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ALABAMA

$100,000 awarded to curb youth violence

Two community groups will boost their efforts to reduce crime among youth after the Central Alabama Community Foundation announced the recipients of their $100,000 "Curbing Violence" focus grant Wednesday at the Montgomery Area Council on Aging's Archibald Senior Center.

Common Ground Montgomery and the Helping Montgomery Families Initiative with the District Attorney's Office will share the grant money and will each receive a $50,000 check later this month.

Common Ground and HMFI were two of four local finalists the foundation considered.

Deciding both finalists and recipients was difficult, according to Burton Ward, president of CACF. "The four finalists were all fabulous organizations. We had a hard time narrowing it down to the two that we did decide to award," Ward said.

The "Curbing Violence" grant is the largest grant awarded by CACF and is given to an organization or two organizations to help reduce violence by identifying and combating the long-term root causes of violence in the River Region.

The solution to combating crime must focus on children, Ward said. "The focus grant is for curbing the violence in the River Region and especially focused at youth and what violence they have been involved with and how we can deter them from future violence," Ward said.

"The Helping Montgomery Families Initiative really works to keep the students in school … and Common Ground works with the youth and families after school so it's a great partnership to cover all the bases that these youth are facing all day long," Ward explained.

Helping Montgomery Families Initiative, a program of the District Attorney's Office, was created in 2008 to address a high rate of student suspensions.

Through partnering with the Montgomery County public school system, HMFI works with more than 50 community partners to keep students in school and out of the criminal justice system by working directly with families.

HMFI plans to pilot I-Lead, a new program that places DA staff that includes lawyers and investigators inside 5th-grade classrooms to talk about the legal system and provide alternatives to illegal activity.

Leaders of Common Ground Montgomery moved their families to the Washington Park community in Montgomery in 2006 to help revitalize the area. By focusing on holistic development, executive director Brian Kelly and his team work to create a Christian environment where children are welcomed and character is built.

Together, Kelly and his team provide mentors and after-school activities to children. They plan to expand their mentoring program by hiring additional personnel as well as expanding their after-school program.

With the grant money, they plan to construct new classrooms on their campus and offset costs of trips, summer projects and after school activities for their middle school and high school students.

The foundation will award a total of $300,000 during the next three years to nonprofits engaged in efforts to reduce violence in Lowndes, Macon or Montgomery counties. Organizations will have to apply each year in order to qualify for the grant.

CACF annually distributes more than $2.5 million through more than 400 grants and scholarships to many area nonprofit organizations.

View a video related to this story at montgomeryadvertiser.com

Rebecca Burylo
28 August 2014

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2014/08/28/awarded-curb-youth-violence/14723551/

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