The Community Police Commission voted to approve its budget at its community meeting at the Frederick Douglass Recreation Center on Feb. 8, 2022.
The Community Police Commission voted to approve its budget at its community meeting at the Frederick Douglass Recreation Center on Feb. 8, 2023. Credit: Erin Woisnet for Signal Cleveland

The Community Police Commission has opened applications for local nonprofits to receive grants of up to $50,000 for work in violence prevention, restorative justice and mediation. 

City law requires that the commission receive 0.5% of the police budget – or $1,089,707 – to  fund grants. The commission will provide money for community-based projects designed to reduce the need for police enforcement. 

The Community Police Commission has final say on police discipline cases and on Division of Police policies and training. Issue 24, a ballot measure passed by voters in 2021, created the commission. 

Non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations will need to provide a project proposal and explain how it would reduce the need for police activity. Applicants must also explain how they will measure the impact and success of the funded project.

The commission will also consider requests of more than $50,000 on a case-by-case basis. However, the commission along with city council must sign off on those requests

Residents can also individually apply for a grant but need to have a fiscal sponsor – a nonprofit organization that has agreed to financially manage the project.

Piet van Lier, a commissioner and Budget and Grants Committee member, said the commission is bound by Issue 24’s language – “violence prevention, restorative justice and mediation.” But they would like to see new and transformative ideas. 

“We’re definitely open to creative, new approaches to how we resolve conflict, how we prevent violence in the city,” he said.


The commission will review applications two or three weeks after they are submitted.They will approve proposals by Aug. 31. Funding will become available starting in October. 

Applications are due July 31 at 5 p.m. and can be found here.

Signal background

A freelance reporter based in Arizona, Stephanie was the inaugural criminal justice reporter with Signal Cleveland until October 2024. She wrote about the criminal legal system, explaining the complexities and shedding light on injustices/inequities in the system and centering the experiences of justice-involved individuals, both victims and people who go through the criminal legal system and their families.