Colorado State Grant Program Gives Local Municipalities Power To Decide Safety Improvements

By Lindsey Toomer, Colorado Newsline

October 5, 2022

Colorado’s Crime Prevention Through Safer Streets Grant Program is accepting applications from local governments seeking to implement effective public safety improvements through Oct. 19.

The program from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and the Division of Criminal Justice offers $10 million for agencies looking to make physical safety improvements to deter crime in specific parts of their communities.

A news release from the governor’s office said designing the improvement strategies to be place-specific will better account for cultural, economic and geographic factors particular to each community’s needs. The program intends to have local communities decide what is best to improve their own safety situations.

“Successful crime prevention needs local action, and the state is here to help make our communities safer; one community’s issues could be very different from another,” Polis said in a news release. “By providing more resources to implement locally driven, evidence-based strategies we are empowering local governments to deliver effective change for their community. Stopping crime and creating safer streets is a top priority of my administration and I am working to make Colorado one of the safest states in the nation and build a safer Colorado for generations to come.”

Eligible projects should address environmental or infrastructure concerns to improve community design, discourage crime and create safer streets. This includes better lighting, improved trash collection, access control, territorial reinforcement and improved space management.

The state asks those applying for grant funding to outline the area they hope to target as well as the crimes that need to be addressed. Applications should include data regarding crime incidents, specific projects the grant will fund, measurable goals to track changes in crime, details on how the community contributed to the plan, and details on how it will prevent displacement of homeless populations and harm of communities of color.

Recipients will be announced in early November, and awards will be dispersed in the first six months of 2023. Applications are available online.

Democracy functions only when people have access to reliable information about government and society. Colorado Newsline’s mission is to be a trusted source of such information. Newsline is nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent, and it provides fair and accurate reporting on politics, policy and other stories of interest to Colorado readers