Gov. Ivey Awards Grants To Promote Safe Neighborhoods

MONTGOMERY, AL — A few agencies and organizations in Jefferson County just received a significant boost in funding, as Gov. Kay Ivey announced Monday she is awarding grants to several organizations throughout the state in an effort to improve local neighborhoods.

Ivey has awarded seven grants totaling more than $300,000, according to a release issued by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Monday. The funds come from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods

Of those seven grants, four of them were given to organizations in Jefferson County:

• Jefferson County Commission, Bessemer Cut-off Jurisdiction: $45,000 to fund 65 high-definition surveillance cameras to be placed in areas where crimes have occurred within the Bessemer Cut-Off jurisdiction.
• Jefferson County Commission: $45,000 to enable the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department to increase camera technology to discourage crime and to provide needed evidence to arrest and convict people involved in criminal activities.
• Better Basics Inc.: $42,000 to provide students at Central Park Elementary School in Ensley and Martha Gaskins Elementary School in Center Point with reading and math programs to reduce illiteracy, advance academic achievement and provide encouragement for future achievement.
• Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office: $18,014 to continue and expand the Helping Families Initiative to strengthen families, encourage academic achievement and reduce out-of-school suspensions and absenteeism.

“Alabamians deserve to grow up in neighborhoods without fearing for their safety or the safety of their children,” Ivey said. “I am encouraged that these local initiatives developed through this program will make our communities safer, change lives for the better and thwart those who are determined to do evil.”

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide program that brings together community leaders, law enforcement and judicial officers, elected leaders and others to examine crime issues and work to develop solutions.