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Office of Violence Prevention urges $14.6 million to sustain community contracts as ARPA funding sunsets
Summary
The Office of Violence Prevention told the Budget Committee it needs roughly $14.63 million for FY27 to preserve contracts and maintain community violence-intervention gains after ARPA funds end; the office warned that the proposed $6.5 million for professional services would only sustain a portion of current contracts and could lead to cutting 14 high-performing providers.
The Office of Violence Prevention asked the Board of Aldermen's Budget and Public Employees Committee on May 6 to approve a FY27 request of about $14,628,260 to continue community violence-intervention work across St. Louis City.
Commissioner Teal, who introduced the office's three core strategies as street outreach, cognitive behavioral therapy ("rewire") and focused deterrence, said OVP now manages 87 contracts with 67 organizations and targets multiple neighborhoods with the aim of reducing shootings and homicides. "We have 11 target neighborhoods," Teal said, listing areas including Baden, College Hill, Dutchtown, Fountain Park, and Walnut Park East and West. He said OVP has recorded broad reductions in violent crime in many program neighborhoods and that the office's work is intended to build a “sustainable ecosystem" for violence prevention.
Why it matters: OVP's request would replace much of the ARPA seed funding that helped launch the city's interventions. Teal told the committee the office is trying to transition 14 high-performing community providers from ARPA to recurring general revenue; without those funds, he said, many of those contracts would end. "If I can do anything to stop one homicide, then I did something good that day," Teal said, illustrating the office's emphasis on both human and fiscal consequences of cuts.
Committee members pressed for specifics about what would be reduced if the proposed budget remains at the lower level. Teal said the proposed professional-services allocation of $6.5 million would maintain ongoing contracts, while the higher figure under consideration would allow OVP to transition additional providers into the general fund. He confirmed that many contracts end in May, June or September and that, without renewed city funding, some partners would lose support when ARPA sunsets. Grants manager Cynthia Davis said the office is actively applying for federal and philanthropic grants to help close gaps: "We're casting a wide net," Davis said, naming potential funders including the Missouri Foundation for Health, Community Foundation and Kaiser Permanente.
The presentation included program metrics and partner names the office identified as high-performing, among them Mission St. Louis, Show Me Peace, Safe Streets, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. Teal asked the committee to consider marginal increases to line items such as office supplies and recognition funds, and to sustain investment in the data and evaluation systems the office uses to track impact.
What's next: The committee took the presentation under consideration as part of the FY27 deliberations. Several members urged the office to return with a clear, prioritized list of specific program reductions that would occur under various funding scenarios so aldermen could weigh trade-offs during budget negotiations.
