COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus City Council unanimously voted to approve more than $1 million in funding to four different nonprofits aimed at preventing violence in the city.
One of the nonprofits, Community Crime Patrol Inc., has been in the Columbus area for more than 30 years.
“We are simply out there to be an extra set of eyes and ears,” said Ellen Moore Griffin, the executive director of the nonprofit.
The organization hires citizens, many of whom are criminology majors at Ohio State University, to walk the streets in the off-campus area and neighborhoods such as Franklinton and Linden.
“We are citizen patrol group that walks or bikes in specific neighborhoods in the city of Columbus to deter crime, and to work with the city of Columbus on quality of life issues such as burned out street lights, missing street signs,” Griffin said.
The group tracks all of the interactions it has and reports those to the Columbus Division of Police.
Two other groups, the Columbus Urban League and Community for New Direction, asked the city to renew grants for the Neighborhood Violence Intervention Program.
Community Refugee and Immigrant Services is asking for money to start a program to help victims of crime.
The vote comes as the city has seen single-year highs in homicides in 2020 and 2021.
“I think every time you have an opportunity to do things in a layered approach, where you have armed police officers, where you have citizen patrollers, where you have block watches, where you have regular residents calling in things. The layered approach is always getting you the biggest bang for your buck,” Griffin said.
Below is a breakdown of the proposed funding for each group:
- Community Crime Patrol Inc.: $375,000
- Columbus Urban League: $329,500
- Community for New Direction: $329,500
- Community Refugee & Immigrant Services: $53,000