The South Bend Office of Community Initiatives will hold an information session on Wednesday, Sept. 23, about its South Bend Alive grant program, which will fund local initiatives to reduce youth gun violence.
Director of Community Initiatives Moe Scott said there is $300,000 of grant funding available. Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000, so anywhere from 12 to 60 local programs could benefit.
“It’s not just a solution from one strategy. It’s many different concepts and programs and events and projects that want to deal with the violence in our community,” Scott said.
But some feel that one strategy would have been better. The local chapter of faith group Faith in Indiana expressed disappointment that a Peacemaker Fellowship, a focused anti-violence program founded by DeVone Boggan, wasn’t funded instead.
Scott says he knows Boggan personally and isn’t ruling out incorporating some Peacekeeper strategies into the program.
“What would it look like to have DeVone Boggan to come and do a workshop or training with ten different groups that’s trying to deal with the issue of violence?” he said.
Applications for the grant program opened on Sept. 18 and will remain open until Monday, Nov. 16.
The information session will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Charles Black Community Center. A second session will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center on West Linden Avenue.
