Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

"Gun violence is a complex issue that needs a different response if we want to end it once and for all," Governor Cuomo said. "A key piece of this response is getting to young people before they enter the pipeline of the system and stopping the cycle of violence before it even starts. This can't just be one initiative - that's not going to work here - we need to empower community groups and give them the tools and resources they need to reach young people and intervene, and that's exactly what we're doing here in East Brooklyn. This is the first community in the state that we are reaching out to, and I believe the product of this meeting and the ones that come after will be saving young lives."

During this first gun violence prevention community meeting, the state and community leaders agreed on several initiatives to respond to the ongoing gun violence in the East Brooklyn community. The initiatives focus on engaging the most at-risk youth in cluster zones in employment and community activities, hiring new community-based gun violence interrupters, as well as assistance for mental health and substance use disorders. This was the first in a series of community meetings that will be held in emerging gun violence hot spots across the state. Last week, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order No. 211 declaring gun violence a disaster emergency and requiring New York State's Division of Criminal Justice Services to compile incident-level data provided by major police departments on a weekly basis so that it may be used by the newly established Office of Gun Violence Prevention to track emerging gun violence hot spots and deploy resources to areas most in need.

In today's meeting, specific steps to combat gun violence in East Brooklyn included:

1. Creating up to 900 jobs for youth in East Brooklyn, including 415 summer jobs and 485 long-term jobs placed by CWE;
2. Establishing summer programs for youth in East Brooklyn, including 100 dedicated events at Shirley Chisholm State Park;
3. Hiring new violence interveners to work at existing community intervention programs in the East Brooklyn community and increasing the intervener staff at Brookdale Hospital to allow for 24/7 coverage; and
4. Expanding community services and assistance for mental health support, substance abuse treatment and family crisis intervention.