Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) are awarding than $200,000 in competitive rail safety awareness grants to Operation Lifesaver programs in a dozen states.
An additional $45,000 in funding from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh will supplement the FRA awards. The money is part of a previously announced grant that will go towards four additional state grant projects, for a total of 16 state grants with $245,317 in combined grant funds.
“Every three hours in the U.S., a person or vehicle is hit by a train. OLI is grateful for our ongoing safety partnership with FRA, which facilitates these targeted, grant-funded safety efforts by state Operation Lifesaver programs to stop track tragedies in our communities,” OLI Executive Director Rachel Maleh said in a news release. “We also appreciate grant funding from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh, whose support enables additional states to launch their projects.”
The FRA-funded grants will be awarded to Operation Lifesaver organizations in Alabama, California, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee. The grants will fund various crossing safety and trespass prevention public education projects, many of which will be conducted in conjunction with the nonprofit safety group’s observance of Rail Safety Week, Sept. 20-26.
The $45,000 in funding from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh will support Operation Lifesaver state grant projects in four additional states – Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas – and provide the balance of funding for New Jersey’s grant project.
“We strongly believe in both the mission and the organization of Operation Lifesaver and in particular its tailoring of programs state by state,” Posner Foundation Chairman Henry Posner III said in a news release. “This reflects the diverse reality of the USA’s railroad environments.”
