School Funding Provided by School

Safety Partners
School Safety Partners

School Safety Partners will provide

10-25% matching grants and
financial consulting through its new
national School Safety Fund.

DENVER, November 19, 2009 -- School

"All kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn."
President Obama, September 8, 2009
Safety Partners will provide 10-25%
matching grants and financial consulting
through its new School Safety Fund to
support schools nationwide applying for
Federal funding to make their schools
safer. Funds can be applied to improve all
aspects of school safety, including
prevention-mitigation, preparedness,
response, and recovery.

The Denver-based volunteer group is joined by McLiney And Company, investment bankers
specializing in school funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(ARRA), and the nation's leading tax-credit bond firm.

John Simmons, chairman of School Safety Partners, reached an agreement with McLiney And
Company last week after reviewing the firm's standing with the Colorado Department of
Education, and finalizing a strategy to leverage the firm's experience in securing Federal funding
for schools around the country.

Founded in 1966, McLiney And Company has handled thousands of municipal bond issues and
has completed over 350 tax credit bonds, many of them for schools. "School safety should be a
top priority for ARRA dollars," said Joseph McLiney, the firm's president. "Safer schools mean
higher value learning and higher value communities," he added.

The School Safety Fund was established to combine the financial expertise of McLiney with the
multi-sector resources of School Safety Partners. These resources started coming together as
part of a legislative process. Simmons was invited by Colorado State Senator Tom Wiens to help

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draft Senate Bill 08-181, which established community partnering as a driving force behind a
new "School Response Framework."

The bill was introduced by Wiens, co-sponsored by 55 other lawmakers, and signed into law in
May, 2008. Schools are now required to team up with community responders and other
partners for joint school safety planning, training, drills, exercises, and evaluations.

The research produced by Wiens' office on how to fund these activities has become the
cornerstone of the School Safety Fund. McLiney points to several new opportunities created
under the Obama administration that should not be ignored by school districts. These include
dramatically expanded programs for Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs), Qualified School
Construction Bonds (QSCBs), and Build America Bonds. According to McLiney, these programs
are well-funded, "but the dollars could disappear if the states don't use their yearly allocation."

The School Safety Fund provides matching grants to help schools meet Federal funding
requirements and guidelines. For example, a consortium headed by School Safety Partners can
provide schools the 10% matching funds needed to apply for QZABs. The matching funds would
cover school safety curriculum development and training, full-scale exercises, and other safety
consulting and technology.

In addition, the School Safety Fund provides guidance in applying for grants from the U.S.
Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, as well as
many lesser-known sources of funding for school safety. For instance, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) has a community assistance program which may be used to help rural
schools improve coordination among local agencies when responding to school incidents.

"We look forward to applying all of our know-how through the School Safety Fund," said
McLiney. The firm was invited to participate in USDA's municipal lending task force, which had
a positive impact on municipal borrowers in all 50 states. McLiney And Company is currently an
advisor to the Federal Government on lending practices and policies affecting rural
municipalities.

Application guidelines for the School Safety Fund will be released December 1,
2009. District-level inquiries before December 1 may be directed to either John
Simmons at 303-548-3816 or Joseph McLiney at 816-786-5639.

http://www.SchoolSafetyPartners.org/Funding/school_safety_fund.html