Gun violence has declined, but groups fighting it say more needs to be done

HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) -- It's an issue so serious that it merits a month of focused attention.

Gun Violence Awareness Month is underway, and while the city has positive developments to report in the struggle to reduce and prevent shooting incidents and deaths, crime numbers show that there's more work to do. 

A program that supports anti-violence groups through unconventionally raised funds is set up to do the additional work, according to the Manhattan district attorney and leaders of the groups receiving the support. 

One of those groups is Street Corner Resources, a Harlem-based violence interruptor organization. 

On Tuesday morning, it was one of 11 groups to receive grants from the district attorney totaling $295,000. 

Iesha Sekou is Street Corner Resources' founder. Its slogan, "I Am Peace," she said, infuses the group's work, which is consistent with the overall mission of gun violence awareness. 

"That's our movement with young people," Dr. Sekou said in an interview. "You read [the phrase] long enough, you think about who you are in that." 

She was at an event at Goddard Riverside Community Center in which she and leaders of the other 10 organizations were recognized by District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other elected officials for their work in countering youth violence. 

The grants they received were funded through the D.A.'s Criminal Justice Investment initiative, which is made up of monies seized in investigations against major banking institutions. 

Also on the receiving end of the program was the organization Getting Out and Staying Out, or GOSO. James Dunham is one of its participants. He's completed an internship and is now in a GOSO-related security guard training program funded in part by grants from the district attorney's anti-violence fund. 

"They paid for it," Dunham said in an interview. "I didn't have to worry about paying for it myself."

Andrew Blacks is the executive director of one of the other recipient groups, called Positive Influence. Its participants have grown fifteenfold in its 20-year history, affecting thousands of young people. Blacks said that every one of its many programs -- from basketball tournaments, to self-defense courses, to dozens of other activities -- lowers the risks teens face, because they have productive things to take part in. 

"I'm not saying we can stop gun violence," Blacks said, "but we can kind of find ways to give these kids different things and different options." 

He was referring to the latest NYPD statistics. They show that in Manhattan overall, shooting incidents in Manhattan are down. More specifically, in the northern part of the borough, they're down more than 28 percent this year. In the southern section, shooting incidents are down 40 percent for the year. However, in that same part of the borough in the last 28 days, there's been a jump of 100 percent. 

District Attorney Bragg said that it shows that while there's been improvement overall, there's still more to do. 

"This is day in, day out work," he said. "We're looking at all the cycles," he said, referring to the various periods of time in which the NYPD compiles crime statistics. "Seven-day cycle, 28-day cycle, and we pan out and look at the last three years."

Over that time, Bragg said, gun crimes have declined by about 45 percent in Manhattan. Still, he said, more work is needed. Part of that effort, said Bragg, is to consider increasing funding to community groups that provide alternatives. The $295,000 amount is a record that he said he sees going up next year.