By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and the City Gun Violence Prevention Task Force on Monday released “A Blueprint for Community Safety,” outlining a roadmap with solutions to address gun violence throughout the five boroughs.
The Gun Violence Prevention Task Force was formed in June 2022. Co-chaired by First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Man Up! Inc. Founder A.T. Mitchell, the task force represents a multi-agency, cross-sector effort to address the root causes of gun violence and develop recommendations to promote long-term safety across all communities. As part of this effort, more than 50 members of the task force, representing 20 city agencies, engaged roughly 1,500 community residents over the course of spring 2023 through community meetings and youth town halls.
The recommendations advanced in the report represent a holistic approach to community safety, focusing on prevention and intervention strategies that use a public health and community development model to address the root causes of gun violence. To that end, the task force identified seven strategies in the report based on months of community engagement. These strategies encompass new and existing investments, totaling over $485 million, to offer early interventions for young people, increase employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, improve housing security, provide easier access to public benefits, bolster community institutions, foster connections to mental health services, and strengthen police-community relations.
- Early Intervention: $118.3 million to increase early supports, including mentorship opportunities, for young people to prevent them from becoming involved in gun violence.
- Housing: $57.5 million to improve existing housing conditions, especially for public housing residents, and increase access to transitional, supportive, and permanent housing units.
- Navigation & Benefits: $67.8 million to help New Yorkers access public benefits they deserve and provide better assistance to justice-involved individuals and families navigating benefits programs.
- Community Vitality: $8.64 million to invest in public spaces, including parks, playgrounds, and community centers to make neighborhoods safer and more vibrant.
- Employment and Entrepreneurship: $118.5 million to target opportunity and skills training for young New Yorkers and justice-involved individuals to give them pathways to sustainable, well-paying jobs.
- Trauma-Informed Care: $106.66 million to bolster mental health resources for young people and others with a diagnosed mental illness, and ensure appropriate crisis response to those suffering from mental health episodes.
- Community & Police Relations: $2.6 million to strengthen bonds of trust between police and communities by allowing greater collaboration on neighborhood safety initiatives, ensuring more effective policing that balances the twin imperatives of safety and justice.
An additional $1.5 million will go towards engagement and evaluation to build an infrastructure to measure progress on the previous strategies. Finally, the state contributed $6 million for the overall blueprint.
According to the report, approximately 92 percent of total gun violence in the city is concentrated within 30 precincts across the five boroughs. Six of these precincts—representing 25 percent of shooting incidents and 39 percent of confirmed shots fired citywide in 2022—are being prioritized for new and expanded investments recommended in the report.
Among those six precincts is the 75th, which covers Cypress Hill and East New York, a community that shares a border with Howard Beach.
