Your East Baton Rouge MetroCouncil approved an application to the federal government for a $125 million grant to the EBR Police Department, under a program called the Model Cities Initiative. Problem is, we don't know what the cops will use this money for, but since it comes from Trump, we know that it won't be good. Put your information in the form and you'll be directed to our tool to send an email to your MetroCouncil member and the Mayor demanding transparency.

The United States ‘Department of Justice’ is offering a $300 million dollar pool of money for cities to ‘reduce violent crime’ and ‘restore law and order.’ Of course, the East Baton Rouge Police Department applied, only informing the city council the day before the application closed. The ‘emergency meeting’ was called under the guise of a clerical oversight- that being the need for the MetroCouncil’s approval and Mayor-President’s signature.

The Model Cities Initiative is a repurposed federal program originally intended to alleviate poverty by improving access to housing, health, education, and jobs. Now, decades later, the government is reviving the name for an effort that is not a war on poverty, but a war on the poor. Cities will be competing to show who can be the most repressive.

The grant can be used for BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• Real-time crime centers
• License plate readers
• Artificial intelligence systems
• Small unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”)
• Counter-UAS
• Ballistic identification systems
• IT upgrades (including but not limited to systems that connect jails, prisons, and entities in the community that provide pre- and post-reentry services).

Contact your city council member and tell them that YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THE MODEL CITIES INITIATIVE!

• It’s unsustainable- what happens when the money runs out?
• Spend money on the community services that reduce crime BY ALLEVIATING POVERTY with housing, healthcare, education, and union jobs!

This email campaign was created by the Baton Rouge Democratic Socialists of America (BRDSA). Learn more and join at brdsa.org