In 2021 the Legislature created the Law Enforcement Community Engagement Grant Project (Project) within the Washington State Department of Commerce (Commerce).  The purpose of the Project is to foster community engagement through neighborhood organizing, law enforcement-community partnerships, youth mobilization, and business engagement.  The Project includes 12 to 15 grant awards to counties that have demonstrated their commitment to programs that promote community engagement in public safety, including Spokane, Pierce, King, Okanogan, Yakima, Cowlitz, Clark, Chelan-Douglas, Walla Walla, Benton-Franklin, Grant, and Snohomish counties. 

To be eligible for a grant through the Project, an applicant must:  (1) be a public agency or nongovernmental organization; (2) have demonstrated experience with community engagement initiatives that impact public safety; (3) have community engagement; (4) have established or be willing to establish a coordinated effort with committed partners, which must include law enforcement and organizations committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion of community members; and (5) have established priorities, policies, and measurable goals in compliance with the requirements of the Project.

Grant recipients through the Project must conduct a variety of activities, including but not limited to:

• leading and facilitating neighborhood organizing initiatives;
• building substantive law enforcement-community partnerships;
• mobilizing youth to partner with neighborhood groups and law enforcement to prevent violence;
• engaging businesses to help prevent crimes; and
• collecting and reporting data and information as required by Commerce.

The Commerce, in consultation with the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, developed reporting guidelines for grant recipients to measure whether the Project had an impact on crime rates and community engagement with, and perceptions of, law enforcement.  A preliminary report was to be submitted to the Legislature by January 1, 2022, and a final report was due to the Legislature by December 1, 2023.

The Project expires January 1, 2024.

The expiration date for the Project is extended from January 1, 2024, to January 1, 2029.  The Project is expanded from 12 to 15 grant awards in specified counties, to programs delivering services in a range of rural and urban counties across Washington.  Certain criteria for participants are changed to be disjunctive—"or," rather than "and."  Commerce's reporting requirements are changed to require a report to the Legislature by December 1 of every odd-numbered year, with reporting to include details on the implementation and outcomes of the Project.