The Boston Police Department recently submitted a proposal to the US Department of Labor to fund the Boston Reentry Initiative. This proposal was ultimately not approved for funding. This rejection was the focus of an item in the 12/06/05 Boston Globe.Until we receive official clarification from the DOJ, it is impossible to know for sure why we were not selected for funding. However, the BPD wants to make clear to our partners and the general public that our failure to secure funding was not due to either of the following factors: a) a proposal that was not well prepared or b) the BRI program being unable to demonstrate success.
The Dept. of Labor grant application required that eligible programs work with non-violent offenders. Boston’s BRI program focuses on the most violent offenders. Therefore, it was clear from the beginning that to receive funding for this grant was at best an outside possibility. Nevertheless, it was decided that we could adjust our program to fit their guidelines and submit. We knew going in that our chances for success were low, but given the serious need to fund BRI we went for it. In the end, we were unsuccessful, and the grant was awarded to SPAN, an agency with a long history of working with the non-violent population that the Dept. of Labor wanted to fund.
The Boston Police department will continue to pursue any and all appropriate funding opportunities, which means that there will be some rejections along the way. We nevertheless pride ourselves in our ability to obtain external funds for innovative programs and promote the BPD\’s national reputation for community policing.
