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Seattle – The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice programs is awarding more than $11 million in grant funding to entities in Washington State to combat community violence, especially youth violence, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. The two largest grants of $4 million each are going to the state and a King County non-profit for distribution to smaller community-based organizations.
“These federal dollars will help identify and support local programs that are working to reduce violence in our community,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman. “I am particularly pleased to see the focus on youth violence and stopping gun crime. The epidemic of gun violence in our neighborhoods requires a sustained response from both law enforcement and community.”
The Washington State Department of Commerce was awarded $4 million to implement a Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative to expand programs that address community violence across the state. The money is targeted towards underserved communities. As part of this work the grant will fund a statewide summit to share tools and knowledge about what is working to decrease community violence.
Similarly, a $4 million grant to Seattle’s Children & Youth Justice Center will provide support, training, and technical assistance to up to five community-based organizations who are serving youth in King County to prevent community violence. Additionally, the King County Department of Community and Human Services, Children Youth and Adult Division was awarded $1 million to implement policies aimed at reducing recidivism and enhancing community partnerships to reform the youth justice system.
Both the Eastern District of Washington and the Western District of Washington were awarded Project Safe Neighborhood grants aimed at combatting gun violence. For western Washington $285,039 will go towards projects that prevent gun violence in the South Sound, Clark County, and Snohomish County regions. In eastern Washington $110,648 will support gang and gun violence intervention in Yakima and Kennewick.
Additionally, Tacoma Police were awarded $800,000 to improve their investigation of gun crime. The grant is to fund implementation and evaluation of ShotSpotter technology to identify precise locations of gunshots. The money will also fund additional fingerprint technology and equipment to improve the collection of evidence at crime scenes.
Finally, Educational Service District 112 in Clark County was awarded $1 million to implement an innovative school-based mental health treatment and case coordination program for students who are involved with the juvenile justice system or have been identified through the Student Threat Assessment process. The money will fund three therapist who will serve students in schools in the nine districts that make up the Service District.
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