Durbin: Senate Committee Approves $3.45 Million for Illinois Projects
[Washington, DC] - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $3.45 million for projects in the state of Illinois in the Commerce, Justice and Science spending bill.
The Fiscal Year 2010 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill includes funding for the following projects in Illinois:
Department of Justice
• Ceasefire at the University of Illinois, Chicago. $500,000 in funding for the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention to expand Ceasefire, an accelerated community-based prevention, intervention, treatment and advocacy initiative.
• Chicago Jesuit Academy, Chicago. $325,000 in funding to augment the extended-day and extended-year programs of the Academy, which provide an alternative to the violence, drugs and gang activity in the surrounding community.
• Chicago Youth Centers, Chicago. $200,000 in funding to allow the BBR Youth Center, run by Chicago Youth Centers, to continue after-school programs that keep children off the street, out of trouble, and improve their performance in school.
• City of Rock Island. $150,000 in funding to allow for the acquisition of equipment for the Rock Island Police, including an automated fingerprint identification system. Upgraded technology will allow the Rock Island Police to better cooperate with other Quad City law enforcement agencies.
• County of Peoria. $500,000 in funding to create a Mental Health Court to appropriately address the needs of mentally ill individuals in the judicial system. The establishment of such a court will allow the judicial system to adjudicate individuals with mental health issues who need prosecution and direct those needing service to the community’s mental health service providers.
• John Marshall Law School, Chicago. $350,000 in funding to support the Veterans Legal Support Center (VLSC) at the Law School. The purpose of VLSC is to assist veterans filing and processing VA benefit claims through its statewide network of 150 pro-bono attorneys and law students acting under the supervision of licensed attorneys.
• SGA Youth and Family Services, Chicago. $225,000 in funding to allow SGA to operate their Juvenile Justice Program in the Belmont-Cragin and Austin communities. The program provides services to discourage and rehabilitate at-risk youth, ages 9-19 years of age, in two Chicago schools so they will not become re-offenders.
• Safer Foundation, Chicago. $300,000 in funding to expand Safer’s community empowerment reentry program currently in operation in East Garfield Park. This program addresses both the transition needs of returning prisoners and their communities, thereby protecting communities from further crime and disruption and minimizing the cost of re-incarceration.
• Sheriff’s Office of Cook County. $300,000 in funding to allow the Sheriff’s Office to link mentally ill female offenders with service providers and provide case management to facilitate community re-entry and family reunification services.
• YWCA Lake County, Minority Family Strengthening Initiative. $300,000 in funding to reduce juvenile crime through age appropriate programming to at-risk youth and outreach to mothers and pregnant women whose children are at risk for juvenile crime.
• YWCA McLean County, Bloomington. $300,000 in funding to expand the YWCA’s Violence Prevention and Intervention Initiative. Activities would include an increased presence within first responder institutions, increased services to marginalized populations, and additional training and opportunities for racial justice work within the antiviolence framework.