PA Senator Steve Santarsiero informed #NewtownPA Supervisors regarding availability of grant funds aimed at violence intervention and PREVENTION:
“I’m pleased to share that for FY 2023-24, a total of $40 million in state funding for Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) has been directed to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) for providing grants and technical assistance to address community violence throughout the Commonwealth.
“This funding is intended to prioritize support for effective local intervening and preventing measures to stop gun and group violence that is occurring across the state in both the short- and long-term.
“Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, counties, municipalities, and district attorney’s offices. Applicants must demonstrate ability to design and implement statewide evaluation and research activities.”
Applications for grants are due by 9pm on January 31, 2024.
Eligible Program Activities and Expenses:
- Increasing access to quality trauma-informed support services and behavioral health care by linking the community with local trauma support and behavioral health systems.
- (Providing health services and intervention strategies by coordinating the services provided by eligible applicants and coordinated care organizations, public health entities, nonprofit youth service providers and community-based organizations.
- Providing mentoring and other intervention models to children and their families who have experienced trauma or are at risk of experiencing trauma, including those who are low-income, homeless, in foster care, involved in the criminal justice system, unemployed, experiencing a mental illness or substance abuse disorder or not enrollef in or at risk of dropping out of an educational institution.
- Fostering and promoting communication between the school entity, community and law enforcement.
- Any OTHER program or model designed to reduce community violence and approved by the committee.
According to the December 2023 #NewtownPA Police Report, assaults against persons in Newtown are up 100% in 2023 vs 2022 and threats against persons are up 54%. This grant can be helpful in reducing this trend and also improving the safety of our schools which could be targets of gun violence. Therefore, I will support a motion to apply for this grant at the next Board of Supervisors meeting on January 24, 2024,