Tacoma committee recommends $828,855 in BRAVE intervention grants, holds funds pending federal JAG allocation

Community Vitality and Safety Committee Chair Rambach on Aug. 14 heard Neighborhood and Community Services staff present funding recommendations from the selection advisory committee (SAC) for RFP NC25-0083F, the Building Resilience Against Youth Violence and Exploitation (BRAVE) solicitation.

The SAC recommended allocating $828,855 for intervention‑focused BRAVE contracts, part of a citywide BRAVE portfolio that currently has nearly $2.1 million committed from prior awards; with the newly recommended awards and prior commitments the total BRAVE budget across two RFPs is just over $2.9 million. Staff said the $828,855 figure reflects available local funds and that an additional roughly $170,000 initially expected from the federal Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) is not yet accessible.

Why this matters: NCS said the 2024 RFP round produced mostly prevention programs, leaving a funding gap for intensive, individualized interventions for young people who are already court‑involved or at highest risk. The current recommendations aim to fund intervention services to address that gap, with services scheduled to begin no earlier than Sept. 1, 2025.

Neighborhood and Community Services Program Manager Sarah Richard and senior community resource…