AURORA | Crime actually will pay in an unusual way for Aurora and Colorado Springs soon.
The two cities will soon be on the receiving end of a multi-million dollar investment from the state as part of a crime prevention pilot program that passed out of the state legislature earlier this year.
Aurora and Colorado Springs will receive $1.5 million each annually over the next three years to fund community-based programs intended to reduce the crime rate. The two cities will also each receive $500,000 annually for a micro-lending program designed to spur economic activity in the designated areas.
Although the money targets economic development in struggling urban areas, the cash comes from savings in the state’s parole budget. Money saved by parolee good behavior will now be targeted at notions that keep people from becoming criminals in the first place.
The way the bill is written, the state’s Department of Local Affairs will choose local foundations that currently work in the targeted areas to help administer the grant program. A local advisory board will be formed by the foundation through a process that Aurora’s City Council will approve.
The department must select a partner to administer the loan program and the grant program by Sept. 10. DOLA is currently in the process of finding a local organization to work within each community so they can finalize the grant award process. The agency is also working to find community development financial institutions to help administer the micro-loan program. Loans must be limited to a term of five years and no greater than $50,000.
“It’s really an interesting partnership model that is different. And it is exciting because it is innovative and we’re excited to help get the money out into the community,” Rachel Harlow Schalk, deputy director of DOLA, said during a town hall meeting July 20. “The intention is for your local planning committees to put together a needs analysis and summary and identify the best ways for your community to address its needs.”
Included in the bill is a provision that the local groups that will be chosen to help administer the program must hire an outside agency to analyze the impact the program has on the community and if improvements are made.
Funding for HB 1326 was freed from the state Department of Corrections budget due to a reduction in how long nonviolent parolees could be sent back to jail for technical violations of their parole. A technical violation could be something as small as missing a meeting with a parole officer or missing a curfew.
For the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the amount saved by the change is about $5.8 million which means funding for the program is almost completely revenue neutral.
“Corrections is expensive. It costs about $35,000 a year to keep somebody locked up inside. (It costs) $6,000 or $7,000 to send someone to community college for a year,” Aurora Rep. Mike Weissman said during a town hall meeting on his support for the bill. “There is a cost when we impose the sanction of criminal law on people. Sometimes we need to do it but we need to be thoughtful in how we do it and that’s what this bill is about.”
The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition was one of the major advocates on behalf of the bill. Christie Donner, the founder and executive director of CCJRC, said the bill achieves two major goals of the organization: working on the front end to reduce the crime rate and making it easier for parolees to reenter the community.
“We have a lot of people that come out of prison and they struggle. They struggle to find a job, find a place to live meet all the financial responsibilities they have. And if they’re not compliant they can go back to prison even for things that aren’t crimes,” Donner said. “Putting people who are unstable in prison for 90 days or 180 days does not make them more stable.”