THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF COUNCIL MEMBER
JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS
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WILLIAMS JOINS MAYOR DE BLASIO, SPEAKER MARK-VIVERITO AND COLLEAGUES TO ANNOUNCE $12.7 MILLION EXPANSION OF THE CITY’S ANTI-GUN VIOLENCE INITIATIVE |
City invests a total of $15 million to expand comprehensive, neighborhood-based strategy to prevent gun violence to reach 15 precincts accounting for 51 percent of shootings in New York City HARLEM, NY: Today, Council Member Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn), Deputy Leader and co-chair of the Council’s Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, joined Mayor Bill de Blasio, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Council Member Fernando Cabrera, co-chair of the Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, members of the New York City Council, and anti-violence advocates to announce the expansion of the City’s efforts to reduce gun violence, through the creation of the “Gun Violence Crisis Management System,” a citywide initiative to reduce gun violence, from five to 15 precincts accounting for 51 percent of shootings across the city. The new initiative expands on the Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, that includes and is centered around the “cure violence” model and include “wrap around” services, programs that respond to meet the needs of every spectrum in the community that is impacted by gun violence. This new strategy employs evidence-based community interventions, anti-violence messaging, and support services in areas with high rates of gun violence, and will be driven by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and its Director Elizabeth Glazer.
The cure violence model, an evidence-based public health approach, identifies and engages individuals most likely to be involved in gun violence and deploys interventions aimed at curbing that behavior before it occurs, including retaliatory shootings. The project employs “violence interrupters,” typically former gang members who have turned their lives around, to quell street disputes-intervening before escalation to gun violence-and links potential shooters to case management and supportive services. The Task Force published a report in 2012 with initial recommendations on how to reduce gun violence within the city. Today’s expansion draws on almost all of the recommendations originally made, including treating gun violence as a public health issue, funding grassroots groups, incorporating wrap around services, creating an organized system, and coordinating with multiple city agencies for a multi-pronged approach.
Additionally, today’s announcement comes on the heels of the addition of 100 Summer Youth Employment jobs for young people engaged in the cure violence program, and builds on the work of the City Council’s Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, and the resulting $4.8 million initiative launched by the Council in Staten Island, the South Bronx, East New York, South Jamaica, Queens and Harlem.
“As co-chair of the Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, I would like to thank Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for their support in expanding this anti-gun violence initiative to the neighborhoods that need it most. Preventing shootings cannot be left to policing tactics alone, so for the past three years, the Task Force has worked to combat gun violence using a multi-pronged approach involving all city agencies, community members and violence-interrupter groups. Though New York has experienced gun violence in ebbs and flows, today’s expansion is a historic shift and important step toward making a serious impact in this city,” said Council Member Williams. “Where New York City goes, the nation follows. I look forward to this initiative setting the standard around the country as a best-practice for ending this pandemic.”
This $15 million initiative-funded jointly by the de Blasio administration and the City Council-expands the cure violence system and will bring together six City agencies to support:
With today’s expansion, cure violence will reach the following precincts:
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