Explanation
This ordinance authorizes the Director of the Department of Public Safety to enter into a grant agreement with Community Refugee & Immigrant Services (CRIS) in support of its Victims of Crime Program.
CRIS’s Victims of Crime Program works alongside survivors to build safety plans, promote connection, restoration, and wellness, and to ensure full and equitable access to the justice system. It provides court accompaniment to survivors to ensure they are able to attend court dates and coordinate communication with prosecutors, civil attorneys, interpreters and court advocates while also educating survivors on their rights, laws, systems and processes. It helps individuals and families reach economic stability and ensure that basic needs are being met. It also engages in systems advocacy: identifying barriers created by institutional practices and advocate specific improvements that will promote a more welcoming and equitable city for all survivors. The targeted constituencies are foreign-born individuals and families who have experienced victimization in Columbus. Primary populations include Bhutanese, Arab, Hispanic , Latino, Congolese, Somali, Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Afghan communities. Program activities fall under three categories: individual advocacy, outreach, and community education. The proposed budget amendment will allow CRIS to increase staff hours and hire a new full time bilingual advocate in support of the program.
FISCAL IMPACT: Funding for this grant agreement is available within the Reimagine Safety subfund.
EMERGENCY DESIGNATION: Emergency action is requested in order to immediately provide resources necessary to support the Victims of Crime Program for New American communities.
Title
To authorize the Director of the Department of Public Safety to enter into a grant agreement with Community Refugee & Immigrant Services (CRIS) in support of the Victims of Crime Program; to authorize an appropriation of $53,000.00 within the Reimagine Safety subfund; to authorize a transfer, appropriation, and expenditure within the general fund; and to declare an emergency. ($53,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, Council’s Reimagining Public Safety effort has provided funding for many different community stakeholders with the goal of reducing violence and supporting victims; and
WHEREAS, CRIS’s Victims of Crime Program works alongside survivors to build safety plans, promote connection, restoration, and wellness, and to ensure full and equitable access to the justice system; and
WHEREAS, this ordinance authorizes the the Director of the Department of Safety to enter into a grant agreement with CRIS in support of the Victims of Crime Program; and
WHEREAS, the funding necessary for this ordinance is available in the Reimagine Safety subfund; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Public Safety in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to enter into a grant agreement in support of victims services in order to provide resources necessary to support the Victims of Crime Program; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of the Department of Public Safety is hereby authorized and directed to enter into a grant agreement with Community Refugee & Immigrant Services in support of its Victims of Crime Program.
SECTION 2. That the Auditor is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate $53,000.00 within the Reimagine Safety subfund; fund 1000, subfund 100019, in Transfers-10 per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 3. That the Auditor is hereby authorized and directed to transfer $53,000.00 within the general fund per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 4. That the Auditor is hereby authorized to appropriate $53,000.00 within the general fund, fund 1000, subfund 100010, to the Department of Public Safety in Services-03 per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 5. That per the action authorized by Section 1 of this ordinance, the expenditure of $53,000.00 is hereby authorized per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 6. That the funds necessary to carry out the purpose of this ordinance are hereby deemed appropriated, and the City Auditor shall establish such accounting codes as necessary.
SECTION 7. That the City Auditor is authorized to make any accounting changes to revise the funding source for all contracts or contract modifications associated with this ordinance.
SECTION 8. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be 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.