Cincinnati Council could vote Wednesday on a proposal to spend $250,000 for violence prevention efforts in the city.
The city's Human Services Advisory Committee approved the funding proposals in September, and council's Human Services, Youth and Arts Committee unanimously approved the proposals Monday.
The city places money into a human services fund, and that money is administered by United Way of Greater Cincinnati on behalf of city council.
Seven proposals were submitted for violence prevention, and three were recommended for funding. Those include:
- $100,000: Lower Price Hill Collaborative/Santa Maria Community Services--"This partnership will provide counseling/coaching sessions for in-school youth at risk of violence: GED/work preparation for out-of-school youth and will build community capacity to support youth and prevent violence in Lower Price Hill."
- $100,000: School Violence Prevention/YWCA of Greater Cincinnati--"This partnership will provide multi-level (individual, relationship, community, societal) education and support for high-risk high school students to reduce anger and increase their ability to prevent violence, as well as training school staff and coaches. The project will focus on four high schools: Woodward Career Technical High School; Riverview East Academy; Withrow University High School; Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School."
- $50,000: Westwood/East Westwood Youth Councils/Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio--"This partnership will build community capacity and leadership development for youth to have a voice and decision-making in their neighborhoods by working with neighborhood leaders."
"With this funding, three trusted organizations are able to bring together coalitions of partners to work together on a community-centric response to violence," written in a report from the Human Services Advisory Committee. "These projects directly align with the Neighborhood Enhancement Program and the Police PIVOT program by strengthening the community response to violence and focus on the young people who are most likely to perpetrate violence or be victimized by violence."
Besides violence prevention, the city's human services funds are used for homelessness prevention and increasing gainful employment. The money for the programs comes from the city's general fund budget.
