School Safety State Partner Newsletter: July 2026

Shared by Christina Weeter, KDE via KYSAFE ListServ

See below. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future newsletters, please contact SchoolSafety@cisa.dhs.gov.

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July 2026

Your monthly update on school safety resources, events, and grant opportunities.

What’s New with SchoolSafety.gov

Virtual Training on Preventing Online Child Exploitation (July 23). Ahead of the next school year, join the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse on July 23 for a virtual training on preventing and responding to online child exploitation. The session will feature experts from the U.S. Department of Justice and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who will share tools and resources to combat online exploitation and educate students and families about digital safety. Register at K12DigitalThreats.eventbrite.com.

New School Safety Grants Available. More than ten new federal funding opportunities have recently been released and published to the SchoolSafety.gov Grants Finder Tool. These include grants to support student mental health, implement school security measures, and prevent violence. Learn more about these opportunities in the Newly Released Grants section below or by visiting the Grants Finder Tool. Through the tool, you can also sign up to receive real-time notifications when new funding opportunities are announced.  

Preparing to Support Student Mental Health During the Return to School. The transition back to the classroom from summer break can be difficult for some students. Educators and school staff can help make the return to school a safer, more supportive experience by taking deliberate actions to check in with students, establish predictable routines, and respond immediately and consistently to instances of bullying. Find additional tips and resources on SchoolSafety.gov’s mental health topic page.

Explore School Safety Resources

Events

• Navigating Digital Threats: Strategies to Prevent Online Child Exploitation (July 23) – Learn about the current landscape of online threats, how to identify risk factors and warning signs of online exploitation, and strategies to educate and empower students to make safe digital choices.
• Back-to-School Privacy Bootcamp: FERPA and PPRA Essentials (July 29) – Learn about school and district obligations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
• Return-to-School 2026 School Safety Event: Enhancing School Safety Using Behavioral Threat Assessment (August 5) – Learn how schools can develop or improve existing violence prevention programs utilizing a behavioral threat assessment model.
• More Events

Resources

• Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Student Mental Health – Learn about school-based strategies and resources to prevent bullying and cyberbullying and support youth mental health. 
• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED): Enhancing the Security of Your K-12 School Using an All-Hazards Approach – Learn about the CPTED approach to reducing and removing opportunities for criminal behavior. 
• Data Breach Scenario Trainings – Learn how to conduct K-12 staff development and training on data breaches. Training packages include ready-to-use materials for scenarios such as AI-generated phishing and deepfake calls, AI grading system compromises, and password data breaches.
• Helping Youth Navigate Online Sextortion and Exploitation – Learn about key threats involving online exploitation and resources to support prevention and response.
• How State Leaders Can Help Respond to Incidents of School-Based Gun Violence and Support Recovery in School Communities – Learn about considerations for organizing a state-level response to support schools and districts in recovery from school-based gun violence.
• How to Talk About Mental Health: For Educators – Learn how to support student mental health, including what to look for in student behavior and elements of effective school mental health programs.
• More Resources

Newly Released Grants  

Funding opportunities that have been released since the last state partner newsletter. 

• COPS Hiring Program (Deadline: July 23) – Provides funding to hire and/or rehire career law enforcement officers to increase community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts, including funding for school resource officers.
• Nonprofit Security Grant Program (Deadline: July 24) – Provides funding for target hardening and other physical security enhancements and activities to nonprofit organizations at high risk of a terrorist attack.
• Homeland Security Grant Program (Deadline: July 24) – Provides risk-based grants to assist efforts in preventing, protecting against, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from acts of terrorism and other threats.
• Mental Health Awareness Training Grants (Deadline: July 27) – Provides funding to implement mental health awareness and literacy training, including on the signs and symptoms of mental illness, how to safely de-escalate crisis situations, and how to provide related community resources and services.
• Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) (Deadline: July 27) – Provides funding to develop a sustainable framework to address mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders and promote the social and emotional well-being of students.
• Statewide Family Network Program (Deadline: July 27) – Provides funding to enhance the capacity of statewide, mental health family-controlled organizations to support, train, and mentor family members/primary caregivers who are raising youth with serious emotional disturbance or co-occurring disorders.
• Preventing Drug Overdoses: Community Prevention and Response (Deadline: July 27) – Provides funding to develop and implement a community-wide prevention program to prevent and reduce drug overdose deaths by expanding access to FDA-approved opioid overdose reversal medications. Allowable activities include building partnerships with healthcare providers and school systems.
• National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative – Category III, Community Treatment and Service Centers (Deadline: July 27) – Provides funding to create and operate community treatment and service centers to increase and deliver access for children, youth, and their families who experience traumatic events.
• Preparing for Active Shooter Situations Program (Deadline: August 4) – Provides funding to a single provider that can train first responders through scenario-based, multidisciplinary classes to ensure an integrated response to active shooter or violent threats.
• School Violence Prevention Program (Deadline: August 4) – Provides funding to improve security at schools and on school grounds through evidence-based school safety programs and technology.
• Community Policing Development Microgrants Program (Deadline: August 17) – Provides funding to law enforcement agencies to implement demonstration or pilot projects that advance crime fighting, community engagement, problem solving, or organizational changes in support of community policing. This includes funding for projects related to investigating and interrupting child exploitation.
• More Grants  

SchoolSafety.gov Opportunities for State Partners

We want to share your events, resources, and insights with the school safety community. Please contact SchoolSafety@cisa.dhs.gov to:

• Share interesting activities or insights from your state’s school safety work.
• Notify us if your state is hosting an event.
• Submit new state-specific school safety resources, programs, grants, or events to include on your SchoolSafety.gov state page.

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future newsletters, please contact us at SchoolSafety@cisa.dhs.gov.

Sincerely,
The Federal School Safety Clearinghouse