RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Friday that grants totaling $37.5 million would be going towards local criminal justice programs in Virginia.
“The grants awarded today will provide funding for localities that fund positions and programs that help to make our schools and communities safe as well as ensuring our youth and crime victims receive the support and services they need,” Youngkin said.
Included in the grants is $6.8 million for local school resource officers (SRO) and school security officers (SSO). Other grants include funds for local victim-witness programs, gun violence prevention programs, juvenile delinquency, prevention programming and hospital-based violence prevention programming.
The grants were awarded by the Criminal Justice Services Board.
Youngkin has also proposed an additional $22.5 million in the 2023 and 2024 budgets to fund additional SRO and SSO positions in Virginia’s schools. This proposal also includes language waiving the matching cash requirements for grant recipients in the first year of the four-year grant.
