The City of Richmond’s Office of Neighborhood Safety has learned that it will receive a grant of $400,000 from the Gang Reduction, Intervention, and Prevention initiative (CalGRIP) of the California Office of Emergency Services. The announcement was made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 26, 2009.
The CalGRIP initiative was introduced by the Governor in May of 2007 to confront the dramatic increase in gangs across the state and their proliferation in suburban and rural areas. With assistance from the Glen Price Group, City departments and Richmond community organizations applied for and were awarded a total of $900,000 in grants during the first CalGRIP funding cycle. The 2009 award is part of a total of $9.2 million in competitive grants that were awarded to 17 cities and 13 community-based organizations across the state in areas with heavy concentrations of gangs.
The 2009 CalGRIP proposal builds on the previous success of the Richmond Community Wellness Collaborative (RCWC), a partnership between the City of Richmond, community-based organizations, and Contra Costa County, by adding new project partners and expanding job readiness and training services to a broader population of individuals in Richmond and unincorporated North Richmond. Office of Neighborhood Safety Director Devone Boggan has also expressed his excitement about the opportunity to work with the California Wellness Foundation, the California Endowment, and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region: Community Benefits Program, who have all committed to technical assistance in this cycle of funding. The Glen Price Group was delighted to be a part of this proposal development effort.
