The Tamaqua Police Department is receiving an additional $50,000 for a program aimed at preventing sexual violence and assault in the community.

The funding from the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative is an addition to the $150,000 award announced in February.

Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt notified borough council of the additional funding last week.

Steigerwalt explained that the funds are from the U.S. Department of Justice and are administered by Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

“They informed us recently that they had some additional funding available and they wanted to give us an additional $50,000 for our project,” he said. “So instead of $150,000, they are bumping our grant up to $200,000.”

The first round is to train police, sexual assault counselors and community leaders on how to appropriately respond to and prevent sexual violence.

The additional funding will go toward new software and supplies for the police department.

The police department is partnering with the Sexual Assault Resource and Counseling Center and the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership on the program.

Council voted to accept the additional funding.

In a related matter, council approved a request to send Police Chief Michael Hobbs to Command Leadership Institute training in Wilkes-Barre in January at a cost of $795.