Jade Powell
240:15 - 240:54
“I've seen the work that the HOPE and MIT teams do firsthand, including responding to incidents involving the homeless youth I work with, and it is an essential core cost-saving service that the city provides that provides both better outcomes and avoided costs to other city services. It is laughably misguided to even float the possibility of this cut.”
- Speaker
- Jade Powell
- Timestamp
- 240:15 – 240:54
- Community
- Alaska News
- Location
- Anchorage
- Captured at
- November 4, 2026
From the transcript
I've seen the work that the HOPE and MIT teams do firsthand, including responding to incidents involving the homeless youth I work with, and it is an essential core cost-saving service that the city provides that provides both better outcomes and avoided costs to other city services. It is laughably misguided to even float the possibility of this cut. If anything, we should be doing the opposite and moving other funding in the APD budget, which makes up $146 million annually, into positions like the HOPE team and MIT. Our officers, I am sure, do not want to and should not have to respond to every single need in our community. On that note, I would also like to see continued investment in in the next year's budget in the community service officers program.
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