Service Agency Wins Grants to Fight Crime
A local nonprofit agency that provides housing and other services for the poor has been awarded $500,000 for programs to deter violence and drug-related crime, officials announced.
The Community Partnership Development Corp. received two “Safe Neighborhood Grants” from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money, to be distributed over an 18-month period, will be used primarily to bolster police patrols near two CPDC housing projects in central Los Angeles.
CPDC Director Frank De Santis Jr. said his organization was the only Southern California nonprofit to receive the federal grants. De Santis accepted the grants earlier this week in a ceremony attended by Mayor Richard Riordan and HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo.
“This money will go a long way toward reducing the amount of crime and gang activity in these areas,” De Santis said. “The biggest fear that these residents have is the gangs that take over their neighborhoods at night.”
The Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI acted as partners in the grant application, De Santis said. The agencies will receive updated surveillance and communication equipment through the grants as well as a new operations facility to support investigations in the area.
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