Beverly Welcomes Nearly $2 Million In State, Federal Grants

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly is welcoming nearly $2 million in federal and state grants awarded to supplement services in departments throughout the city.

The grants include $200,000 for a Jail Arrest Diversion program and $1.3 million for the Massachusetts Task Force 1 site in Beverly operations.

"We are grateful for these recent grant awards from both the state and federal government, which help the city of Beverly provide a broad range of essential services to residents without using city tax dollars," Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill said. "Grant funding helps alleviate the strain on our municipal operational budget, so we are able to fund various projects and programs that benefit the people of Beverly."

The grants were accepted at last week's City Council meeting.

The grant awards include:

• $200,000 Jail Arrest Diversion Program grant awarded from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. This grant will continue to fund two full-time co-responder clinicians who will support law enforcement officers in the community impact unit on calls for individuals with mental health and/or substance use issues. The goal of this program is to divert persons from arrest and to promote treatment interventions as an alternative to further justice system involvement. This is a collaborative partnership grant that supports police departments in Beverly, Ipswich, Gloucester, Essex, Manchester, and Rockport.
• $7,500 Title III B Senior Care grant to support the Council on Aging's Outreach Program. The Senior Center's Outreach Program staff members contact senior citizens, especially those identified as having the greatest economic and social need, through a comprehensive program of client finding, information and referral, wellness education and advocacy.
• $20,027 Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT) Program grant from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) — State 911 Department. This grant funding will be used to provide training for law enforcement and dispatch operations to support mutual aid deployments in cases of natural disasters, coverage for line-of-duty deaths, augment staffing due to widespread illness, and staff relief after major events.
• $1,314,456 National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Response System grant from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This grant funding will be used to support continued development, operations, and maintenance of the emergency management capabilities at the Massachusetts Task Force 1 site in Beverly.
• $295,290 Federal Aviation Administration grant to complete an aeronautical study and obstruction analysis of the Beverly Regional Airport runways.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)