by Fern Gillespie
To assist organizations on initiatives to combat crime in North Brooklyn, Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez presented a $1 million gift in Community Project Funding for the North Brooklyn Anti-Violence Initiative at a press event at the Cooper Park Houses in East Williamsburg.
The grant was presented to the North Brooklyn Anti-Violence Initiative to assist in community project funding for the programs that support violence interruption strategies and projects that address underlying conditions that foster violence. The North Brooklyn Anti-Violence Initiative is a coalition of local organizations including St. Nicks Alliance, Southside Units HDFC-Los Sures, Riseboro Community Partnership, Cooper Park Resident Council, Bushwick Houses Resident Association, and others.

New York City has seen a startling increase in gun and overall violence over the past year much of it centered in neighborhoods with low-income communities of color and public housing. The funding will help the North Brooklyn Anti-Violence Initiative expand successful violence reduction programs that have dramatically reduced gun violence in communities where they have been implemented.
“We know we cannot police or incarcerate our way out of this violence epidemic. That is why anti-violence groups that are embedded in our communities are so critical. And that is why I fought to secure funding for the North Brooklyn Anti-Violence Initiative,” stated Congresswoman Velázquez. “This funding will help expand violence interruption in North Brooklyn, beginning with the Cooper Park Houses community. This holistic approach to violence prevention will help make our communities safer and provide meaningful alternatives for residents.”
The money will help establish positive options for children, youth and families facing increased violence, create employment, training and education opportunities while simultaneously addressing the threat of eviction from housing while enabling those vulnerable to violence to secure housing.

Michael Rochford, Executive Director of St. Nick’s Alliance; Juan Ramos, Director of the WICK and Los Sures; Debra Benders, President of the Cooper Park Resident Association and Maria Viera, Vice President of Community Affairs at RiseBoro Community Partnership.