Community Outpost House Program Expansion

Funding will be utilized to increase visibility and community involvement in an additional neighborhood with the expectation to reduce crime, increase police and community interaction, and unify neighborhood organizations.  This would be accomplished with purchase of an existing  residence to establish the City of Saint Cloud's second "COP House".   COP stands for Community Outpost and is a home in a neighborhood that has had issues with crime activity.  The first COP House was established in the City of Saint Cloud in August of 2017 on the city's south-side and has thrived as a Outpost for the community.  The amount of direct spending requested would be utilized to purchase and make improvements on an existing residence as well as provide adequate funding to modify the residence to accommodate COP House programming and office space for tenants not limited to but would include human services, health care, neighborhood organization space and ambulance services.  The new Community Outpost would be considered on the cities east side which has seen a significant shift in "quality of life" issues to include crime, homelessness, and mental health calls for service.