Boys & Girls Club of Benton Harbor wins a violence prevention grant
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- In 2023, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Southwest Michigan partnered with the Berrien County Sherriff's Department to apply for a grant from Byrne SCIP, or the State Crisis Intervention Program.
The Byrne SCIP is a federal program established under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022. Its primary purpose is to assist state, local, and tribal efforts to support their communities and to prevent and reduce crime and violence, with a specific emphasis on gun violence.
The grant application was successful, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Southwest Michigan was awarded a grant of $266,000, with 10 percent going to the sheriff's department to fund its own crime and violence prevention programs. The two groups work closely together to assist the teens in their community, including a partnership called Peers for Peace, an evidence-based program that works with kids on social skills and life skills, led by site resource officer, Deputy Vanessa William.
Sherri Ulleg is the VP of Marketing and External Communications for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Southwest Michigan, and she shared this about Officer Williams "Her name is Deputy Vanessa Williams, and she's been on site with us since 2017 and obviously that helps with kids' relationships with law enforcement, and she's just a consistent presence for the kids, they call her on her cell phone... If they have problems, they reach out to her. And so having her is a safety resource for the clubs and for our kids and our families.
Since 2023, the grant has provided funding for the full-time resource officer, as well as programming and evening activities to keep teens engaged and excited to return and participate. Sherri also told us about one of the most popular evening programs:
"One is our Night Court program, which is a summer basketball league that happens during high crime times in the community and gives kids a safe place to be. We bring in volunteer mentors, and the kids are able to discuss topics. Each week they get dinner and then they have basket games."
She continued "We really work with kids on four priority outcomes here at the club. ...we focus on academic success, health and wellbeing, character and leadership development and life and workforce skills. And we recently, last year, we opened our teen Tech Center, which is in our lower level here, and gives the kids lots of opportunities... for entrepreneurship, for learning new skills... we have an E-Sports, we have a music recording studio...
... I do think that the programs really help give the kids the resources they need to make better decisions, and obviously the basis of this grant is gun violence prevention. And having kids here during high crime times makes a big difference. Having them in a safe place where we know where they are, where their families know where they are, is peace of mind for both the families and the community and also for the kids. I mean, it gives them a place to be doing positive things during those during those times, which does influence those crime rates."