PARIS grants fund strategic advancements in county and municipal government archives and records programs statewide. The state's FY 2005 budget provided up to $28 million for grants to build and improve the infrastructure of public records administration, making PARIS one of the top competitive grant programs of its kind in the nation.

Records DIRECT grants provide direct, immediate emergency management assistance to disaster-stricken county and municipal government agencies to recover vital, permanent or archival public records damaged by fire, water, and other man-made or natural phenomena. Designed to avert the loss of irreplaceable public records during the critical hours and days following a disaster, this program will streamline the application process to get emergency funding where it is needed in the shortest possible time. County and municipal agencies must also account for any associated insurance or other funds received in compensation from liable parties.

Funded by document filing and recording fees collected by County clerks, PARIS and Records DIRECT grants are key components of the New Jersey Public Records Preservation Program established by the state legislature in July 2003. The initial year of PARIS grants has had an intentionally tight focus to ensure that a sound foundation is laid for strategic broadening of the grant program in future years. First-year funding supported: 1) state-coordinated county needs assessment and strategic planning services; 2) grants-in-aid for imaging systems and services, electronic records management systems, and electronic filing portals development and expansion; 3) grants-in-aid for archival records preservation services; and 4) grants-in-aid for municipal needs assessment and strategic planning for municipalities having populations of 75,000 or more. In subsequent years, a wider variety of projects will be eligible for funding. The grant program will be competitive, with awards based on applicants' demonstration of need and the quality of their proposals.

Initially, the sole constituencies eligible for PARIS and Records DIRECT grants were county and municipal "general-purpose public agencies," meaning the duly chartered and incorporated County, city, township, town, borough, and village governments in New Jersey. Not eligible for grants initially will be "special-purpose public agencies," meaning school districts, fire districts, independent public authorities, libraries, and commissions, etc.

"I am pleased that the National Archives is partnering with the National Coalition for History on this critical issue," Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein stated yesterday. "It is imperative that the entire historical and archival community remain vigilant in identifying and reclaiming materials that have been stolen from our nation's repositories. This agreement is a step forward in helping the National Archives recover unique historical documents that we hold in trust for our citizens."