SPRINGFIELD — Grants dominated the majority of the City Council’s jam-packed July 14 agenda, including one that prioritizes a multi-faceted strategy for reducing youth violence.
The city of Springfield has participated in the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative grant program since 2011, and now, they have received an approximately $2.2 million award from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services to continue the program in the city for the next three fiscal years.
According to the council agenda, the grant will last until fiscal year 2028, and $729,900 will be allocated each year.
“The [Police] Department intends to use the grant funds to implement a coordinated intervention strategy focused on ‘proven risk youth’ identified as the highest risk individuals for being perpetrators or victims of shooting or stabbing violence,” the grant language from the council agenda says.
SSYI is a statewide youth violence intervention initiative that operates in 14 Massachusetts cities with the highest young adult crime rates.
The program targets a small number of individuals, ages 17-24, that have been identified as “proven risk” or “impact players.”
These individuals are determined by local law enforcement to be substantially gang-involved, most likely to be a victim or perpetrator of a violent weapons offense or engaged in high-volume illegal activity. SSYI outreach workers reach out and develop a relationship with these individuals and then offer them a chance to redirect their lives through educational, employment and behavioral health services.
According to Anthony Falvo, a consultant with Roca and a liaison between SPD and the program’s collaborators, the grant funds the police department and the program’s five partners, including Clinical Support Options, Roca, Baystate Medical Center, the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and MassHire.
The University of Massachusetts of Amherst Medical Center keeps all the data from the program, according to Falvo.
“This is a data-driven grant,” Falvo said. “Every client from every partner is put into a database.”
Out of the 14 SSYI programs across the state, Falvo shared that Springfield has one of the best ones. He said CSO focuses on the behavioral health of the program, Baystate handles the medical side and MassHire regional employment board deals with the employment.
Outside of the age restrictions, young adults must be vetted before they can enter the SSYI program. To augment this process, Falvo said the collaborators started a program several years ago called InReach, so staff could start working with high risk clients three to six months before they reenter the world again.
Falvo said SPD receives a small amount of the money from this grant, and no overtime is funded with the money.
“The Police Department takes a very small amount of this money, but they actually work with the gang units and the street units [to] refer clients to [Roca] that were vetted … and then Roca will go on the streets and outreach these guys,” Falvo said. “A lot of these [people], they’re going to re-offend, they might go back to jail, but when they get out, Roca, the Sheriff’s Department, we’re going to be right there getting them back into the program.”
The council passed the grant money unanimously and thanked Falvo for his work.
“Thank you for going a step further and meeting offenders where they are and getting them the assistance that they need while they’re still incarcerated before they hit the streets,” said At Large City Councilor Tracye Whitfield.
Other grant awards
Aside from the SSYI program, the council also approved a $934,419 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to “develop and implement a coordinated community plan on youth homelessness.”
Springfield Housing Director Gerry McCafferty said the yearly grant specifically targets young adults between the ages of 18 to 24, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The money provides rental assistance for up to two years of housing for people with services that help them get on their feet before they have to pay rent on their own. According to McCafferty, the grant is funneled through two sub-recipients: the Center for Human Development and the Gandara Center.
“This funds a hotline for youth to call, housing navigators, and it provides some assistance for housing itself for young people,” McCafferty said.
The council also approved a $1.1 million grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Safety and Security to support the city’s emergency communications center and a $1.2 million to reimburse SPD’s costs of assigning six officers and one lieutenant to the Mass. State Police Gaming Enforcement Unit in MGM Springfield.
The latter grant funds salaries, education incentives, overtime, benefits and uniform costs.
