Columbia ARPA recipient rolls out plan to address community violence
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
One of the City of Columbia’s American Rescue Plan Act funding recipients has rolled out its new plan to help address community violence.
The Columbia City Council approved five ARPA-related contracts on Monday. The contracts are part of the council’s consent agenda where each organization that received ARPA funding lays out a plan with what they are going to do with the money.
The city received $25.2 million in APRA funds to address public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In October, the council approved a resolution that gave Destiny of H.O.P.E $320,000 to help address community violence.
Destiny of H.O.P.E’s agreement with the city -- which ends in 2027, according to the council memo -- includes providing community-based mentorship, positive youth development, site-based mentoring, peer support and family therapy services, the memo states.
According to the Council memo, Destiny of H.O.P.E will provide a Critical Change Gang Prevention program to address core issues of gang affiliation, trauma prevention, and restorative justice; a Youth Mentorship Program to encourage workforce development skills; a Drop-In and Locational Mentoring and Opportunity Center to provide a safe place for mentoring and other activities; a Community and Prisoner Reentry Education program to provide peer to peer mentoring for those justice-impacted; and family therapy to those who are justice impacted.
As part of the agreement, Destiny of H.O.P.E is required to submit an interim report and final report once each calendar year. You can read their program services plan here:
Community violence was one of five areas the city allocated for the first half of funding, which included addressing homelessness, community violence, behavioral crisis care mental health services and workforce development.
The second half of ARPA funding went to five priority areas identified by the community which included access to services, affordable housing, mental health access, homelessness and workforce development.
