The Jeff Bliss Memorial Scholarship Fund was created in 2022 by the Kenosha County Fire/Rescue Association, a 501 (c)(3)organization led by our county Fire Chiefs, following the unexpected passing in 2022 of an amazing colleague, mentor, and leader. Detective Bliss served our community for over 20 years as a member and trainer for multiple special units including the county Tactical Response Team, Honor Guard ,Drone Unit, Hazardous Device Squad, and the Fire Investigation Task Force. The impact of his loss was deeply felt by all our departments.

Given his work leading special teams, Jeff was constantly seeking out and advocating for ongoing training, not only at a department level but also for individual development. The reality is that many best practices and solutions our agencies currently use were first encountered by members attending supplemental training at conferences or specialized courses, and then bringing that cutting-edge information back to our departments to implement. Since the threats and challenges faced by responders typically evolve at rates that exceed the ability of regulatory agencies and professional societies to keep pace with, this process of continuous education and improvement is crucial to the general mission of public safety.

Our belief is that citizens of our county can and do appreciate how complex and varied the challenges facing our public safety professionals can be. On any given shift, the skill sets required may range from comforting the spouse of a patient receiving CPR, to rescuing a drowning child at a lakefront, to helping restore order during a widespread civil disturbance or mass casualty event…and anything in between.

The ability to remain confident and prepared for such a wide range of potential problem sets can only be accomplished by our responders keeping a “sharp edge” on their skills through ongoing training...period. The goal of the Jeff Bliss Scholarship Fund is to help solve this problem - essentially allowing any Law Enforcement or Fire Department member in our county to get assistance paying for valuable supplemental training they pursue on their own. We are happy to report that last year, our inaugural event was able to raise nearly $3000 from private donations, exceeding our “proof of concept” threshold and allowing several members to attend courses they might have otherwise missed. To all of those who have given your support - thank you!