Governor Larry Hogan Announces $250,000 in New Programs for Baltimore City
Programs Aim to Foster Improved Relationships Between Law Enforcement and Youth
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Larry Hogan today announced $250,000 in funding for four new programs designed to encourage improved relationships and dialogue between Baltimore City youth and local law enforcement. These programs are designed to encourage positive interactions between young people and police officers, and create overall safer communities.
“Finding new ways to improve police-community relations across the state and in our largest city is a top priority for our administration,” said Governor Hogan. “Now more than ever, it is important to provide new and promising opportunities for both children and families, and for the brave police officers who work tirelessly to protect and serve.”
“These programs are designed to give Baltimore City youth and police officers a chance to listen and be heard, to bond over challenging activities, to have fun together, and to see each other as dignified individuals,” said Glenn Fueston, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention. “The programs we are funding are part of the Hogan administration’s strategy toward a revitalized Baltimore. Our goal is to build trust and resiliency among Baltimore City youth, and to give law enforcement officers the opportunity to create positive relationships with young people.”
“We are grateful that Governor Hogan is providing these important opportunities for our officers and the families they serve,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis. “Programs like these are vital to the safety and security of our state’s flagship city as we move forward.”
The programs begin July 1, 2016 and will run for a year. At the direction of Governor Hogan, Crime Control & Prevention has set aside $250,000 in funding from the federal Byrne Justice Assistance Grants to pay for the programs, which are listed below.
Baltimore City Police & Youth Positive Engagement Program, July 2016
| Implementing Agency | Project | Amount |
| The Y in Central Maryland Group Mentoring Project | Two, 13-week “Badges for Baseball” programs for 60 children, ages 10-15, from the Upton/Druid Heights Community | $20,000 |
| Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School, Inc. | A “Baltimore Police Youth Challenge” for 1,470 youth, ages 11-18, who are paired with officers to complete an outdoor challenge course | $131,830 |
| Strategies for Youth, Inc. | A customized program to assess police/youth interactions and develop a training curriculum using the “Policing the Teen Brain” course, to be used in trainings for officers and youth | $94,219 |
| Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City | A six-week “Junior State’s Attorney Program” exposes 30 rising eighth-grade students from schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods to careers in criminal justice and law enforcement fields | $3,951 |
| Total | $250,000 |
The grants announced today are the latest in a series of grants awarded to the Baltimore Police Department over the last year. In February, Governor Hogan announced $225,000 in funding for programs to help assist the Baltimore Police Department provide services to the families of victims of homicides and fight violent crime. The grants went toward hiring three victim service coordinators to work with family and friends of homicide victims, as well as installing additional stationary license plate readers throughout the city, to ensure that suspected perpetrators do not travel undetected before or after committing a crime.
In addition, in the fall of 2015, the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention awarded a total of over $1.6 million in federal funds to the Baltimore Police Department to improve the city’s ability to respond to critical incidents and protect citizens. The $1.6 million included a $1,011,443 grant to the department to help respond to the substantial increase in crime experienced in Baltimore City after the civil unrest and violence that occurred last spring; $368,130 to establish an automated gunshot detection system integrated with Baltimore’s vast network of closed-circuit television cameras; and $292,523 to acquire updated software and hardware for the department’s Aviation Unit and to add two new antenna towers in the eastern and western neighborhoods. The funding will be used to improve the quality of the video downlink from the helicopter to the command center.