The US Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency has granted $22 million to LSU’s National Center for Biomedical Research and Academy for Counter-Terrorism Education, or LSU NCBRT/ACE.
This funding allows LSU NCBRT/ACE to deliver emergency preparedness education and training to emergency responders at the state, local, tribal and territorial level at no direct cost to participants.
LSU NCBRT/ACE is a training partner of DHS/FEMA’s National Training and Education Division. With more than three hundred subject matter experts and instructors, LSU NCBRT/ACE provides training to emergency personnel, first responders, law enforcement, firefighters, emergency managers and others.
In fiscal year 2021, LSU NCBRT/ACE resources reached more than 37 thousand responders, including through mobile deliveries, indirect training, web-based and virtual training and just-in-time resources.
“I’d like to thank our congressional delegation for helping us secure the funding for this grant that will help address the training needs of responder communities,” said LSU NCBRT/ACE Director Jeff Mayne. “This grant will further our dedication towards developing innovative approaches to new world complexities and challenges to ensure our nation’s safety, security and resilience.”
These grant funds will be used to develop and deliver DHS/FEMA-certified trainings for prevention and response to active threat incidents, de-escalation training, integrative responder collaboration, integrating mental health responders with certain critical threats and other critical advanced education and training.
The grant will fund LSU NCBRT/ACE’s vital trainings and collaborative projects, such as delivering its Campus Emergencies Prevention, Response, and Recovery – Customized course for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the nation. This summer, LSU NCBRT/ACE delivered the course to over 150 participants from around 60 schools and agencies as a part of a collaboration with DHS’s Office for State and Local Law Enforcement & Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Department of Education’s White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity through HBCUs. More classes are planned at additional schools later this year.
Alfred Galtney is the chief compliance officer at Alcorn State University and attended one of the classes at Dillard University in New Orleans. “I thought the class was really engaging,” he said. “I learned a lot of new aspects that we can utilize at our institution from interacting with the other universities, as well as listening to the trainers that shared some best practices.”
About LSU NCBRT/ACE:
LSU NCBRT/ACE is a nationally recognized center for emergency preparedness and response training located at Louisiana State University’s flagship campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We provide mobile training to both the national and international emergency response community. LSU NCBRT/ACE has expertise in research, development and delivery of training in the areas of specialized law enforcement operations; biological incident response; food and agriculture safety and security; school safety; and instructional design and technique. For more information on LSU NCBRT/ACE’s courses and resources, please visit ncbrt.lsu.edu.
