By The newspaper
26 Jul 2024, 06:22 AM EDT
Eight community organizations will each receive $20,000 for youth gun violence prevention initiatives, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. announced this week.
Funding from the Office allows community-based organizations to pay stipends to young New Yorkers during the summer to engage in meaningful programming, such as mentoring and workshops to improve conflict resolution and leadership skills, or to improve and beautify public spaces that are known areas for gun violence.
“Since launching this initiative, we have reduced shootings by nearly 40% in Manhattan through targeted prosecutions and strategic community investments. For the past three summers, our youth gun violence prevention initiative has served the next generation of young New Yorkers across the borough, all with the goal of reducing gun violence and keeping Manhattan safe,” said District Attorney Bragg. “I am honored to award funding to these eight community-based organizations dedicated to engaging and employing youth, and I look forward to seeing the results of this summer’s projects!”
“I applaud District Attorney Bragg’s recognition that a key strategy to addressing gun violence in our community is early intervention. We need collaboration among everyone in our community to address the issues underlying gun violence and help young people learn alternatives to conflict resolution, as well as to keep public spaces from becoming hotbeds of illegal activity,” said Assemblyman Harvey Epstein.
With this year’s awards, approximately 420 young New Yorkers will have received stipends and services through the District Attorney’s Office’s summer gun violence prevention initiative.
Since it was launched by DA Bragg in the summer of 2022, shooting incidents have decreased by 39% and there are 37% fewer shooting victims in Manhattan.
Favored
Funds were awarded to community organizations with a strong track record:
Children’s Aid NYC (Frederick Douglass Center, Upper West Side); Grand St. Settlement (Lower East Side); Muslim Community Network (Central Harlem); Not Another Child (Jefferson Houses, East Harlem); Police Athletic League (Central Harlem); Street Corner Resources (West Harlem); University Settlement (Lower East Side); and Uplift NYC (Washington Heights/Inwood).