Hopkins’ $6M fund for crime reduction projects seeking applications

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A $6 million Johns Hopkins University fund to support crime reduction efforts in Baltimore is now open to applicants.

Registered nonprofit organizations are invited to apply to receive grants of up to $250,000 annually for four years to put towards a project that aims to reduce violent crime in the city. The application process, which will close on Feb. 25 at 5 p.m., requires organizations to propose the project they would like to work on, describe the community partners they would collaborate with and explain how they would use the funds. 

Originally announced last September, the Innovation Fund for Community Safety aims to financially bolster grassroots efforts to address crime in Baltimore, while also providing technical assistance and other support to grantees.

The initiative is led by Alicia Wilson, Hopkins’ vice president for economic development; Ellen MacKenzie, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Josh Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Bloomberg School.

In the months following the announcement, leaders of the project held listening sessions with over 300 community organizations across Baltimore to gain an understanding of what crime-reduction initiatives they felt would be the most effective. 

The Innovation Fund leadership used that feedback to develop four focus areas to guide proposals, though Wilson noted that projects are not required to fall into one of these categories:

• Environmental improvements to specific locations
• Programs to provide support and services to individuals at high risk of being a victim or perpetrator of violence
• Efforts to help youth at risk of being a victim or perpetrator of violence stay safe and succeed in school or work
• Community mediation

A news release from Hopkins on Thursday noted that no project is too small or too complex to apply, and that applicants who are submitting smaller-scale proposals are welcome to request smaller grants.

Projects must be focused in the neighborhoods surrounding Hopkins’ campuses — Mount Vernon, Charles Village and East Baltimore — with the hope, the announcement said, that any successful endeavors born from this initiative can be replicated in other parts of the city.

Additionally, grantees must partner with a Hopkins student, faculty or staff member on their projects. Wilson said these partners will help the grantees gather important data that will, ideally, prove the efficacy of these endeavors and potentially allow the nonprofits to expand them in the future.

Wilson said the decision to include students as collaborators stems from the university’s desire to give students opportunities to connect with their community — especially those who actually hail from the neighborhoods this initiative will serve.

“We have a number of students who are from Baltimore, who live in Baltimore,” she said. “We didn’t want to leave them out as individuals who could partner with the communities that they grew up in.”

Those interested in learning more can attend upcoming virtual events, including a Q&A session and a “partner matching” event that will allow applicants to meet potential Hopkins partners.