A New Vision For Public Safety
Over the past 35 years, the Colorado prison population has exploded and the state now spends over $1 billion every year to incarcerate adults and juveniles. But neighborhoods that experience higher rates of crime and criminal justice involvement have seen little or no improvement. By many metrics, the overuse of the criminal justice system brings its own set of negative consequences by damaging families separated by incarceration, straining police and community relations, undermining the legitimacy of the criminal justice system due to racial disparity, underserving crime victims, and making it harder for people with a criminal record to find employment and housing to support their families. It’s time to try what’s known to actually prevent crime—community and economic development.
Learn more about the Transforming Safety project, a community development approach to public safety in the pilot communities of North Aurora and Southeast Colorado Springs.
How did this start?
In 2017, the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition worked with community members and a bi-partisan group of state legislators to try something different. We wanted a new approach to public safety that invests in strategies that strengthen communities as a way to prevent crime in the first place. This new vision became House Bill 17-1326, the Justice Reinvestment Crime Prevention Initiative also known as the Community Crime Prevention Initiative (CCPI), that passed with bi-partisan support. The bill was signed into law in June 2017 and reinvests $3 million a year in savings from parole reforms and created a pilot in North Aurora and Southeast Colorado Springs to fund small business lending and a community grant program.
During the 2020 legislative session, House Bill 20-1215 added two more communities to the CCPI that are located outside the Denver metro area. The communities of Grand Junction and Trinidad will receive additional funding to implement the main components of the CCPI: small business lending and a community grant program.
The impact and outcomes of the CCPI will be evaluated by the state in 2026 to determine continued funding of the program and possible expansion to other communities throughout Colorado.
CCJRC wants to deeply thank all of the community members who were involved in the passage of HB17-1326 including:
Gwen Bonilla, Sonya Chavez, Bishop Jerry Demmer, Charletta Evans, Rev Tammy Garrett, Hassan Latif, Mina Liebert, Richard Morales, Jeannie Orozco, Anthony Perez, Roger Przybilski, Pastor Chris Russell, Pastor Taj Stokes, Wendy Talley, Jariah Walker, and Alexandra Wise.
Initiative Administration
The Colorado Department of Local Affairs is responsible for administering this initiative. Through a competitive process, DOLA selected The Denver Foundation to manage the grant programs for North Aurora and Southeast Colorado Springs and The Latino Coalition for Community Leadership (LCCL) to act as the third-party administrator for the Grand Junction Transforming Safety project. DOLA also selected DreamSpring (formerly Accion) and Community Enterprise Development Services to manage the small business loan program.
Audrey Field
CCPI Program Administrator
720-701-0670
Email