SCHUMER, AOC & BOWMAN TO RESPOND TO RISE IN SHOOTINGS

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman will hold a press conference at Jacobi Hospital to urge Congress to provide nearly $400,000 to the Hospital’s youth violence reduction program – ‘Stand Up to Violence.’ This press conference follows a violent Memorial Day, in which more than a dozen were shot and a 15-year-old Bronxite was killed in shootings across all five boroughs.

The funding would be used to add a mental health services component to the Stand Up to Violence (SUV) Program. Modeled after the Chicago based Cure Violence program, SUV deploys outreach workers to respond to shootings to prevent retaliation and to assist family members of those who have been injured or killed. Additionally, they mentor at-risk youth on educational and job opportunities. The additional $400k would allow SUV to add an emergency room social worker, case worker, part time psychiatrist and a creative arts or music therapist.

Both Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez requested the funding for Jacobi’s Stand Up to Violence (SUV) in May as part of their ‘community project funding’ requests – aka ‘earmarks.’ In the spirit of transparency, more background on the Congresswoman’s community project funding process, along with a list of her other earmark requests, are available here.