FY21 Funding for Violence Prevention and Reduction

Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (NS0)

• The ONSE FY21 Approved budget of $10.4 million includes:
  • A $2.4 million increase for violence intervention contracts (for a total of $6.1 million, including PS costs);
  • $500,000 to support DYRS Credible Messenger costs to expand the Pathways program to 4 cohorts;
  • $336,000 to support stipends for the additional Pathways participants;
  • $900,000 in capital funds to build out classroom space in the ONSE basement for the expansion; and
  • $403,218 and 5.0 FTEs for the new Restorative Justice Collaborative activity.

* FY20 budget breakouts for Pathways and Leadership Academy are approximate due to portions of their budgets being combined last year within the legacy “Roving Leaders” budget line, which was corrected in an FY21 budget reorganization. (Some Pathways FTEs were inadvertently left in the Leadership Academy line in FY21, however; OLA should only have 5 FTEs.) Due to a budget error, Pathways NPS was underfunded in FY20 relative to the cost of participant wages. Finally, several cross-cutting FTEs were shifted to Agency Management in FY21 but continue to work on violence prevention.

Office of the Attorney General (CB0) – Cure the Streets Program

• OAG’s Cure the Streets program is budgeted at $5,729,132 in FY21. This includes costs to operate the six sites and OAG’s internal operating costs and is an increase of about $1.5 million from FY20 funding levels.
• A substantial portion of this budget is non-locally funded in FY21. Council approved the use of $4 million in SPR funds from OAG’s Litigation Support Fund to replace a one-time Council enhancement in FY20.

Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants (FO0) – Victim Services

• The OVSJG Victim Services budget increased by $2.8 million in FY21 to a total of $30.9 million (including both Federal and local funds).
• The Mayor’s budget preserved $657,000 of a $1.6 million enhancement added in FY20. This would allow OVSJG to open one of three originally planned community-based, trauma-informed service centers in FY21. However, I believe the current plan is to open two centers. I will need to follow up with the agency on the funding plan, but it could be related to the funds added by Council.
• Specifically, Council added $300,000 in one-time funds for additional victim services grants, and $4.9 million for justice programs.
• The Council budget also added $3 million to victim services to provide gap financing to the mostly privately-funded DC SAFE domestic violence shelter construction project, which will fund a permanent replacement facility for the District’s only 24/7 shelter dedicated to victims of domestic violence after the termination of the shelter’s lease. (The District also provided a grant to purchase the land for the new shelter several years ago.)

Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice (FQ0) – ERPO Public Awareness Campaign

• DMPSJ’s approved budget reflects a one-time increase of $150,000 to support a public information campaign about the District's “Red Flag” (Extreme Risk Protection Order) law.
• Note that this one-time enhancement largely supplants other NPS funds that DMPSJ has used in the past to address emerging needs in the cluster, due to offsetting cuts. The total increase in NPS from FY20 to FY21 was just $34,000.

Department of Parks and Recreation (HA0) – Roving Leaders

• The DPR FY21 Approved budget includes $2.8 million for Roving Leaders, supporting 36 FTEs. This is a modest decrease from the FY20 Revised budget of $3.1 million but will support the same number of FTEs.
• Please note that a budget error in the FY20 Approved budget showed $4.5 million to support 68 FTEs, but the actual number of Roving Leaders (36 FTEs) is not changing from FY20 to FY21.

Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (JZ0) – Credible Messengers

• The planned DYRS local funding level for Credible Messengers in FY21 is $4.3 million, a small increase from the FY20 budget of $4.1 million. There is no dedicated budget line for Credible Messengers because DYRS funds this activity in a combined grant along with other community programming, including Achievement Centers and wrap-around community support for youth. (The total funding level for community programming is $7.6 million in FY21, a small decrease from FY20 funding of $7.7 million.)
• DYRS stated that this FY21 funding level will maintain its existing contract staff of 75 Credible Messengers, which consists of:
  • 60 staff that work in the community
  • 7 staff that work in DYRS facilities (New Beginnings and the Youth Services Center)
  • 6 staff that work with the ONSE program, which includes community outreach (supported by the MOU listed below)
  • 2 staff that work in the Shaw branch of the DC Public Library (supported by the MOU listed below)
• DYRS received $590,000 from an Intra-District with the ONSE office in FY20; the FY21 amount is still being determined but will include the increase provided by Council to support a larger Pathways cohort.
• DYRS received $66,000 from DCPL in FY20 for the Credible Messenger presence at the Shaw library; the FY21 amount is also still being determined.