Indianapolis to spend $400K on conflict resolution in high-crime neighborhoods

Indianapolis is planning to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an alternative approach to crime prevention.

The City-County Council on Monday approved awarding $400,000 to nonprofit organizations that patrol Indianapolis' most at-risk neighborhoods. The Central Indiana Community Foundation will hand out the money on behalf of the city to nonprofits that work on conflict resolution. The proposal passed, 22-1.

The move comes just weeks after the deadliest year in Indianapolis history came to a close. There were a record 144 criminal homicides investigated by police in 2016, prompting calls from residents and city officials to find solutions.

The $400,000 will be targeted toward groups such as the Ten Point Coalition, an anti-violence group that has been touted as an example of how boots-on-the-ground intervention can keep neighborhoods safe. Since the Ten Point Coalition began patrolling Butler-Tarkington after a crime spike in 2015, the neighborhood has gone more than a year without a homicide. The nonprofit works to de-escalate conflict, often at crime scenes.

Rev. Charles Ellis, the group's executive director, recently told the council's Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee that it has been shut out of city money since 2015. The Central Indiana Community Foundation awards more than $2 million a year in crime prevention grants to nonprofits, but the criteria do not include the type of work that Ten Point Coalition does.

"We'd like a process where we're able to show what we do," Ellis said. "We just want a fair shot."

Some council members expressed concern that the proposal seems tailor-made for Ten Point Coalition.

"The narrowing of the criteria seems to fit exactly the mission statement of a particular organization," said council Vice President Zach Adamson, a Democrat. "I think that's a dangerous precedent for this body to set."

But Republican Jeff Coats, who introduced the proposal, has noted the council has no control over where the money is distributed.

The money, slated to be awarded by July 1, will come from the accrued interest of the city's rainy day fund — the same funding source that Democratic council members last year unsuccessfully proposed tapping for a council pay raise. The grants will support high-crime neighborhoods identified by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. There is a $100,000 limit to the grants.

Supporters said the grants could be part of a larger solution to the city's homicide problem. Republican Colleen Fanning, who represents a northern district that includes Broad Ripple, called the proposal innovative for fighting crime.

"I think this money is very well spent in this capacity," she said.

Call IndyStar reporter James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.