State invests in at-risk youth to curb gun violence

Gun violence is a public health crisis.”

Andrew Cuomo, Former governor

Two weeks after then Governor Cuomo issued a first-in-the-nation executive order declaring gun violence a disaster emergency, on July 21 he announced the state would invest $16 million to fund workforce training and job placement programs for at-risk youth in 20 cities most impacted by gun violence.

Nassau County will receive $900,000 to serve 180 at-risk unemployed, under-employed and out-of-school 18- to 24-year olds, and Hempstead, $500,000 for 100, as the state identified Hempstead and Uniondale as gun violence hotspots earlier this month. This brings the state’s total commitment to reducing gun violence to $154.7 million.

County Executive Laura Curran said she fully supports the initiative. “The county intends to support State Executive Order 211 on Gun Violence with additional American Rescue Plan funds for community violence intervention, such as summer youth employment opportunities in gun violence hotspots.”

The Nassau County Police Department recently announced that while major crime are down across the board, gunshot incident numbers countywide are up. In 2020, with most people staying indoors because of the coronavirus pandemic, there were 68 shots fired. This year so far, however, there have been 95 shots fired, a 39 percent increase.

From 2009 to 2019, NCPD had reported a reduction of 36.5 percent in firearm-related violent crimes, as well as a decrease of 27.5 percent in shooting incidents involving injury and of 14.3 percent of shooting victims from 2014 to 2019.

The NCPD assembled a gun-suppression team last year, taking 40 guns off the street. In 2021, the team has surpassed that number. Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said during a July 1 news conference that the department had been working with federal partners on the issue of guns arriving in the county from areas down South, which he said was due to Covid-19.

“Gun violence is a public health crisis in New York state and across the country, and we’re attacking it with the same comprehensive, evidence-based approach we used to beat Covid,” Cuomo said. “We know that simply telling kids to put the gun down doesn’t work — we have to give them an alternative.”

Dr. Chethan Sathya, director of the Northwell Health Gun Violence Prevention Center, called gun violence a public health crisis. “Looking at this issue as a public health crisis does two things: It helps us depolarize and depoliticize this issue…and it also helps us apply a public health model to combat this, just like we did for substance abuse, HIV, tobacco use and automotive collisions in the past.”

The Northwell Health Gun Violence Prevention Center is working to identify programs and strategies that may be effective. “Right now, no one knows what works and what doesn’t,” Sathya said, “because gun violence prevention received less research funding than any other leading cause of death in the past decades.”

He also emphasized there are many reasons for gun violence, and solving the crisis should be multi-faceted. “Gun violence disproportionally affects African-American youth, so by elevating racial equity and reducing disparities, then we can have an impact at curbing gun violence, as well as a multitude of other issues such as food insecurity and go on,” he said.

County minority leader Legislator Kevan Abrahams, a Democrat from Freeport whose district includes large portions of communities affected by gun violence, said, “Because I have seen firsthand how internships, mentoring and professional development programs can place young people on the path toward a brighter and more successful future, I’m especially excited to work with my colleagues at every level to ensure that we maximize the positive impact of this initiative.”

Laura Burns, of Rockville Centre, who is running for the County Legislature in the 6th District, and who has been a longtime advocate for gun-violence prevention with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said, “Communities faced with the daily threat of gun violence require immediate and locally driven interventions — initiatives such as violence interruption programs, green spaces and youth programming help reduce gun violence.”