Almost a year ago, AIA launched its school safety campaign to to ensure that all three levels of government address the nationwide issue of school violence with a design-centered approach. Now, we are excited to share that we have taken a big step towards completing one of the campaign’s signature policy goals—to make architectural and design services available to schools eligible for federal grants.
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (HR 3055) that increases the amount of money in the STOP School Violence grant program by $25 million, for a total of $125 million. Most importantly, the bill now clarifies that STOP grants can fund requests from school districts for architectural and design services. While the total amount of this program is still only a first step, allowing federal money to assist local officials in designing safe schools is a big deal—one that AIA plans to build out to other federal grant programs if this bill gets signed into law.
We need your help with receiving support from the U.S. Senate for this bill. If you are willing to contact your senator on this issue, please text “AIA” to the number 40649 to sign up for Architect Action Alerts.