Grants will go to 26 groups by the County Option Income Tax and allocated by the City-County Council. They were named by The Central Indiana Community Foundation in Indianapolis.

Grants Went to Many Groups For Various Purposes

The largest award of $400,000 went to the Indy Public Safety Foundation. They will develop and put into place a gun violence reduction strategy. This is based on a program that reduces gun violence deaths by 35-40 percent in cities like Oakland, California.

Grants Also Go to Violence Interrupters who are a Bridge to Potential Reconciliation

Six new violence interrupters will be brought on, according to IPSF Executive Director Dane Nutty. The interrupters are going to be based in the neighborhood. This is important when violence does occur there. They will know who to go to, whom to talk to and they will assure residents that there won’t be any retaliatory violence. In addition, there’s not any additional violence that may happen when there is an incident in the community.

Shonna Majors will work hand in hand with the Foundation, Nutty said. Majors is director of community violence reduction for the Hogsett Administration. It also provide cash payments to those at risk of involvement in violence.

Grants Help People with Jobs, Food and Housing and More

We are going to provide stipends and break through any barriers to help people with transportation, housing, and more. Moreover, we want to incentivize certain connections.

Ex-Offenders Will Have Career Options

Providing jobs to 300 ex-offenders, Recycleforce will get $90,000 for its programs. Here is a grant to serve people in a matter of days. It will be for sure for people less than three months out of prison. They go to us. This is because the oversight officer doesn’t know where he’s going to send them to work. Often, because of the crime, they have committed, according to Recycleforce Executive Director Gregg Keesling. The return to prison rate is 54 percent. Now, we are at 17. I think it’s important to point out we are only dealing with medium to high-risk individuals.