NYC Gets Over $20.5 Million in U.S. Funds to Curb Youth Gun Violence

(Bloomberg) -- New York City will get more than $20.5 million in federal funding for an intervention project seeking to curb gun violence for the city’s youths, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday. 

New York City plans to mobilize outreach workers and “violence interrupters,” who would use their personal relationships and knowledge of the community to identify individuals, ages 16 to 24, most at risk of spreading gun violence. The workers and interrupters would then dissuade those individuals from engaging in crime.

“This grant will allow us to further invest in these proven programs and build a safer city for all,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement issued by the Treasury Department. 

Overall crime in the city fell to their lowest in three decades following a pandemic-fueled surge in 2020. Still, high-profile shootings in Times Square and subway platforms kept public safety as a key campaign issue during the mayoral election won by Eric Adams in November. 

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