$2.8 million violent crime reduction grants awarded to Indy organizations
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Roughly $3 million is being added to the fight against violent crime in Indianapolis. Thirty new recipients, consisting of community and grassroots organizations, were announced this week.
When looking at the statistics, Black men between ages 18 and 36 make up the majority of violent crime in Indianapolis. And this year, there’s also been an uptick in juveniles being impacted by gun violence. This round of grants is another way to try to address what city leaders call a crisis.
“We want to be able to have organizations that are nimble — that can adjust to the changing of who’s being victims and perpetrators of crime,” said Alicia Collins, director of community leadership with the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF).
The CICF is partnering with the city, taking $2.8 million and funneling it into 30 community and grassroot organizations around Indy that clearly demonstrate immediate intentionality around crime prevention and support programs.
“That’s why we selected these organizations who are able to be on the ground and also working with systems, whether that’s public safety systems the health care system around mental health, domestic violence,” said Collins.
There will be a specific focus this year on reducing initial and chronic interaction with police and juvenile justice systems. New program elements this year include funding initiatives that focus on domestic violence reduction, youth mental health and juvenile early intervention.
“It needs to be a collective effort with the city the systems, the community, the folks who are in law enforcement,” Collins said.
According to IMPD, so far this year the city of Indianapolis has had 262 homicides. As of last week, there have been 646 nonfatal shootings — and that’s in addition to armed robberies, home invasions and car jackings.
“We always rely on the data from IMPD. We also rely on what we’re hearing from our community leaders in our neighborhoods and how they are seeing the shift and who’s being impacted,” Collins said.
