Volume 1, Number 4 - April/May 1998

Each state has a state highway safety office (SHSO) that plays a key role in coordinating Safe Communities and other traffic safety programs. SHSOs offer resources and technical assistance to local programs. Vince Burgess, coordinator of highway safety programs of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, reports the following:

"I try to look at communities and programs at every level of development to determine what I can do for them. Grant funds are not always the answer. Information and contacts are often equally valuable. I also try to be proactive in identifying organizations that can provide the technical consultation I have neither the time nor expertise to provide. It takes time to learn what communities need, what their strengths are, and what type of resource support would be most helpful. I spend a lot of my time keeping these channels of communication active so that I can be most responsive to my constituency. Each community may be at a different level of evolution regarding Safe Communities. A critical component of readiness, as I see it, is having a clear goal of what they want to accomplish and what resources they need to get there."

Burgess's philosophy is that community readiness and clear objectives are the key to effective use of resources. Some of these resources come in the form of mini-grants. "These mini-grants provide communities with a way to get started, once the commitment is there. As programs become more sophisticated, they can apply for larger grants. These grantees receive more sophisticated levels of technical assistance in response to the broader scope and complexity of their programs," says Burgess.

The SHSO also provided support for intensive, individualized assistance to individual programs. Following the workshop on financial management of federal funds, staff made site visits to programs to help redesign their federal grant tracking systems. "We encourage programs to raise monies in their own communities, matching public and private funding," says Burgess. "However, we felt we would be remiss if we did not provide them with the support they needed to manage those monies. I see it as my responsibility to be responsive to the needs of our grantees and to provide whatever support I can to help them achieve their goals."

Virginia's SHSO also provides technical assistance to other groups. Burgess helped Drive Smart Virginia, a coalition of insurers, incorporate as a nonprofit organization. The SHSO also assisted the Virginia Police Chiefs' Association with a planning process, resulting in a commitment to increase the association's participation in highway safety activities.

Safe Communities programs and other traffic safety activities are eligible under the section 402 state and community grant program. Your SHSO can provide more information on this, and also on your state's priorities and planning timetables. A good introduction to this program is the ABCs of 402, available from the National Association of Governors' Highway Safety Represen-tatives (NAGHSR), who can also help you locate your SHSO. NAGHSR can be reached at 750 First Street, NE, Suite 720, Washington, DC 20002-4241. Telephone: (202) 789-0942; fax: (202) 789-0946; WWW: www.naghsr.org/. A list of SHSOs is also available on the Who's Who In Traffic Safety website: www.edc.org/HHD/csn/buildbridges/whoswho/.

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