Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution authorizes allocating $210,850 to four community agency contracts to support youth mentoring opportunities on Madison’s South West side. Funding for the contracts is provided by the USDOJ Community Building Crime Response: Our Neighborhood-A Safe and Beautiful Place grant. The grant is for two years to address crime and socio-economic drivers of crime within the Raymond Road Corridor.
The original grant, totaling $850,000, was awarded and accepted by the City in 2017 (File 49016) in 2017 as the USDOJ Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Implementation grant. Grant funding was accepted by MPD and deposited into the grants fund. The grant funding and budget authority will remain with MPD and the community agency contracts will be managed by CDD. No additional City appropriation is required.
The Community Development Division (CDD) received 11 program proposals from 10 agencies in response to a request for proposals (RFP) process totaling $709,329. Two group mentoring programs, totaling $100,850, and two individual mentoring programs, totaling $110,000, are being recommended by this resolution. The RFP responses were reviewed by a group consisting of 10 residents from the target area and staff from the Madison Police Department (MPD), CDD, and Madison Public Library.
Title
Approving the provision of up to $210,850 from the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) Community Building Crime Response: Our Neighborhood -A Safe and Beautiful Place grant to support youth mentoring opportunities on Madison’s South West side and authorizing the Mayor and the City Clerk to enter into agreements with selected agencies to implement the designated projects.
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WHEREAS, the City of Madison Police Department received a USDOJ Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) planning grant in 2015 focused on the Raymond Road corridor of neighborhoods, including Meadowood, Theresa Terrace and Park Edge/Park Ridge; and,
WHEREAS, working in collaboration with grant partners, Common Wealth Development and researcher Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, the Department engaged neighborhood residents to discuss public safety concerns and their underlying causes, and create a plan to address them; and,
WHEREAS, the resulting plan, “Southwest Madison, A Safe and Beautiful Place” was developed and submitted to the USDOJ, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance ( BJA) as part of the 2017 BCJI implementation grant process; and,
WHEREAS, BJA awarded the Department a $850,000 implementation grant for a two-year period to carry out the strategies set forth in the plan; and,
WHEREAS, the grant partners, with support from the Community Development Division over the course of the two year implementation period, will use the grant funds to address crime and socio-economic drivers of crime within the Raymond Road Corridor, bounded by Schroeder Road on the north; S. Whitney Way on the east; Putnam Road and Williamsburg Way on the south; and McKenna Blvd. on the west, with a particular focus on three rental housing enclaves along Raymond Road, Theresa Terrace and the Park Edge/Park Ridge/Waterleaf areas designated in the implementation plan accepted by BJA; and,
WHEREAS, the goals of the implementation project are to build community cohesion and to reduce crime within the target area through these strategies:
1) Improve the ability of residents to work together to reduce crime, promote public safety, and advocate for improved youth and adult programs within the target areas;
2) Support youth in developing positive, supportive relationships with adults (parents, teachers, and mentors) and improve their ability to peaceably resolve conflict through the support of youth mentoring activities focused on middle and high school youth that live in the neighborhoods targeted in this grant;
3) Increase guardianship in the area;
4) Provide parenting support and education, particularly for single, female-heads of households;
5) Enhance community/police trust and communication, emphasizing community outreach, and breaking down barriers between officers and residents , especially youth; and,
WHEREAS, the Community Action Board, Madison Police Department and Common Wealth Development with the assistance of Community Development Division staff issued a concept paper on Youth Mentoring programming and gathered feedback from community partners and residents, which was integrated into a Request for Proposals for Youth Mentoring programs; and,
WHEREAS, the Request for Proposal solicitation to provide individual and group mentoring services had an application deadline of February 11, 2019; and,
WHEREAS, Ten agencies submitted 11 program proposals for both group and individual mentoring program models in response to the RFP requesting a total of $709,329; and,
WHEREAS, a Community Action Board proposal review group, consisting of ten residents of the target area along with three staff from the Madison Police Department, Community Development Division and Madison Public Library reviewed the proposals and developed the recommended the following allocation plan to utilize available grant funds;
Allocation Recommendation for Group Mentoring programs
• 100 Black Men of Madison up to $40,850 for the Project SOAR program that will engage primarily male middle and high school youth.
• Charles Hamilton Houston Institute: up to $60,000 for the Dear Diary program that will provide group mentoring for primarily female middle and high school youth.
• Allocation Recommendation for Individual Mentoring programs
• Intentional Mentoring Inc.: up to $65,000 for its West Madison Initiative that will draw primarily from the Theresa Terrace and Meadowood neighborhood.
• Rape Crisis Center Inc.: up to $45,000 for the “Healing Power of Hip-Hop” program that will be located primarily in the Elver Park Neighborhood; and,
WHEREAS the Community Action Board approved the recommendations at it’s meeting on February 27, 2019 and asked staff to forward those recommendation to the Common Council; and,
WHEREAS, organizations receiving these funds will be contracted through 18 month purchase of services contracts that will expire no later than September 30, 2020, and that under the terms of those contracts agencies will be required to report on service goals and outcome measurements to their CDD contract manager, Federal grant management system, and the Community Action Board,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Common Council approves the USDOJ Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Grant, CBCR: Our Neighborhood- a Safe and Beautiful place funding allocations as detailed above, as recommended by the CBCR: Community Action Board; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that grant funds already appropriated to the Madison Police Department (File ID 49016) to be used for the mentoring purposes described in this resolution, including modifications upon appropriate approvals from USDOJ; and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Common Council authorizes the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute agreements with the above listed agencies (or their fiscal agents) for the described activities.