Nebraska CVE grant reports
| Submitted | July 8, 2019 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Ava Sasani
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Nebraska Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All grant reporting documents submitted to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) between January 2017 and July 2019 about your usage of the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) grant.
Your organization was listed as by the DHS as a CVE grant recipient here:
https://www.dhs.gov/cvegrants
On the DHS web page listed above, there are quarterly summary updates that say your organization “has trained their partner agencies on the threat assessment tools it has developed, conducted outreach on its capabilities, and conducted a baseline survey with some of its desired audiences. Furthermore, the project team continues to share its efforts with the broader health professional community nationwide that may be interested in implementing similar efforts by participating in conferences and authoring articles in practitioner newsletters.”
I would like the results and all documentation related to the above listed "baseline survey"and all documents your organization shared with this "broader health community."
I would also like all qualitative and quantitative reporting that your organization has submitted to the DHS explaining how your agency has carried out these CVE goals and projects.
This should include any financial statements and documents explaining how your $300,000 CVE grant from the DHS (in 2017) has been spent. This should include at least one report for each quarter since 2017 explaining deliverables and progress to the DHS.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 4 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Ava Sasani
From: Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
Per your request for information related to the CVE grant assigned by the US Department of Homeland Security to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency the following information is provided:
* Information or program activities related to training, resources, and events developed by University of Nebraska Public Policy Center is found at the following website: http://cve.unl.edu/
* Other program information prepared by the University of Nebraska would be considered unpublished research and exempt under Nebraska Statute 84-712.05 (3) (https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=84-712.05);
* The attachments are the financial reports for each quarter since 2017 which were submitted by the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency to the Department of Homeland Security.
Respectfully submitted,
Bryan Tuma
Assistant Director
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
2433 NW 24th Street
Lincoln, NE. 68524
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Quarter 1 Expenses - CVE
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Ava Sasani
Hi Bryan,
Thank you so much for your email! However, I would like all grant reporting files submitted to the DHS regarding the CVE grant, not just the financial reporting documents.
This should, at the very least, include the narrative report you submitted to DHS for every completed reporting quarter between August 2017 and March 2019. As an example, I have attached one narrative report from the Denver Police Department, another agency that received the same grant that you did (and as such, was subject to the same reporting standards by the DHS).
Your responsive documents should also include each reporting quarter’s copy of the Project Implementation and Evaluation Plan. For clarity, I have again attached a copy of Denver Police’s version of this form (which again, was mandated by the DHS as a reporting requirement for your organization, Denver Police, and all other CVE grantees).
As mentioned in my original request, I would like all grant reporting documents related to this CVE grant. This includes all documents with the deliverables that were explicitly mentioned in your organization’s original grant application:
“Deliverables include: a “toolkit” for integrating CVE within rural or small/mid-sized city public health infrastructure; identification of barriers to reporting and strategies to address them; increased awareness of observable behaviors associated with the process of radicalization; and enhanced connection between state level threat assessment resources and local trusted resources receiving reports....”
Your responsive documents should not be limited to financial documents, it should include documentation of all of the above deliverables. I would particularly like to highlight the deliverable “identification of barriers to reporting and strategies to address them.” The responsive documents request should include all documentation of this grant deliverable, with any information about what these barriers are, how the grant helped your organization promote strategies to address them, and what those strategies are.
I look forward to hearing back from you with these documents. I am happy to clarify further about any of the elements of my original request, if needed. My cell phone number is 781-941-0829, call or email with any questions!
Best,
Ava
From: Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
Ava,
I have attached the DHS Quarterly Reports per your request and apologize for not correctly interpreting your original request for records.
I would offer some background on our CVE Grant that might be helpful in securing any additional information you might be interested in. The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency is the State Administrative Agency for the Homeland Security Grant Program. We assist the Lieutenant Governor who fulfills the role of the State Homeland Security Director for the State of Nebraska. Since the inception of our Homeland Security Program our agency has contracted with the University of Nebraska at Lincoln – Public Policy Center to assist with a variety of grant projects or administering various outreach activities with our key stakeholder organizations in the state. One such project was the CVE grant which the Lieutenant Governor requested our assistance and directed us to discuss a potential grant application with the PPC.
NEMA and the Public Policy Center collaborated on the grant application and NEMA agreed to receive the funds and file the financial and quarterly reports in accordance with the grant requirements. The actual effort to collaborate with the public health officials was directed by the PPC. They have published the toolkit and other grant information on their website at http://cve.unl.edu/. I do not have in my possession the research or other supporting information developed by the PPC.
I offer the above information for your consideration.
Bryan
From: Ava Sasani
Hi Bryan,
No problem, thanks for following up! I just have one more element to my original request that I would like to be added. On p. 7 of the quarterly reports it says:
"A set of materials to train-the-trainer in what to look for and report was created and
released to Two Rivers Public Health. They are using these materials to equip community
leaders and groups to present to their own constituents. The training materials will be part
of the toolkit we are developing as a deliverable for this grant. "
I have looked at the online toolkit that you sent me, and have been unable to find these train-the-trainer materials anywhere on the website. Would you mind sending me the report that was created released to Two Rivers? If the toolkit isn't completed as of right now that's fine, but at the very least I'd like the train-the trainer materials that explain what to look for and report (mentioned in the quote above).
As always, please reach out with questions. Thanks!
Ava
From: Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
Ava,
I am forwarding the response to your most previous inquiry. As you can see, it was authored by Dr. Denise Bulling who is the project manager for the CVE grant. According to Dr. Bulling the training of trainer materials are on the website (links provided).
The other information you requested is not completed at this time.
Please let me know if you have questions.
Thank you.
Bryan
From: Ava Sasani
Hi Bryan,
Could you or Denise point to exactly where on the website these training materials can be found? Or, could you give me Denise's phone and email?
Thanks,
Ava
From: Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
Ava,
Here are the screen shots from the CVE website:
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[cid:image002.png@01D55352.E701DBA0]
Please let me know if this helps. I can advise that Dr. Bulling is not available this week due to travel and participation in a national conference. If you have more questions let me know. I will provide you with contact information.
Bryan
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