How Baltimore City is planning to work with community-based organizations operating the Safe Streets program moving forward remains a question after changes started, and the public remains unclear how much groups will be getting.
Moving away from the patchwork of seven different nonprofits operating the 10 different locations, Mayor Brandon Scott announced the city was moving the oversight and implementation of the community violence intervention program to just two groups: LifeBridge Health Center for Hope and the Associated Catholic Charities. Both non-profits had previously managed a Safe Streets location.
The switch is already underway, with some locations migrating to LifeBridge in October. The rest of the process will be complete in January 2023, the Scott Administration said. However, the new contracts have not been made available to the public yet.
When asked, Mayor Scott said the contracts will go through the normal process, which includes coming before the Board of Estimates, which is the city’s spending board and chaired by City Council President Nick Mosby.
FOX45 News sent questions about the process in which Safe Streets funds are distributed to Comptroller Bill Henry and City Solicitor Jim Shea looking for information about:
The metrics used to determine the disbursement of funds to the Safe Streets program.
Any and all contracts / RFPs between the City of Baltimore and the organizations that administer Safe
Shea ignored the questions. A spokesperson for Henry’s office told FOX45 News they would provide a response by Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, it’s still unclear if a meeting took place with Mosby and the Mayor’s team to talk about the Safe Streets changes, despite the two leaders sitting together at the Board of Estimates.
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