State of emergency extended
Money is going to community-based intervention programs
Gov. Kathy Hochul extended the gun violence state of emergency again as her administration continues to address what has been defined as a public health crisis.
The state has now awarded nearly 80 percent of its promised $159 million to programs focused on gun violence prevention. The latest major grant given out was $6.2 million for community- and hospital-based gun violence intervention programs. The money was announced Monday by Hochul during an event in Westchester County with U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewartcousins.
Some of the $6.2 million is expected to go to programs in the Capital Region, according to the governor’s office.
In Albany, Trinity Alliance is to receive $311,510 to pay for six community-based street outreach workers. Trinity’s Troy office will receive $42,748 for one position. Albany and Troy join 10 other cities in the state, outside of New York City, to receive the community-based street outreach worker money.
Albany, along with six other cities outside of New York City, will receive $1.88 million to fund 23 hospital-based street outreach workers and social workers or mental health professionals.
The city of Albany saw its 17th homicide this week, which ties the number of homicides in 2020 — a year in which gun violence was at a level not seen in decades.
“It’s like fighting a pandemic,” Hochul said in Westchester. “We have a pandemic of violence in our streets, and we will treat it like we’re fighting this COVID pandemic: with science and data and smartness.”
Hochul extended the state of emergency to Dec. 22, following a prior one-month extension. The declaration suspends certain financial laws and review processes, and is intended to get the money out to agencies faster than normal.
In July, then- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the first-inthe-nation state of emergency on gun violence. Facing multiple investigations and having recently ended the coronavirus state of emergency, he said at the time that “just like we did with COVID, New York is going to lead the nation once again with a comprehensive approach to combating and preventing gun violence.”
He emphasized the need for “good-paying, long-term” jobs for 2,400 young people in New York City through the Consortium for Worker Education, the nonprofit arm of a collective of 46 high-powered unions. But by October, the $18.5 million program had created 20 jobs, according to data from the state Department of Labor.
Since Hochul has taken direction of the program, lawmakers and advocates have generally found it heading in the right direction. More money is getting to providers in the form of oneyear grants, they said.
“We’re going to continue these investments,” Hochul said. “Everything I can do to pick up a pen and sign a piece of legislation that will fight back, you can guarantee I’ll do it.”
While $125 million has been awarded so far — with an additional $34 million left for programs to apply for — Hochul has continued to sign Democratic legislation related to preventing and studying gun violence. In the budget signed by Cuomo in April, it declared gun violence a public health crisis and projected steady funding for prevention programs, although not at the scale made possible by the state of emergency.
Cuomo’s executive order also called for the creation of two new entities, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and the Governor’s Council on Gun Violence Reduction, both of which are in development.