The Sparrow Run community in Bear is next on New Castle County’s list to reduce violence.
Building Better Communities focuses on letting residents decide what they want and need in their neighborhood.
And New Castle County special projects manager C.J. Bell says the BBC committee’s job is to make sure people and organizations doing good work on the front lines have the resources they need.
The 8-person BBC committee consults with County Council members, and holds monthly public meetings to decide where grants need to go.
“Some people mention basketball courts that maybe need to be redone, just different community days, community engagements," Bell said. "One person mentioned activities for fathers and ways for fathers to connect.”
They also look into different metrics, like 911 calls and school data.
“So we look at those types of things, and the graduation rates," Bell said. "In terms of the teenagers it’s definitely a metric that we saw that we would like to see improved and in order to do that without stepping on school district toes is to make sure we give them activities outside of school that continue to reinforce their education and just give them a safe space to go outside of school.”
The BBC has a total of $2.5 million in ARPA funds to boost underserved neighborhoods. Bell says the biggest priority in approving grants is the applicant’s ability to show they can impact the goals set forth for each community.
For Sparrow Run, this includes access to youth services, physical and mental health, and violence intervention programming.
Bell notes youth services are in high demand in nearly every community in New Castle County.
The first community selected was Knollwood, a neighborhood that Bell says was known for high drug activity. Bell says Knollwood Awardees were notified last month, but they haven’t started their programming yet, as the ARPA compliance and regulations take some time to get through. He says they will hopefully they start their efforts next month.
More information on applications and eligibility can be found at nccde.org/bbc.
