LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The Little Rock Board Directors met to discuss crime prevention solutions for the city on Tuesday night.
Two different resolutions were presented, but neither were related to the state of emergency that was issued last week.
These specific measures have been in the works for the past several months, and now officials were ready to vote on them.
One of the resolutions that was proposed was to create a day-labor program, which the board decided to pass.
This could be beneficial for the city in more ways than one as the day labor program will bring new employment opportunities for those who are most at-risk for criminal activity.
Those who are selected to the day labor program will fulfill 311 service requests through the Fab44 organization, at $200,000 dollars for one year.
The second of the two measures would allow contracts between the city and 10 local organizations with the intent to help prevent crime.
The resolution aims towards community violence reduction services and will allow the city to enter contracts with 10 different non-profits where they will develop programs and violence intervention for the city.
Those 10 non-profits organizations are:
- Arkansas Community Dispute Resolution Centers, Inc.
- Unity Martial Arts
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
- Brandon House Cultural Arts
- Restore Hope
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Central AR
- Our House
- Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central Arkansas
- Songbird Multimedia
- Lessons Learned
During the meeting, the board had questions that centered around the selected programs. After 4-hours of discussion, they decided to amend the resolution and split the 10 organizations into separate items to vote on, with city officials voting to enter contracts with all 10 organizations.
In total, the two resolutions will cost a total of $1.5 million through the American Rescue Plan Act.