Boston Council Committee Hears Three Public Safety Grants Totaling Nearly $1.84 Million

BOSTON — April 12, 2024 — Boston's City Council Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice reviewed three public safety grants totaling nearly $1.84 million at a Friday hearing chaired by At-Large Councilor Henry Santana. The largest docket, $1,705,475 from the state Shannon Community Safety Initiative, funds 19 nonprofits targeting gang and youth violence and has been credited with a 16 percent drop in homicides in funded areas since 2006, at an investment of roughly $350 per young person served. A $44,100 U.S. Department of Justice pass-through supports the Boston Public Health Commission's violence intervention work with returning citizens in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. An $84,000 state grant funds BPD's Critical Incident Stress Management program; Sergeant Joseph King, who directs the department's Peer Support and Family Assistance Unit, told the committee that nationally police officers are three times more likely to die by suicide than at the hands of a suspect. No votes were taken; all three dockets advance to the full City Council for approval.