Corporate Counsel Daily, CPSC offers $3M in ‘Pool Safely’ grants, (May 21, 2024)

By WK Editorial Staff

Applications are due by July 12, 2024.

To help reduce deaths and injuries from drowning and drain entrapments in pools and spas, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is offering $3 million in grant funding under its Pool Safely Grant Program. CPSC encourages state, local, and tribal governments to apply for the grants, as drowning is one of the leading causes of death among young children (CPSC News Release, No. 24-234, May 10, 2024).

“Drowning continues to be a devastating issue for families across the country,” said CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric. “The funding can be used for drowning education, training, and enforcement of pool safety requirements, as well anti-drowning education.”

The grant awards will range from $50,000 to $400,000 each. The grant program is authorized through the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGB Act). Since 2016, CPSC has provided more than $7.7 million in Pool Safely grants to 35 recipients, who have used the funds for a variety of drowning prevention activities such as training pool safety enforcement officials and conducting swim safety education programs.

“We must do all we can to prevent drownings, the leading cause of preventable death for America’s youngest children,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who authored and championed the VGB Act in Congress. “We can avoid these devastating tragedies by adding common-sense layers of protection around bodies of water, like teaching children to swim, ensuring pools have the right safety equipment and are properly constructed and inspected, and educating parents and communities on the vital importance of supervising children in and near the water. And these grants are critical tools to help us accomplish all those goals.”

VGB Act. The VGB Act (15 U.S.C. § 8001), which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007, has helped reduce the risk of drowning and drain entrapment by requiring public pools and spas to install new safety drain covers, and through federal grants and education programs to encourage states and localities to require residential pools and spas to utilize physical barriers, such as a fence completely surrounding the pool, with self-closing, self-latching gates.

Grant applications. Grant applicants must be a state, local government, Indian Tribe, or U.S. territory that has enacted or amended a law that meets the requirements of sections 1405 and 1406 of the VGB Act. Prospective applicants can review the solicitation on Grants.gov, under grant opportunity CPSC-24-001. Applications will be accepted through July 12, 2024.

Additional information. CPSC's website, PoolSafely.gov, has more information about the Pool Safely Grant Program and the VGB Act. PoolSafely.gov has free, downloadable information for the general public, state and local officials, the swimming pool and spa community, and the media. Jurisdictions can contact CPSC’s Grants Management Specialist Harvey Kincaid at hkincaid@cpsc.gov or 301-504-7525; or Program Manager Jonathan Midgett at jmidgett@cpsc.gov or 301-504-8120 for additional information.

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