A couple of candidates mentioned the Safe Haven program at Thursday's forum and one blamed the city for its demise. As I recall, the Safe Haven program was initially based on a five-year grant. When the grant expired, I believe the city helped out for a time, but could not fund it indefinitely. I wondered at the time why, if there was a five-year grant and five years elapsed, why was it a big surprise and dilemma that there was no more funding? As I recall, a city that received the grant could not just reapply, so the logical thing would have been to look for other outside funding sources in time to assure continuity.
I hope anyone who remembers the situation will add factual information about what went down.
Meanwhile, here is a very good description of "Project Vision" in Plainfield, a 2005 program meant to deter young people from gang involvement. The elements of this program can still be applied by any other organization today, on whatever scale possible.
Bernice, it was a four (4) year grant for $600K (with four components, including the Safe Haven Program) with the City contributing $150K of that amount annually. After the grant expired, if the City wanted to continue the program, the City would be responsible for the complete funding.
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