A variety of programs aimed at curbing childhood exposure to violence is coming to Grand Forks, courtesy of a $2 million grant the city has received from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The city announced the grant Monday at City Council, but the primary users of the Safer Tomorrows funding will be agencies such as the Community Violence Intervention Center and Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota.
CVIC Executive Director Kristi Hall-Jiran told the council the funding would address gaps in the area's existing efforts to protect children.
Agencies, for example, do not now have the funds to visit rural residents who lack transportation into the city, she said. Many staff members don't have the cultural training to help immigrants and refugees. Agencies need to work harder to curb dating violence and alcohol-related violence.
Team effort
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A CVIC survey of its clients this year found the number of children exposed to violence in the home was equal to 12 percent of Grand Forks' population of children up to 17 years old.
Any level of violence is unacceptable, said Mayor Mike Brown Monday. "We need zero tolerance. That would be our goal."
Grand Forks won a $160,000 grant a year ago along with seven other communities from the city of Boston to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Four of the eight winners, the city included, went on to win the big grant.
Janell Regimbal, a senior vice president with Lutheran Social Services, said Grand Forks had a leg up because it had 31 local agencies working together on the grant proposal.
Hall-Jiran said the fact that the mayor and Jody Thompson, assistant superintendent of schools, were present at the proposal presentation in Washington, D.C., impressed judges that "this is a community of collaboration." Grand Forks, she said, really learned to work together after the 1997 flood.
What it's for
Safer Tomorrows would fund programs both at local service agencies and in area schools.
It would, among other things, extend to rural areas a program where service agencies visit new families to teach them about newborns, in hopes of preventing child abuse.
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It would pay for what Hall-Jiran called "specialized therapeutic services" for victims of bullying, more of whom will seek help as awareness of bullying is raised.
It would improve data gathering already in place at schools. One piece of data mentioned Monday was that about half of kids in the Grand Forks school system reported having experienced bullying.
Even after the money runs out in three years, Safer Tomorrows would go on, according to Hall-Jiran.
A lot of the $2 million will go toward awareness campaigns, school curriculum and teacher training, which will continue to pay off. Agencies will collaborate to continue Safer Tomorrows, donating staff time and other services.
Just to get to this point, Hall-Jiran said, 13 agencies have pitched in an estimated $540,000 in in-kind services.
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send email to ttran@gfherald.com .
