Elected leaders push for funding for youth program in bid to reduce gun violence

This past Memorial Day was marked by several shootings across the city. The NYPD says a total of 13 people were shot in a six-hour span on Monday, including a 15-year-old Bronx boy who was killed.

News 12 Staff

Jun 3, 2021, 9:36 PM

Updated 1,219 days ago

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Local lawmakers came together Thursday to call for funding for a local youth program amid a surge in crime in the city as coronavirus cases reach record lows. 
This past Memorial Day was marked by several shootings across the city. The NYPD says a total of 13 people were shot in a six-hour span on Monday, including a 15-year-old Bronx boy who was killed. 
Lawmakers gathered at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi to support the hospital’s “Stand Up to Violence” program. 
The program was created in 2014 in response to neighborhood shootings. 
Lawmakers say $400,000 in funds would help expand the program and hire additional staff to work directly with youth and the community to help reduce gun violence on the streets. 
Officials say that the program has led to at least a 50% reduction in gunshot victims being brought back to the emergency room within seven years because of another violent incident.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she’s confident it will get the green light. 
Lawmakers say they will be traveling to the nation’s capital to lobby for funding and additional resources for gun violence prevention programs like this one, trying to make a difference in neighborhoods across the city.