City of Three Rivers JAG Program

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act') and by 42 U.S.C. 3751(a). The stated purposes of the Recovery Act are: to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; to assist those most impacted by the recession; to provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; and to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases. The Recovery Act places great emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars. Among other things, it creates a new Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and a new website ' Recovery.gov ' to provide information to the public, including access to detailed information on grants and contracts made with Recovery Act funds.

The Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program funded under the Recovery Act is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. Recovery JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system, from multi-jurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. Recovery JAG funded projects may address crime through the provision of services directly to individuals and/or communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice systems, processes, and procedures.

The disparate jurisdictions consisting of the city of Three Rivers, city of Sturgis, and St. Joseph County will share Recovery Act JAG funding. The city of Three Rivers will use their Recovery Act JAG award ($43,130) to implement a prevention and education program entitled the 'Nurturing Communities Initiative' (NCI). The program will assess the needs of youth and families in the community. The city of Sturgis will use grant funds in the amount of $23,159 to build an electronic system to manage digital video evidence for the purpose of prosecution, investigations, and training that will allow for greater interoperability between departments. JAG funds allocated to St. Joseph County in the amount of $14,936 will be utilized to preserve the salary of one St. Joseph County Area Narcotics (SCAN) team officer in the fiscal year.

NCA/NCF