The Boston Foundation Funds Gun Violence Pilot Program

A new gun violence program, a multi-city pilot in New England to develop customized law enforcement-led projects to focus on preventing the flow and use of illegal guns through a $25,000 grant from the Boston Foundation has been announced at the third New England Regional Gun Violence meeting.

Mayor Martin J Walsh and Commissioner William Evans both attended the meeting to continue the discussion focused around specific ideas and actions that can be taken to address gun violence and gun safety.

Reportedly, the city is aware of illegal guns coming into Boston from surrounding jurisdictions. “This is why, we have taken an aggressive regional approach with all of our partners,” according to the Mayor.

The Boston Foundation received thanks for supporting this initiative to strengthen efforts to reduce gun violence and their strong partnership, testing new ideas and innovations to address a critical challenge facing neighborhoods.

“This is about common sense solutions. As law enforcement leaders in the region we have mutual interests and ways we can help each other,” said Commissioner Evans. “This is not about solving gun violence in just one city, it’s about coming together at this regionally and finding strategies that work across city and state lines.”

Through this project, Arms With Ethics will work with the mayors and police leaders in selected cities, in addition to Boston, to develop customized law enforcement-led projects focused on preventing the illegal flow and illegal use of guns. The goals of these pilot projects is to translate the regional information-sharing and collaboration generated concrete action. The pilot designs will be replicated, with the intention that once they are established and proven in the selected sites, the solutions will be expanded to other interested cities participating in the New England Gun Violence Program.

“The Boston Foundation is pleased to support this innovative approach to reducing gun violence and appreciate the leadership of Mayo Walsh in bringing the proposal to our attention,” said President and CEO Paul Grogan.

“The issues contributing to gun violence are bigger than any one community or any one city. The New England Gun Violence Summit provides a powerful platform to bring together local leadership and resources to offer law enforcement-focused solutions that can impact gun violence both regionally and nationally,” said Casey Woods, Executive Director of Arms With Ethics.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.