CITY OF NEW ORLEANS ANNOUNCES ELIGIBILITY FOR $1.5M IN FUNDING FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY'S URBAN AREA SECURITY INITIATIVE GRANT AWARD

NEW ORLEANS - The City of New Orleans today announced its eligibility for $1.5 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant award.

"This is an exciting opportunity for the City of New Orleans to build capacity towards terrorism and crime prevention, said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. These resources will go a long way in helping the New Orleans Police Department and the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness."

New Orleans is among 36 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) eligible for funding. The City could receive up to $1.5 million for FY2022 UASI allocations. Eligibility has been determined through an analysis of relative risk of terrorism faced by the 100 most populous MSAs in the United States, in accordance with the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended.

The UASI Program assists high-threat, high-density Urban Areas in efforts to build and sustain the capabilities necessary to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism. The UASI program is intended to provide financial assistance to address the unique multi-discipline planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high-threat, high-density Urban Areas.

Given the evolving national security threat landscape, DHS has evaluated the national risk profile and set priorities that help inform the appropriate allocation of scarce security dollars. In assessing the national risk profile for FY 2022, six priority areas attract the most concern. Due to the unique threats that the nation faces in 2022, DHS has determined that recipients should allocate a total of 30 percent of their UASI award funds across these six priority areas. The following are the six priority areas for FY 2022:

• 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

This is the City's first time being eligible since 2020. Prior to 2020, New Orleans received UASI grant funding in 2015.

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