Committee approves $10,000 ARPA award to NAACP; Cleveland branch seeks support for youth speaker series

The Garrett County Public Safety and Justice Affairs Committee approved Resolution 20250045 — a measure authorizing up to $10,000 from a District 9 ARPA community grant fund to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for a youth-justice and violence-prevention project.

Clerk read the resolution to the committee, after which a member moved and a second was made; the committee approved the measure by voice vote.

During the public-comment period, Edwin Hubbard Jr., executive director of the Cleveland branch NAACP, described a speaker-series initiative aimed at engaging youth in civic life and addressing juvenile justice and youth violence in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. "Juvenile justice and youth violence is something that continues to be a problem in Cleveland and in Cuyahoga County and we seek to address it," Hubbard said, and asked for assistance connecting community partners and sustaining programming throughout the year.

Council members asked about the age range targeted by the program; Hubbard said the focus is high-school-aged youth and possibly as young as 13. Members suggested partnerships with local police outreach and referred Hubbard to the county's juvenile justice committee for further coordination.

The committee voted to move the resolution to full council for second reading and approved it in committee by voice vote. The resolution text as read indicates the award is "a total sum not to exceed $10,000" from the district ARPA community grant fund; the motion and vote record in the meeting transcript show approval but do not list individual roll-call tallies for the committee vote.