'Lives are on the line': Violence prevention funding creates tension for Peoria leaders

JJ Bullock, Journal Star
·5 min read

Violence and crime in Peoria has been a frequent discussion point for the Peoria City Council over the past few months, and Tuesday night those discussions grew tense.

Peoria's Community Development Block Grant commission approved giving $1.4 million in violence prevention funding to six different programs in the city aimed at youth intervention following the review of 26 applicants for funding.

The City Council ultimately approved the funding for all six recipients but not after a long debate in which the merits of some recipients — specifically Peoria Public Schools and the Peoria City/County Health Department — were hotly debated.

The recipients were:

When the programs first came to the council, they came as a package deal to be voted on. But after some councilmembers took issue with specific programs, they were voted on separately.

Goodwill Industries, the Regional Office of Education, and the YMCA all received unanimous approval from the council.

The Peoria City/County Health Department received three "no" votes from councilmembers Chuck Grayeb, Zach Oyler and Kiran Velpula.

Peoria Public Schools received two "no" votes from Grayeb and Oyler.

Peoria Friendship House received a "no" vote from Velpula.

Velpula's no votes were mainly centered around not seeing evidence for some programs to receive funding multiple years in a row.

More: Five people shot, including 14-year-old, in Peoria over the weekend

Funding for Peoria Public Schools anti-violence causes friction

Oyler took issue with the health department and public school system receiving money because they are already government bodies that are taxpayer funded.

"It especially concerns me that this much of those dollars is being given to other taxing, governing body entities that could be asking for these dollars as well directly from places like the state of Illinois," Oyler said. "It almost feels like we're punting the money that's been given to us to someone else to decide how to effectively deal with crime in our community."

Grayeb took issue with the public school system receiving funding over non-public bodies such as the Boys and Girls Club of Peoria and others.

"When I look at some of the great organizations that didn't receive one dime in this particular installment of money, it causes me great concern to see such a large taxing body that has so much in terms of resources to be getting, in the terms of (school district) 150, $300,000," Grayeb said.

Part of the Peoria Public Schools' plan was to put money toward increasing literacy rates in the district for second-graders, something it says will prevent violence down the road.

Oyler felt that plan was not among the most ideal for distribution of the funds.

"My concern is that we have people getting shot, getting killed, cars being stolen, burglaries happening in the city of Peoria every single day and this money is to deal with the most critical needs to stop the bleeding," Oyler said. "I do not feel, looking at this list, that we are dealing with the most critical needs to stop the bleeding when we are funding second-grade reading. It doesn't mean we can't get there, but we are not there now."

Councilmember Andre Allen said he completely disagreed with Oyler's stance on funding for the school district's plan.

"When I talk to my constituents, they want us to address the root causes that is causing the carjackings, which is causing the drive-bys — which we just got a report of today involving a juvenile," Allen said. "The way you address that is holistically by making sure the second-grader is reading, making sure the high-schooler learns job readiness skills that can translate into a high-paying career so they can be a law-abiding citizen in our city."

Allen would go on to say, "I cannot sit here not to approve this tonight when we literally just approved $100,000 for a water company study that we know the answer to when a juvenile was just shot today."

Allen said he did not want the council to have a "facade of fiscal conservatism" when "lives are on the line."

More: 'Enough is enough': Peoria police increasing downtown patrols to combat violence, parties

Grayeb, a former educator, said he was on the side of "teachers and principals" in Peoria schools but not necessarily those who work at the Peoria Public Schools administration building and wanted to clarify his vote would not be against educators.

"Let me make that clear, not so much the people at 3202 Wisconsin (Avenue), but my heart is with the teachers and the principals out there in this community delivering every day or trying to," Grayeb said.

Peoria Public Schools innovation officer Susan Grzanich said the grant would fund the reading program, which is backed by data that shows students who struggle to read are more apt to violence in the future.

"The opportunity is to provide even earlier intervention so that kids don't keep moving through at just the minimum level — they're passing, but there's a difference between mastery and getting just enough," she said. "We want the kids who pass just enough, we want them to master."

Mayor Rita Ali, however, reiterated multiple times during the discussion that the council had approved the rules that dictated who could apply for the funding. Those rules approved by the council included public bodies such as the school district and health department.

Ali said a future policy session to review the criteria would be beneficial to avoid future debates.

"We set the criteria, we approved the criteria, everybody who applied, applied using that criteria. They followed the rules and now we're kind of backtracking, unfortunately," Ali said.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria city council spars over violence prevention funding