The Washington State Department of Commerce, Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention/Community Safety Unit (Commerce) has issued a Request for Proposals from public agencies or nonprofit community-based organizations for its Community-Law Enforcement Partnership Program.
Donor Name: Washington State Department of Commerce
State: Washington
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/02/2023
Size of the Grant: $250,000
Grant Duration: 2 years
Details:
The purpose of this program is to mobilize community participation in public safety efforts and establish cooperative lines of communication between residents and law enforcement.
Objectives and Scope of Work
Proposals must describe a plan to facilitate crime prevention efforts using any combination of the following approaches:
- Neighborhood Organizing
- Lead and facilitate multiple neighborhood organizing initiatives throughout a two year period, including any of the following:
- Empowering community members with tools, skills, confidence, and connections to identify, eradicate, and prevent illegal activity
- Making neighborhood improvements to deter future criminal activity
- Educating community members regarding how to connect with their local city, county, and law enforcement resources
- Lead and facilitate multiple neighborhood organizing initiatives throughout a two year period, including any of the following:
- Law Enforcement-Community Partnerships
- Build and maintain substantive law enforcement-community partnerships, including any of the following:
- Building and maintaining trust between community members and law enforcement by facilitating purposeful antiracist practices and the development of policies that lead to equal treatment under the law
- Establishing clear expectations for law enforcement to be competent to practice fair and equitable treatment including facilitating dialogue between law enforcement and community members to increase the understanding of the impact of historical racist practices and current conflicts
- Community members regularly informing law enforcement, through presentations, workshops, or forums, on community perceptions or law enforcement and public safety issues
- Educating community members on the roles and functions of law enforcement in the community
- Clarifying expectations of law enforcement and of the role of the community in crime prevention
- Educating community members on the best practices for reporting emergency and nonemergency activities
- Recognizing community members for effective engagement and community leadership
- Recognizing law enforcement officials for their efforts to engage underrepresented communities, improve community engagement and empowerment, and reform law enforcement practices
- Build and maintain substantive law enforcement-community partnerships, including any of the following:
- Youth Mobilization
- Mobilize youth to partner with neighborhood groups and law enforcement to prevent violence by any of the following methods
- Helping them develop knowledge and skills to serve as leaders in their communities
- Focusing on prevention of violence and substance abuse
- Empowering youth to bring their voices to community issues that impact healthy police community relations
- Mobilize youth to partner with neighborhood groups and law enforcement to prevent violence by any of the following methods
- Business Engagement
- Engage businesses to help prevent crimes, such as vandalism and burglaries, through safety training and other prevention initiatives
- Provide training and technical assistance on how to implement community engagement, improving law enforcement and community partnerships, youth engagement, and business engagement
Funding Information
- COMMERCE has budgeted an amount not to exceed $3,300,000 for this project.
- Proposals less than $50,000 or in an excess of $250,000 for the period of August 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025 will be considered non-responsive and will not be evaluated.
Eligibility Criteria
To meet the minimum qualifications for this RFP an Applicant must:
- Be a public agency or a nonprofit community-based organization. A law enforcement agency
applying for this RFP will not be an eligible Proposer unless there are no other eligible
Proposers from the community or county the law enforcement agency serves. - Have a primary service area within one or more communities in Washington state.
- Have at least one year of verified experience with coordinating events, meetings, or relationship building activities with community members and law enforcement.
- Have demonstrated experience with multiple community engagement initiatives that impact public safety, and be engaged in the community.
- Have established or be willing to establish a coordinated effort with committed partners, which must include law enforcement and organizations that are committed to diversity, equity, and the inclusion of community members, including organizations whose leadership specifically reflects those communities that are the most impacted by racism.
- Be licensed to do business in the state of Washington or submit a statement of commitment
that it will become licensed in Washington within thirty (30) calendar days of being selected as the Apparent Successful Contractor. - Nonprofit organizations must verify their nonprofit status by providing a copy of their Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 501(c)(3) determination letter.
For more information, visit Community-Law Enforcement Partnership.
