Approval was given at Thursday night’s Auburn City Council meeting for the city to be part of a new public safety grant opportunity it has been selected for.
City Clerk Chuck Mason said last October, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the allocation of $35 million in NYS funding towards improving public safety response related to Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) and Domestic Violence cases. The goal of the funds is to ensure a coordinated community response where interventions are rooted in survivor-centered, trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices. This has resulted in a new statewide initiative known as the Statewide Targeted Reductions in Intimate Violence or STRIVE initiative. The new STRIVE initiative funding was allocated to 20 counties throughout NYS.
As a new STRIVE county, Cayuga County has been allocated $573,407 for the period of April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026. The approach to grant management will be to use the Domestic Violence High-Risk Team (DVHRT) which includes the Cayuga County District Attorney’s Office (CCDA), Auburn Police Department (APD), and Cayuga Action Programs (CAP) as the County’s licensed Domestic Violence Service Provider. The City of Auburn Police Department will be serving as the lead agency for this funding and program initiative. The funding allocation will be shared between the three agencies and may also include funding for the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office and other related DV service agencies in Cayuga County.
To access STRIVE grant funds, a STRIVE comprehensive plan must be created and a draft submitted to the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services by February 27. Modifications to the plan can be made in March with a final Comprehensive Plan due by March 19th. The DVHRT is currently working on the comprehensive plan document with a proposed resource allocation of, but not limited to:
- Auburn Police Department – $298,407;
- Cayuga County District Attorney – $145,000
- Cayuga Action Programs – $75,000
- Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office – $25,000
- Additional Service Providers (as needed) – $25,000
- Cayuga County Probation – $5,000
The primary purpose of the funding is to use evidence-based tools and approaches such as local crime analysis to prioritize high-risk intimate partner violence crimes. To accomplish this task, STRIVE funding will supplement the resources in our public safety and domestic violence service agencies by allowing the costs for personnel, fringe, overtime, and travel & training to be covered by the grant. There is a required in-person training for this grant that is currently scheduled for March 2025 in Albany. Travel and training costs to be covered by the grant.
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