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Business and faith leaders warn ending commercial-corridor and nonprofit security grants would reverse gains
Summary
Georgetown BID and several faith and nonprofit leaders urged the council to restore the Safe Commercial Corridors and Safe & Secure nonprofit security grant programs, citing reduced burglaries, camera footage used in investigations, and rising security costs for nonprofits.
Business-improvement districts, faith leaders and nonprofit executives told the committee the Safe Commercial Corridors and Safe & Secure nonprofit security grant programs produced measurable safety improvements and are now at risk in the mayor's FY27 proposal.
Deborah Bilic, CEO of the Georgetown Business Improvement District, said the Safe Commercial Corridors funding enabled a full-time public-safety coordinator, a camera network and a safety-ambassador program. She cited metrics including a drop in burglaries and use of camera footage in investigations. "The line item is relatively small, but it yields an outsized return on investment," Bilic said.
Representatives of Jewish community organizations described steep, rising security costs and recounted how the Safe and Secure grants covered cameras, reinforced doors and short-notice security personnel. They asked the council to reinstate and increase the program to $1,000,000 for FY27.
Deputy Mayor Appiah told the committee the administration had allocated emergency top-ups in FY26 after recent national incidents but that FY27 trade-offs did not include recurring grant funding; she asked the council to consider restoration if offsets are identified.
Council members signaled willingness to explore restorations and asked DMPSJ for grant performance metrics and the FY26 disbursement schedule.
