Budget & Grants Committee Meeting

Cleveland Community Police Commission (CPC)

Monday, Feb. 12, 2024
6:30 p.m. — 8:30 p.m. EST

3631 Perkins Avenue Cleveland, OH 44114 (Directions)

Community Police Commission office, 4th Floor (or watch on YouTube)

The Budget & Grants Committee is a committee of Cleveland Community Police Commission members. It oversees the annual operating budget for the CPC. Working with the Executive Director, the committee finalizes the budget that is then passed by the full CPC and the Cleveland City Council Safety Committee. Once the budget is passed, the committee manages and tracks the Commission’s spending.

The Budget & Grants Committee also manages the CPC’s annual community grants program. Grants are awarded in 1 or 2 cycles to 501c3 not-for-profit organizations within the City of Cleveland.

Committee members:

Alana Garrett-Ferguson
Cait Kennedy
Piet van Lier

Find livestreams of this meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/@ClevelandCPC/streams

Agenda: When we see an agenda, we will update the assignment information. But, keep an eye out for an agenda closer to the meeting here and beneath the “News and Announcements” section on the commission’s homepage.

Find Documenters coverage of past Community Police Commission meetings here: https://cleveland.documenters.org/reporting/?agency=246

Learn more about the CPC with this explainer from Anastazia Vanisko: https://signalcleveland.org/clevelands-community-police-commission-put-discipline-decisions-in-residents-hands/

Check the source website for additional information

Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Cleveland - OH Documenters Team

Note-taking by Carolyn Cooper

Police Commission panel discusses grant process

View notes

Live reporting by Prerna Agarwal

Budget committee works through snags in grant dispersals

prerna @_prernaagarwal

hello cleveland! i'll be live tweeting the feb 12th Cleveland Community Police Commission Budget & Grants Committee Meeting for @signalcleveland and @cledocumenters! the meeting started at 6:38 PM and the live stream can be found here:
#CLEDocumenters

09:21 AM Feb 13, 2024 CST

prerna @_prernaagarwal 2/22

The Budget & Grants Committee oversees the annual operating budget for the Community Police Commission. The chair, Dr. John Adams, Commissioner, Alana Garrett-Ferguson, and Commissioner Piet van Lier are present, so they have a quorum.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 3/22

They begin the agenda with a report on where the commission is with grants--right now they are all in phases of contract execution. This is all being done through e-mail, which makes it logistically challenging.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 4/22

Cleveland Clergy, Cleveland Rape Crisis, and NEOCH all have signed contracts. For grantees with hardship, they have to submit another dispersal request--most grantees who applied have financial hardship.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 5/22

Commissioner Garrett-Ferguson also asks about the length of contracts, noting that at a previous meeting, a community member asked that they be shortened, The speaker discussing contracts says they are already quite streamlined.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 6/22

If a grantee feels strongly about removing a clause, they must do it themselves. The CPC is part of the city--they are not able to act as a legal representative for other community organizations. Martin, their new legal representation for next year will try to further streamline.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 7/22

The city believes the contracting language is important and uses the language of protecting taxpayer dollars as justification. The chair shares similar concerns to the Commissioner around grantees being able to access their funds.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 8/22

Here is the agenda with more information on today's meeting!

prerna @_prernaagarwal 9/22

The grant manager states that they are still new to giving grants and have a lot to learn. Ideally, they have a grants manager and better tracking software in the future.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 10/22

Another update is around a letter they wrote to Councilman Griffin, asking for $150,000 from the city budget to fund the grant administrator position and
tracking software. They have confirmation that it was received by Councilman Polensek, but have not heard from Griffin.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 11/22

Moving onto CPC Grants Survey Update--a survey created to solicit feedback from community members
and other stakeholders in the grant process. It is ready to be sent out whenever. It makes sense to send out when grantees have received their money but still remember the process.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 12/22

The next agenda item is the 2024 CPC Grants Program Update. Commissioner van Lier brings up how other grants programs have hosted info sessions and that could be a valuable addition to the CPC program.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 13/22

He talks about Neighborhood Connections, Cleveland Votes, or other organizations potentially helping out the CPC with grant management as they are already doing grant work like that. At this time , the commissioner doesn't have any written notes to reference.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 14/22

He also shares feedback received from the Gund Foundation--they found the application lengthy and the interviews trivial. The scoring rubric they used didn't always match the question content. van Lier brings up the idea of redistributing grant distribution to other organizations

prerna @_prernaagarwal 15/22

Commissioner Garrett-Ferguson says they would want to re-grant to local organizations that still have a similar social justice/policing background. The grant manager says they need to revamp their application and rubric as the goal is to have this out there by May 15th.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 16/22

That is a short deadline of 75 days. The grant manager says they can continue working on other grant logistics while applications are rolling in and advocates having one person from the CPC take on those tasks.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 17/22

Commissioner van Lier also says that they did already do some grant outsourcing, giving Neighborhood Connections $50,000 to redistribute. The grants manager says that even with an outsourcing plan, the whole committee has to vote on it and it might not pass.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 18/22

They need to set up an official program for the year so they are not struggling like last year. Commissioner Garrett-Ferguson says they have a deadline to finalize certain materials by April 30th...in 45 days, and agrees with the Gund Foundation's critiques on their rubric.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 19/22

The chair wants to make sure grassroots organizations have a real opportunity to apply for this programming as well. The grants manager, repeating themselves, says the main step is identifying a point person to take on the next steps.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 20/22

Commissioner Garrett-Ferguson will work on the rubric and the application (with the chair) and Commissioner van Lier will talk to more organizations about outsourcing grants.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 21/22

The grant manager encourages everyone to fill out their conflict forms early. Both commissioners and grant applicants can self-report potential conflicts of interest. He also encourages members to reach out to their local councilmembers for more funding and oversight.

prerna @_prernaagarwal 22/22

At 7:28 PM, this meeting adjourns! Have questions? Think we got something wrong? Send any inquiries on the meeting or these tweets to @cledocumenters. Or email us at cledocumenters@gmail.com

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Agency Information

Cleveland Community Police Commission (CPC)

See meeting notes for details

See Documenters reporting

Watch the livestream on the CPC’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ClevelandCPC/streams

The Cleveland Community Police Commission (CPC) was established in 2015 as part of the terms of the Consent Decree between the City of Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Following an investigation, the DOJ determined there was a pattern of excessive force used by the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP). The Consent Decree outlined the work that needed to be done so CDP policies, practices and procedures comply with Constitutional law.

Cleveland voters approved amendments to the city’s charter in 2021 that gave the CPC final say over police discipline.

The CPC was mandated under the Consent Decree to provide community input on needed policing reforms from the many diverse communities in Cleveland:

Faith-based organizations

Civil rights advocates

Business/philanthropic community

Communities of color

Advocacy organizations

Academia

Youth and student organizations

Homeless

Those with mental illness

CPC Commissioners consist of individuals that represent the diversity of Cleveland and a representative from each of the following police associations: The Black Shield, Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and The Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association (CPPA).

The CPC works to empower the community’s voice in the reform process. It works with the community to develop reports and recommendations on ways police policies can better reflect community values. Better policies will help ensure policing in Cleveland is safe, effective, and that people’s civil rights are upheld.