PCCD Awards Nearly $9 Million in State and Federal Grants

Substance Abuse-Related Initiatives, Law Enforcement Efforts, and Youth Investment Programs among Investments

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) recently approved nearly $9 million in state and federal grants.

"In today's bleak economy, it is especially important to ensure that PCCD invests its limited funds in evidence-based programs and practices," said PCCD Chairman Mark Zimmer. "These grants have been awarded to those programs proven to be most effective and efficient at preventing crime and delinquency, assisting crime victims, and protecting our local communities and neighborhoods."

Zimmer said the grant process is competitive and that each proposal is reviewed and scored according to criteria outlined in each funding announcement.

The grants, approved at the commission's Dec. 13 quarterly meeting, include:

• $1.7 million to 12 community-based non-profit organizations that will be used to implement, expand or sustain research-based approaches to substance-abuse prevention, intervention, training and education services to juveniles and their families;
• $1.2 million to 18 local governments and entities for projects that include public safety initiatives, re-entry initiatives, alternatives to incarceration, behavioral health treatment needs of offenders, prison overcrowding initiatives, technological advancements, strategic planning, and priority criminal justice system improvement projects identified by County Criminal Justice Advisory Boards (CJAB); and
• $1.4 million to the PA Chiefs of Police Association to provide for a statewide software upgrade to the electronic fingerprint capture systems, additional booking center sites collecting biometric offender data, and additional offender identification projects that will help increase the number and reliability of offender identification technologies as well as enhancing capabilities for Megan's Law registration.

PCCD's Executive Director Linda Rosenberg said funding for the grants comes from a number of sources, including fees imposed on offenders and federal and state grant programs.

Grants were also awarded to the following organizations:

• Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) to help enhance and further develop its Protection From Abuse (PFA) database ($98,062);
• Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rate (PCAR) to help support its rape crisis centers assist adult, youth and victims of sexual assault ($244,984);
• Children's Home of York (CHOY) to provide special assistance to juvenile female offenders who have been traumatized to help reduce the risk of re-offending; and,
• Counties of Dauphin and Chester for their Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Victim Impact Panels, which consist of members who speak briefly to DUI offenders about the impact of their actions ($95,516 and $82,628, respectively).

PCCD is the state's lead agency for criminal justice policy issues, providing program and financial support service to law enforcement agencies, victims of crime and communities. 

For more information, visit www.pccd.state.pa.us or call 717-705-0888.

Media contact: Melanie Horvath, 717-265-8470.

Editor's Note: More information about the awarded grants is available online here:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/commission_awarded_grants/19109/december_2011/1057607

SOURCE Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency