Washington Park Neighborhood Preservation and Enhancement Dist.

Safe Neighborhoods Initiative

Follow up on information requested

Mr. Franklin, I wanted to follow up with you on information we have regarding Project Safe Neighborhoods, an initiative of the Department of Justice. Funds available this year will exceed $223 Million. The funds are dispersed from DoJ to the State's Attorney's offices and then down to local law enforcement specifically to fight gun violence. The funds will be used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training and develop and promote community outreach efforts. At this time, I can't identify anyone in South Florida that is taking on the responsibility of managing this program, but I'm still looking. Also, please know that we may have an opportunity to lobby Washington D.C. on funding that the County is looking for and we will be sure and get this in front of the right Congressional Representatives.
I talked with Ted Vitale and we agreed that it was not an item that needed to go on the agenda for the upcoming meeting, but we will continue to try to track the progress of the program here in South Florida to figure out how to make it work for folks in Central County.