward a healthier lifestyle, reduce the number of repeat offenses, and address congestion in the court system.
- Texas Anti-Gang Centers: 13 awards totaling $72 million for projects that support regional, multidisciplinary approaches to combat gang violence through the coordination of gang prevention, intervention, and suppression activities.
The Governor’s PSO administers numerous state and federal grant programs in coordination with state-level and regional partner agencies, including the 24 regional Councils of Governments in Texas and the Urban Area Working Groups in Austin, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Houston, and San Antonio. Entities interested in seeking funds to support their public safety initiatives during the next grant cycle (FY 2025) should reach out to their local COG to learn about region specific timelines and requirements.
The PSO posts funding opportunity announcements containing program purposes, a description of allowable activities, timelines, and other requirements on the Office of the Governor’s eGrants website.
