View a recap of the Gun Violence Grant Pre-Application Session to hear funding priorities
Last week, Newport News launched a grant program as part of the city’s Gun Violence Intervention initiative. Grant funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to community-based organizations that offer programs, initiatives, or strategies to reduce gun violence. Projects should support one of the following goals and objectives:
- Increase communication, coordination, and collaboration among city departments, community-based organizations, businesses, and other key stakeholders.
- Reduce the incidents of gun violence among youth and young adults between the ages of 13 and 24 through the implementation of innovative and technology-based prevention, intervention, enforcement, and re-entry strategies.
- Enhance and/or expand access to mental health services, education, and interventions that prevent and reduce violence.
- Decrease barriers (i.e., education, employment, and housing) to the successful reintegration of youth and young adults returning to the community from a secure juvenile detention facility.
- Increase community education, awareness, and engagement around gun violence reduction and its impact on individuals, families, neighborhoods, and broader communities.
To provide additional input on the process, the city hosted a Pre-Application Session on May 25. During this meeting, city representatives shared information on the grant application and provided insight on funding priorities. Community organizations were also able to ask questions.
Collaboration between organizations was discussed during the meeting, with city leaders encouraging groups to work together to strengthen their proposed program. The city is working on a chat function on the Community Safety webpage to encourage dialogue and the sharing of ideas. View a recap of the Pre-Application Session on the Newport News TV YouTube page.
