Clearing a Funding Backlog for Community Safety Grants

Cleveland is working to resolve a two-year delay in funding for neighborhood safety initiatives through an emergency ordinance, File No. 658-2026. This legislation would allow the Director of Finance, acting for the Community Police Commission (CPC), to enter into grant agreements with various entities to support community-based violence prevention, restorative justice, and mediation programs. The initiative aims to provide stable resources to local organizations that have already been selected to serve Cleveland neighborhoods.

According to the 658-2026-Legislative Summary-CLE Police Commission Grants Award, the ordinance seeks to disburse $2,226,944 from the General Fund. This total amount is intended to clear a backlog affecting forty-one community-based grantees from the 2024–2025 grant cycles. The summary notes that these small and mid-sized organizations have already designed programming and hired staff based on previously announced awards, but two-year delays in receiving funds have caused staffing instability and programmatic stalls. To address this, the CPC plans to combine the two cycles into a single disbursement to restore an annual rhythm for future grants. Under Cleveland Charter §115-5(m), the CPC is mandated to receive a grants budget of at least 0.5% of the Cleveland Division of Police appropriation for these specific community services. The Cleveland Community Police Commission was established to provide community input on police policies to help strengthen relationships between officers and the communities they serve.

The ordinance is currently in the Safety Committee. Residents can watch for future updates as the legislation moves through the committee process and potentially toward a full City Council vote.

Source record

File
658-2026
Type
Emergency Ordinance
Status
Tabled
Committee
Safety Committee
Introduced
May 13, 2026

View on Cleveland Legistar

Official documents

Sources