More Weed and Seed funds will come to Edgecliff

The Edgecliff neighborhood might not look like it’s $220,000 richer.

But small things have started making the neighborhood a better place in the past year, said Rick Scott, who has been overseeing money used to fund community programs.

This summer, grant money paid for extra officers to patrol the neighborhood. There was a communitywide cleanup day where people could bring trash to Dumpsters for free. Organizers have been hosting activity nights at Pratt Elementary School. Recently 70 people turned up to see the movie “Shrek 2.”

Edgecliff – which sits at the western edge of Spokane Valley – got a federal grant this year to help reduce crime and bring in beneficial programs. The Weed and Seed money, as it’s called, comes from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The grant can be renewed up to five years and the group recently found out it will get money next year as well. This week, Spokane County Commissioners earmarked $224,219 of money from the U.S. Department of Justice for Edgecliff to spend next year.

Next year, Scott said he hopes to start an open gym for older kids at Pratt. He expects the police officers to once again work extra duty and add patrols to the neighborhood. Scott said he’s also talked with code enforcement about the possibility of providing one-time vouchers to people to help them dump excess garbage.

The grant will also continue to pay for educators to be trained to teach social responsibility classes to students.

“I’m really pleased with some of the programs we have,” Scott said.