Saint Paul city leaders have announced plans to leverage $10 million from the American Rescue Plan for public safety improvements.
That includes $4 million for neighborhood safety grants, as well $2 million for police recruitment, and at least $1 million for parks and recreation improvement and increased street safety.
“We are realizing in St. Paul, the most comprehensive, the most coordinated, and the most data-driven approach to public safety that our city has ever endeavored,” says Saint Paul mayor Melvin Carter. “Our approach to neighborhood safety is not either-or, it has to be both, and with these federal investments, we’ll continue to make investments necessary to achieve safer outcomes in our neighborhoods.”
Carter says there needs to be proactive investments to ensure a public safety strategy that helps prevent crime before it happens.
Carter revealed how the city is using federal American Rescue Plan funds to bolster programs to improve public safety, saying they have been very intentional about where the money will help the most.
“The complex, comprehensive public safety strategy requires coordinated and proactive investments to reduce the likelihood something dangerous will happen in the first place,” says Mayor Carter. “That’s why we’re so intentional about building this comprehensive framework that invests in the well-being of our residents.”
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith joined Carter for Friday's announcement at the Frogtown Community Center. Klobuchar talked about the importance of investing in law enforcement and investing in every step of the process.
“If you arrest someone for a crime, but then there’s no consequences, even if maybe it isn’t the biggest crime, there has to be some kind of consequences,” said Senator Klobuchar. “If you don’t have consequences, or you don’t get someone into treatment, or you don’t get someone mental health care they need, because there’s a backlog, then you’re not going to help the person.”
Smith talked about how important it was for St. Paul’s leadership to act on the “epidemic of gun violence” in the community.
“This project springs from the core value that everyone deserves to feel safe in their homes and their communities,” Senator Smith says. “It’s meaningful that we’re doing this here at the incredible Frogtown Community Center, a community that is full of so many assets, so much richness, so much potential, and so much possibility. This project also springs from the understanding that community violence disproportionately affects communities of color and poor communities.”
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