Additional funding from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh allowed Operation Lifesaver Inc. or OLI – in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration – to recently issue extra grants for rail safety activities in additional states, with 14 states overall receiving $245,525 in combined grant funds.
[Above photo via the FRA]
OLI awarded some $200,000 in FRA-funded grants to Operation Lifesaver organizations in 11 states – in California, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas – to support a variety of crossing safety and trespass prevention public education projects, many planned in conjunction with Rail Safety Week, set to take place September 19-25.
The $45,000 in funding from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh will support additional Operation Lifesaver state projects in three extra states – Alabama, Pennsylvania and Washington – and provide the balance of funding for Louisiana’s grant project.
“This year, OLI again received many outstanding applications for these competitive rail safety awareness grants,” said OLI Executive Director Rachel Maleh in a statement.
“The grant funding, made possible by our ongoing safety partnership with FRA, is essential for the ongoing safety efforts by state Operation Lifesaver programs to stop track tragedies,” she added. “Additional grant funding from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh allowed us to support worthy projects in additional states.”
OLI noted it used a competitive process to award those grants, with selection based on criteria such as the defined safety need, the number of highway-rail collisions in the state, and how the proposal leverages federal funds with private partnerships.