Jennifer Hagy asked me to share this information with you. Mary Hobart has been in contact with our program officer at the Corporation for National and Community Service, but details are still sketchy. This program is new for them too, and they are working through the implementation details. We'll pass along more information when we have it. 73, Mark K1RO _______ Good Afternoon, As always, it was a pleasure seeing you all during the Board meeting. As you may have read in "In News," we received a lot of media attention about the federal grant late last week, and it continues. I did an interview with the Christian Science Monitor this morning. The Hartford Courant visited yesterday. As you know, we applied for a three-year grant of more than $500,000 the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has awarded ARRL $181,900 in funding for year one of that cycle. Funding in years two and three will be contingent on performance in meeting specific goals and on available funding from CNCS. The implementation and financial management of the $181,900 will take place at ARRL headquarters in the hands of a project coordinator, guided by a management team. In principle, the expanded training program is similar to the Connecticut program to expand emergency communications training, sponsored by the United Technologies Corp, announced last month (see http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2002/06/18/3/). Connecticut Section Manager Betsey Doane, K1EIC, and other Field Organization leaders have been instrumental in promoting this program, identifying trainers/mentors, and recruiting students. As details of grant implementation are determined we will share them with you and the ARRL family. I am attaching the national press release that went out via PR newswire early this morning. I'll also be sharing this release with our SMs via the SM reflector, and with our PICs and PIOs. It's quite possible that folks in the field will want to contact their local media outlets, or reporters may find them first. That being said, I do plan on telling our field volunteers that I want to be the main point of contact on all media inquiries surrounding the grant. The reporters will want to talk to local amateurs, and I'll certainly be passing along good contacts when appropriate. It's really important that everyone is on the same page and that we're sending the same message, or telling the same story. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me. 73, Jen Hagy, N1TDY