The state will spend about $1.5 million in federal grant funds to support summer and fall violence prevention programs which a group of community partners, state public safety officials, District Attorneys, and police say actually work to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble.
Seated alongside Gov. Maura Healey, Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy kicked off a roundtable discussion at the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester on Monday, engaging more than two dozen leaders in public safety and youth engagement on the importance and efficacy of the state’s Safer Communities Initiative.
“It’s made a difference, it really has,” Reidy said. “You are going to see how well spent this money is.”
The Initiative, according to the governor’s office, takes an “innovative approach” to tackling violence by allowing District Attorney’s Offices to apply for grant funds of which half must be aimed toward community based violence prevention and diversion programs. The remaining funds are used for law enforcement and prosecution.
The governor’s office says that last year’s round of grants, between July and December, were used to remove “95 illegally possessed firearms from Massachusetts communities” and resulted in the seizure of nearly 10 pounds of heroin and fentanyl, more than six pounds of cocaine and crack, and nearly nine pounds of marijuana.
“I think it’s important to understand that while there are a number of causal factors that impact violent crime, violent crime rates, and crime reduction statistics, what we have learned is that at the very least the statistical information supports the value and success of these grant funded initiatives,” State Police Col. Jack Mawn said.
Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early, Jr. pointed out that the money goes toward programs like those presented by the Boys & Girls Club, programs which he said are shown to help prevent violence and protect kids.
“To so many of those kids, the trauma they see on the streets is horrible, but here they are smiling,” he said.
The grant funds can help cover the cost of services for working families who may have nowhere else to send their children during the day, Early said, but nevertheless need help providing direction to at risk kids.
As if to prove Early’s point, after the roundtable concluded a smiling child of perhaps twelve walked down the hallway of the Boys & Girls Club with a triangle-cut sandwich balanced precariously on a disposable plate held in one hand and a wrapped piece of green-apple candy in the other.
He made it just past the lobby before he was stopped by a staff member who asked if he knew where he was meant to be. He smiled wider, bit the candy and used what was left to point toward the playground.
