Commissioners (from left to right) Piet van Lier, John Adams and Alana Garrett-Ferguson discussing using a third party for the commission’s community grants program.
Commissioners (from left to right) Piet van Lier, John Adams and Alana Garrett-Ferguson at a meeting in March, 2024. Credit: Cleveland Community Police Commission

March 11: Budget & Grants Committee, Cleveland Community Police Commission

Covered by Documenters Lakeisha Smith (notes) and Christina Easter (live-tweets)

Workload woes

Cleveland Community Police Commissioners are looking into a third party to run the commission’s community grants program. The program awards up to $50,000 each to Cleveland-based groups focused on violence prevention, restorative justice and mediation.

During Cleveland budget hearings, commissioners requested funding to hire a grants manager. Commissioners told Cleveland City Council members the work took up much more time than expected, in turn delaying other commission work.

Interim Executive Director Jason Goodrick told members of the commission’s Budget & Grants Committee that City Council did not include the additional funding in the changes they made to the proposed 2024 budget.

Commissioner Cait Kennedy said that the commission has received feedback from community members saying they would prefer a third party manage the program.

Goodrick said the city charter designates the program as one of the commission’s duties. He has asked the commission’s lawyer, Martin Bielat, how the commission can use a third party while still meeting charter requirements.

Cutting checks (or not)

Committee Chair Alana Garrett-Ferguson also questioned whether using a third party would speed up the process for grantees to receive their money.

John Adams, co-chair of the commission, said that they won’t be able to change the city’s processes for paying grantees.

Goodrick said that only five of the commission’s 26 grantees are set to receive funding from the city. He said they should receive their funding within two weeks, although it could take as long as six. 

Read the notes from Documenter Lakeisha Smith:

Cleveland-Community-Police-Commission-CPC-Budget-Grants-Committee-Meeting-03_11_2024Download

Read the live-tweet thread from Documenter Christina Easter:

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Suggested Reading

Anastazia worked as the Cleveland Documenters Commuity Coordinator for Signal Cleveland through July, 2024. She supported the Cleveland Documenters community and helped weave Documenters coverage into Signal Cleveland reporting.

Cleveland Documenters pays and trains people to cover public meetings where government officials discuss important issues and decide how to spend taxpayer money.