For Immediate Release

MOUNT VERNON, NY — Last night, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16) held a youth-focused community conversation on violence prevention at the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon. He was joined by Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard and local members of the community. Attendees shared their experiences, thoughts, and policy ideas on preventing violence in our communities. Director of Safe Place for our Girls, Nakia Hiland, moderated the conversation. You can find photos and videos of the event here. 

“Before I graduated college,  I had lost multiple friends and family members to senseless violence,” said Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16) to attendees. “This [violence] is something that seems to be ever-present in Black, Brown, underserved, and other communities as well, because violence, whether here or abroad, impacts all of us in one way or another. And that trauma, that suffering, that grieving, lives in our bodies. So ever since I came to Congress, this has been a number one issue for me. This is literally one of the reasons why I ran for Congress, because too many kids were dying and suffering and not enough people were doing anything about it.”

Attendees split up into breakout groups to discuss the causes of violence and potential solutions. The whole group then came together to discuss their findings and agreed that working to eradicate poverty and build community are critical to ending violence. Rep. Bowman asked for a show of hands for how many people had been personally affected by violence and nearly everyone in the room raised their hand.

Having grown up surrounded by gun violence in his community, this issue is very close to Congressman Bowman’s heart. He’s also been leading the fight against all forms of violence in Congress and back home in NY-16. His work on the issue includes:

• Successfully pushing for the creation of the White House’s first ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention

• Writing a letter to the Biden Administration which led to an executive action regulating ghost guns, and 

• bringing funding back to the district for violence prevention programs including:

• $999,000 to Safe Place for Our Girls, a program that supports at-risk youth in Mount Vernon 

• Over $1.2 million to Justice Innovation to fund a Community Youth Violence Intervention Initiative in New Rochelle

• $1.6 million for the Youth Shelter Program of Westchester to pilot a mental health and educational support program for at-risk youth ages 18 to 24 in Mount Vernon known as the YouthHEAL initiative

• And over $300,000 for other violence prevention programs in Westchester and the Bronx in partnership with Governor Kathy Hochul 

Rep. Bowman also shed light on the issue of violence in our communities by inviting Jonathan Alvarez to be his State of the Union Guest. Alvarez founded 914United, which supports formerly incarcerated individuals and at-risk youth, and is a Case Manager for Yonkers SNUG, which works to reduce gun violence.

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