The State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) is a core assistance program that provides funds to build capabilities at the State, local, tribal, and territorial levels, to enhance our national resilience to absorb disruptions and rapidly recover from incidents both natural and manmade as well as to implement the goals and objectives included in State homeland security strategies and initiatives in their State Preparedness Report (SPR).
Activities implemented under SHSP must support terrorism preparedness by building or enhancing capabilities that relate to the prevention of, protection from, mitigation of, response to, and recovery from terrorism in order to be considered eligible. However, many capabilities which support terrorism preparedness simultaneously support preparedness for other hazards. Grantees must demonstrate this dual-use quality for any activities implemented under this program that are not explicitly focused on terrorism preparedness.
In developing applications for SHSP, recipients are encouraged to consider 2023 priority areas:
- Enhancing the protection of soft targets/crowded places
- Enhancing information and intelligence sharing and analysis
- Combating domestic violent extremism
- Enhancing cybersecurity
- Enhancing community preparedness and resilience
- Enhancing election security
The Arkansas Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) is funded by the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to enhance the state's terrorism preparedness and response capabilities. The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management serves as the State Administrative Agency (SAA) for the grant. The Homeland Security Branch within ADEM administers the HSGP for the state.
The Arkansas HSGP supports the maintenance and enhancement of specialized, regional, terrorism response teams located within five regions (Central, NW, NE, West, South) throughout the state. Each team must be ready and deployable to respond throughout the state and nation if necessary. These identified, advanced level teams consist of:
- FBI Accredited Bomb Squads
- SWAT/Terrorism Response
- Urban Search and Rescue (USAR Task Force 1)
- WMD Response
In addition, the Arkansas HSGP supports:
- Arkansas State Fusion Center
- Active Shooter Preparedness
- See Something, Say Something Campaign
- Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS)
- Tactical Emergency Casualty Care/Stop the Bleed Training
- Cyber Security
- Community Preparedness
The Arkansas HSGP is part of the Arkansas Homeland Security Advisory Group (ARHSAG) and supports the State Preparedness Report (SPR), the Threat & Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA), and the Arkansas Homeland Security Strategy.
Inventory must be maintained on all HSGP purchased equipment upon purchase and for 3 years after the official federal closeout of the grant.