Council being asked to approve federal funds to address gang/gun violence
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 25, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com Lethbridge city council today will be asked to approve new federal funding to develop prevention and intervention strategies to address gun and gang activities here.The City has secured limited funding from the Building Safer Communities Fund of Public Safety Canada.
Council is being asked to accept funding of $665,618.10 in the fiscal year 2023-24 ending March 31 of next year to complete work contained in an approved one-year work plan to address and respond to gun and gang activities.
The objective of the fund, says a presentation to be made at council chambers by Community Social Development General Manager Andrew Malcolm and CSD Operations Manager Takara Motz, is “to support municipalities in their efforts to address gun and gang prevalence by providing a determined funding allocation to put in place community led projects to combat gun and gang violence and address knowledge gaps concerning the impacts of interventions in gun and gang violence.”
Council meets at 1:30 p.m. in City Hall.
The amount approved for Lethbridge by Public Safety Canada reflects the amount in the contribution agreement sent to the City on July 12 for review and signature.
To secure further contribution agreements for remaining funding of $1,045,971.30, the City must develop and submit a two-year prevention/intervention plan by March 31 of next year.
“Eligible activities under the BSCF includes: developing a strategy; developing and delivering prevention intervention initiatives addressing risk factors associated with youth at risk of gun and gang violence, including but not limited to mentoring, counselling, skills development and recreational opportunities; outreach and recruitment of preventative initiatives or intervention participants; public awareness and education; and development or enhancement of data systems to support data gathering/reporting on gun and gang crime or on results achieved,” says a report to be submitted by Malcolm.
The program has no net cost to the City, says the report, because all expenditures will be externally funded by the grant “with an opportunity to have the grant offset existing taxation & grant funded position for eligible work done to support this grant. The City of Lethbridge will contribute approximately $26,402.20 of in-kind,” says the report.
The city in 2022 “submitted an application with a proposed four-year workplan and budget for funding disbursement ending March 2026. Following several rounds of revisions based on feedback from Public Safety Canada, a revised three-year
workplan beginning in 2023 for a total of $1,711,589.40 was supported. However, at this time, only the 2023-2024 amount of $665,618.10 is approved,” the report adds. Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter 4
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