#adeca

ADECA has unveiled a new website and logo. As part of the new website, all news releases and blog posts will be hosted there as part of the ‘Newsroom’ area. This Tumblr will serve as an archive of previous blog posts, prior to March 8, 2021.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is pleased to welcome the first of several new interns to the agency for the summer in Phillip Garner, an accounting major from Trenholm State Community College. Phillip is the Vice President of the Accounting Club and on the President’s List for this semester. He plans to graduate at the end of the summer. He’s originally from Montgomery and is a graduate of Prattville High School.

ADECA has revamped its Internship Program for 2020 by introducing selected students to the full scope of the department’s role in state government. Each intern will complete three mini-terms during their time at the agency, beginning with the 2020 Census. The second mini-term will give participants a chance to rotate through the ADECA divisions, offering an opportunity to learn about the full scope of the agency’s programs and services. The internship wraps up with the third mini-term where participants select an ADECA division as a “major” to spend the remaining weeks of their internship with a deep dive in their chosen area.

The Thanksgiving holiday is the kickoff to the busiest season of the year. With all the rushing around and holiday travel, it’s a great time to remind motor vehicle drivers and passengers to buckle their seat belts. To keep drivers and their passengers safe, ADECA’s Law Enforcement and Traffic Safety Division is partnering with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to share an important lifesaving reminder: Buckle Up — Every Trip. Every Time. Review these statistics for an eye-opening look at the impact that seat belts can have on your safety.

In 2018, there were 22,697 passenger vehicle occupants (in passenger cars, pickup trucks, vans, or SUVs) killed in traffic crashes in the United States. Almost half (47%) of those who were killed were not wearing seat belts.

NHTSA estimates that seat belts saved the lives of 14,995 passenger vehicle occupants age 5 and older in 2017, according to the latest data available. If everyone had worn their seat belts on every trip that year, an additional 2,549 lives could have been saved.

The facts don’t lie: When you wear your seat belt as a front-seat occupant of a passenger car, your risk of fatal injury goes down by 45 percent. For light-truck occupants, that risk is reduced by 60 percent.

Make this Thanksgiving different from years past.

During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2018, there were 291 passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes across the nation.

Nighttime is deadlier than daytime in terms of seat belt use. Over the 2018 Thanksgiving weekend, 54 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes at night were unbuckled, compared to 42 percent during the day.

Younger people continue to be overrepresented in fatal crashes and seat belt nonuse. Among the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2018, occupants ages 21-24 and 25-34 were unrestrained at a rate of 58 percent and 60 percent, respectively.

Males are more likely than females to be unrestrained in fatal crashes. More than half (52 percent) of the male passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2018 were unrestrained, compared with 39 percent of females.

If you’re ejected from a vehicle in a crash, odds are that you will not survive. In 2018, 8 out of 10 (82 percent) of the people totally ejected from vehicles in crashes were killed. Wearing your seat belt is the most effective way to prevent ejection; only 1 percent of occupants wearing seat belts were ejected in fatal crashes, compared to 27% of those who were unrestrained.

In the last decade, seat belts have saved the lives of more than 100,000 people in the United States. Those people are thankful they wore their seat belts. Won’t you wear yours?

As many as 450 local law enforcement agencies across Alabama could soon receive additional aid to help prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19 among officers, inmates, employees and others.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs plans to provide many of the state’s police departments, sheriff’s offices and other law enforcement agencies with protection kits. The kits will include protective masks and gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, decontaminant foggers and pressure washers.

The kits are approximately $3 million of an allocation provided by the U.S. Department of Justice to Alabama under the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program.

“By virtue of their everyday exposure with the public, our police, deputies and all other law enforcement personnel face one more risk in performing their duties,” Gov. Kay Ivey said. “This equipment will provide law enforcement officers with added protection and will be particularly meaningful in smaller departments which are already straining budgets to maintain their safety.”

Equipment distribution, which is expected in late October and early November, will be done at ADECA’s Surplus Property warehouse in Montgomery over about a four-day period. Qualified law enforcement agencies are being notified of the pickup schedule through affiliated state associations.

Larger police and sheriff’s departments in the state will receive funding allocations directly from the U.S. Justice Department.

“ADECA’S Law Enforcement and Traffic Safety Division and Surplus Property Division have worked together to make this process as simple and efficient as possible,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said. “We hope that the departments and agencies will find these protective kits useful in keeping officers and deputies safe while serving the public.”

ADECA also plans within the next several weeks to supply Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding to larger state law enforcement and corrections agencies.

Anna Beth Payne is the newest participant to join the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs’ Internship Program for the summer. She is a student at the University of Alabama with a major in public relations and a minor in political science. Anna Beth is finishing her sophomore year at the university and has plans to complete her degree and potentially pursue a law degree. Originally from Enterprise, Anna Beth is a graduate of Enterprise High School.

ADECA’s Internship Program has been updated for 2020 by giving selected students firsthand experience in the full scope of the department’s role in state government. Each intern will complete three mini-terms during their time at the agency. The first mini-term gives participants in-depth experience with the 2020 Census. The second mini-term will give them a chance to rotate through the ADECA divisions, offering an opportunity to learn about all of the agency’s programs and services. The internship wraps up with the third mini-term where participants select an ADECA division as a “major” to spend the remaining weeks of their internship.

Ann Williams is the second of several interns to join the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs for the new Internship Program this summer. Ann is an International Studies major with a minor in Chinese from the University of Alabama. She is finishing up her sophomore year and has plans to complete her bachelor’s degree and eventually move into a master’s degree program. Originally from Montgomery, Ann is a graduate of Loveless Academic Magnet Program (LAMP) High School.

ADECA has redesigned its Internship Program 2020 by giving selected students experience in the full scope of the department’s role in state government. Each participant will complete three mini-terms during the program, beginning with the 2020 Census. The second mini-term will give participants a chance to rotate through the ADECA divisions, offering an opportunity to learn about the full scope of the agency’s programs and services. The internship wraps up with participants selecting an ADECA division as their “major” where they will spend the remaining weeks of their internship with a deep dive in their chosen area.