Civil rights groups came out in opposition to the city’s participation in the program, pointing to requirements that recipient cities align with Trump administration priorities.
by Katie Jane Fernelius September 1, 2026
Humans wrote and edited the story.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration has decided not to apply for a competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that would have required the city to align with Trump administration priorities around immigration enforcement and bans on public sleeping, among others.
The grant was part of the Model Cities initiative, a Trump administration program that builds off recent National Guard deployments in Memphis and Washington D.C., where the federal government, alongside state agencies, engaged in hypervigilant policing. Had New Orleans applied and won a Model Cities grant, the DOJ would have provided tens of millions of dollars to support a wide range of public safety initiatives.
But in order to receive the money, cities must invite federal participation in local policing and agree to support Trump administration priorities. Cities could also be at risk of having to repay the money if there was an increase in violent crime or unrest.
A spokesperson for the Moreno administration confirmed last month that the city — which is in the midst of a budget crisis — was mulling a bid for the federal funding. The news raised alarms among local civil rights leaders who were concerned about the Trump administration’s conditions. But in a Monday (Aug. 31) statement, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Michael Harrison said the city had too many outstanding questions about the program and had decided to abandon the application.
“We took a serious look at the DOJ Model Cities Initiative because of the significant investments it could potentially bring to New Orleans,” Harrison said in the statement, which cited concerns raised by the National League of Cities over the federal oversight structure. “Unfortunately, there are too many significant questions and legal issues that remain unresolved for the City to responsibly make the commitments required by the program. With a Sept. 1 application deadline, there is also insufficient time to resolve those issues and complete the necessary legal review.”
Harrison’s statement said some of the city’s primary, unresolved concerns about the grant were about how extensively the Department of Justice would be involved in implementation and planning and whether the city could ultimately be financially on the hook for any federal deployment.
Sarah Whittington, the advocacy director at the ACLU of Louisiana, one of the groups that had raised concerns about the Model Cities program, applauded the city’s decision not to apply for the grant.
“We are pleased to hear that the City reconsidered an application to the Model Cities Initiative,” Whittington wrote in a message. “We know there are still serious public safety issues to address in New Orleans. And we look forward to further partnership with the City, law enforcement, and organizations on the front lines to prioritize and plan the best path forward for everyone in New Orleans.”
New Orleans will join Charlotte, North Carolina, and Billings, Montana, among other cities, that have rejected applying for the Model Cities funding.
“The good news is that this process was extremely productive,” Harrison’s statement continued. “It brought our partners together and resulted in approximately $135 million in potential investments ranging from Crime Lab modernization, DNA and ballistics testing and cold cases to behavioral health and addiction treatment, homelessness intervention, youth violence prevention, victim services, reentry and community-based programs.”
“We will not submit a Model Cities application. Instead, we are going to use the work we have done as a roadmap and aggressively pursue government, philanthropic and other grant opportunities to fund these projects. None of this work is going on a shelf.”
