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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowTwenty-six organizations have been awarded a total of $1.7 million from Indianapolis’ crime-prevention grant program.
Recipients were selected by the Community Crime Prevention Board, an independent, seven-person committee appointed by the Indianapolis Parks Foundation, Mayor Greg Ballard and the City-County Council.
The selection process changed this year when the City-County Council put administration of the program in the hands of the parks foundation, in an effort to make the program less political. The crime-prevention grants are funded at the council’s discretion through income-tax revenue.
Previously, an advisory board made recommendations and the council then changed or approved them.
This year, the Summer Youth Program Fund, which helps find teens summer jobs, received $125,000, the largest grant awarded.
Two organizations received $100,000 each: the Wishard Foundation, which provides services to people admitted to the hospital with a gunshot or stab wound to help reduce criminal activity; and the Dove Recovery House, a residential program for women battling substance abuse.
The parks foundation fielded 115 applications seeking $12 million. But because of the city’s ongoing budget crunch, the council cut the grant funds by more than half. Last year, 68 organizations divvied up about $4 million.
Eleven organizations this year received the minimum grant amount of $50,000.
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