KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Knoxville is offering grants to organizations working to end violence in the city. Grants are available through two programs run by the city’s Office of Community Safety.

“These grant programs build on the City’s effort to support groups working with young people who are at the highest risk of being involved in violence, as well as groups working to engage everyone in our community in preventing youth violence,” says department Director LaKenya Middlebrook.

The Spring Break Opportunity Youth Micro-Grant helps to fund groups that give jobs or other opportunities to young people during Knox County’s spring break, March 14-18, 2022. To qualify, programs need to target children between 12 and 21 who have a high risk of becoming victims of, or committing, violent crime due to experiences, including prior involvement with the justice system or having a parent who is incarcerated. The deadline to apply is Jan. 27, 2022, at 4:30 p.m.

The other grant, Youth Violence Prevention Week Micro-Grants, supports activities that highlight the impacts of youth violence during National Youth Violence Prevention Week, April 25-29, 2022.

“When we talk about youth violence in our community, there’s the risk of putting the onus of solving these problems directly on our young people,” says Middlebrook. “We’d love to see this grant program support outreach and education that extends the reach of evidence-based tools, strategies or resources to stakeholders and maybe even groups new to the conversation who want to take an active role in reducing youth violence.”

The deadline for this grant is Feb. 10, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. Grant application forms are available at KnoxvilleTN.gov/communitysafety and KnoxvilleTN.gov/citygrants. The grants will range between $500 – $3,000.