DOJ’s new Model Cities Initiative directs nearly $300 million toward a whole-of-city public-safety strategy and expects to select only two to four cities with populations of at least 100,000. Eligible uses include personnel, technology, behavioral-health services, reentry, victim services, and youth intervention. Applications are due September 1, with initial awards anticipated later in 2026. Concentrating the money could produce large, visible demonstrations in a few places; spreading it more widely could reach more communities but make each award smaller and potentially less capable of testing an integrated strategy. A few cities receiving enough money to change multiple systems at once could show what works. The downside is that hundreds of other cities may receive nothing, and a demonstration program is only useful if its results can actually be compared and replicated.
How concentrated should a major federal public-safety grant program be?