Explanation
City Council amended the 2006 City budget to set aside funds to address specific neighborhood initiatives designed to grow jobs and improve community safety through collaborations. This legislation provides $75,000 to the Division of Neighborhood Services to enter into an agreement with the Mount Vernon Avenue District Improvement Association, Inc. to support its Resource Center activities. The mission of the Resource Center is to build capacity in the community through strategic partnerships, share resources, provide assistance and activities that contribute to the growth, development and maintenance of the area. Activities include programs designed to facilitate community coalition building and development of shared responsibility for community enhancement. Resource Center programs include implementation of a community re-entry program to assist ex-offenders, creation of a volunteer bank, mentoring employment opportunities for youth, programs to engage seniors, promotion of blockwatches, workshops to disseminate community information, and advisory services for neighborhood residents and businesses.
Council members understand the importance of giving youth opportunities for productive activities and acquiring critical job skills that prepare them for their future endeavors, and are working with Franklin County and the administration to find 2,000 jobs for young people in 2006. Council amended the City budget to add $500,000 for the effort. A key to Columbus' survival in today's competitive environment is its ability to maintain and grow its job base. One way to do this is to keep home-grown talent and nurture the community's creative class. The Mount Vernon program represents another effort to improve employment prospects for youth.
The Mount Vernon area suffers from many of the challenges of similarly situated urban transitional neighborhoods. Negative perceptions regarding safety issues have discouraged business development and prospective homeowners. Strong crime prevention initiatives provide a heightened sense of community wellbeing and will enhance Mount Vernon's attractiveness to businesses and current and prospective residents alike.
The Mount Vernon Avenue District Improvement Association, Inc. been working in conjunction with the Near Eastside Community Collaboration to define community challenges and formulate action plans.
Funding: The Jobs Growth fund and the Public Safety Initiatives fund split the cost of this program.
Title
To authorize and direct the appropriation of $37,500.00 within the Public Safety Initiatives Fund and $37,500.00 within the Jobs Growth Fund; to authorize and direct the Director of Development to enter into an agreement with the Mount Vernon Avenue District Improvement Association, Inc. to support the Near Eastside Community Resource Center; to authorize the expenditure of $75,000.00; and to declare an emergency. ($75,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, City Council amended the 2006 City budget to set aside funds to address specific neighborhood initiatives designed to grow jobs and improve community safety through collaborations, and;
WHEREAS, the Mount Vernon Avenue area suffers from many of the challenges of similarly situated urban transitional neighborhoods with negative perceptions regarding safety issues that discouraged business development and prospective homeowners, and;
WHEREAS, strong crime prevention initiatives can provide a heightened sense of community well being and will enhance Mount Vernon's attractiveness to businesses and current and prospective residents alike, and;
WHEREAS, the Mount Vernon Avenue District Improvement Association, Inc. is working through the Near Eastside Community Resource Center Council, whose mission is to build capacity in the community through strategic partnerships, share resources, provide assistance and activities that contribute to the growth, development and maintenance of the area. It is working to improve the quality of life in the area with programs designed to facilitate community coalition building and development of shared responsibility for community enhancement, including implementation of a community re-entry program to assist ex-offenders, creation of a volunteer bank, mentoring employment opportunities for youth, programs to engage seniors, promotion of blockwatches, workshops to disseminate community information, and advisory services for neighborhood residents and businesses, and:
WHEREAS, these projects seek to establish partnerships that are not only geared toward crime and safety, but that also enhance economic and neighborhood development, and;
WHEREAS, because of the wide-ranging impacts of these programs, including public safety concerns, Council members Michael C. Mentel, Kevin Boyce, and Mary Jo Hudson sponsor this legislation and deem it an appropriate use of a portion of the Public Safety Initiatives Fund and Jobs Growth Fund created by Council in its 2006 budget amendments, and;
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the City, in that it is immediately necessary to support the Mount Vernon Avenue District Improvement Association, Inc. programming for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS
SECTION 1. That the City Auditor is hereby authorized to appropriate $37,500.00 within the Public Safety Initiatives Fund, 016, to the Division of Neighborhood Services, Department 44-05, OL1 03, OL3 3337, OCA 440516.
SECTION 2. That the City Auditor is hereby authorized to appropriate $37,500.00 within the Jobs Growth Fund, 015, to the Division of Neighborhood Services, Department 44-05, OL1 03, OL3 3337, OCA 440515.
SECTION 3. That the Development Director be and is hereby authorized and directed to enter into agreement with the Mount Vernon Avenue District Improvement Association, Inc., to support the Near Eastside Community Resource Center, and to expend $75,000.00 for said purpose from the sources outlined above in SECTIONs 1 and 2.
SECTION 4. That this contract is awarded pursuant to Section 329.15 of the Columbus City Codes, 1959, as amended.
SECTION 5. That for reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.