STEP 5: APPLICATION SUBMISSION
The official application for accreditation as a Safe Community is a written document that provides detailed information about your community, your coalition, and your work to prevent and mitigate injuries. The application must be accompanied by supporting documentation that demonstrates achievement of the minimum requirements for accreditation. The information required for the application includes:
General and Contact Information
- The name of your community (e.g., city, county, region, university, etc.)
- Whether you are applying for initial accreditation or reaccreditation
- Verification that you have previously submitted a letter of intent (LOI) and the required application fee
- The names and contact information for two individuals who will serve as points of contact for your coalition
Community Description
- A description of your community's history and unique features
- An explanation of why you are seeking Safe Communities accreditation
- The name of the person / organization that is leading the accreditation process in your community
- Photos of your community (optional but strongly encouraged)
Evidence of Sustained Collaboration
- Information about your coalition, including the coalition's name, date of formation, and mission statement
- A list of the members of your coalition at the time of your application
- An organizational chart for your coalition
- Copies of coalition meeting minutes for the preceding 12-month period
- Letters of support from at least two partnering community agencies
- A description of how your coalition handles communication, both internally and with the community
Collection and Application of Injury Data
- Data on community demographics: gender, age, race, economic status, educational attainment, employment status, etc.
- Data on injuries and injury-related fatalities by age, race and gender
- A list of the data sources that you have available for obtaining injury data
- A summary of the injury data (i.e., what does it tell you about injuries in your community)
- A description of how data have been used to prioritize your coalition's strategies
- A description of how you will use data to monitor injury treds and determine future prevention strategies
- A listing of at least three injury areas being addressed by your coalition
Use of Effective Strategies to Address Injuries
- An outline of evidence-based injury prevention strategies being used to address your coalition's priorities
Use of Appropriate Evaluation Methods
- Documentation of how your prevention projects are being measured and what criteria are being used for evaluation
Communty Inventory
- A listing of all the injury-related programs, policies, and practices in your community
You can also submit additional information about your work to become a safe community and any related documents, such as newspaper articles, press releases, reports, etc. that you would like to include.
Obtaining An Application
The application packet is available for download as a zipped (compressed) archive. Click here to download the application packet in .zip format. Once you have downloaded the .zip archive file, you will need to extract the individual files in the archive. In most cases, simply double-clicking on the file icon will open the archive file in your computer's file manager.
If your computer cannot open the archive file automatically, you may need to install a program to open .zip archives. You can click here to download 7-Zip, a free file manager for opening (and creating) archive files.
The individual files that make up the application packet were developed with Microsoft Office applications; some files were created using Microsoft Word (.docx) and others with Excel (.xlsx). If you do not have these applications available on your computer, you can click here to download Libre Office, a free office suite that can read and write files in .docx and .xlsx formats.
If you have trouble downloading and/or opening the file, you can contact the Safe Communities America Support Center to obtain a copy of the electronic application packet.
Completing the Application
The application will likely require at least a few days to complete. Entering data into the application itself can usually be done in a few hours, but gathering and organizing the required data and documents can take much longer. It is a good idea to begin assembling and organizing the required data and documents as soon as your community decides to seek Safe Communities accreditation. Trying to assemble and collate the supporting documents for an application in a short period is stressful and can result in mistakes or omissions in your application packet.
If you have not already made contact with the Safe Communities America Support Center at the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, you should definitely contact the Support Center prior to starting work on the application packet. Center staff can answer questions and provide suggestions to help you complete the application more efficiently. You can contact the Center by telephone at (859) 257-9484 or (859) 257-4954 or by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Once your application is complete, the Support Center staff will advise you how to submit the application for initial review. The initial review insures that all of the required information, data and documents are present.