Assemblywoman Kimberly Jean-Pierre (D-Wheatley Heights) announced that she attended a roundtable on Thursday, July 22, in Wyandanch with other local and state officials to discuss initiatives to prevent gun violence in Suffolk County.

“The gun violence epidemic has long plagued our communities and now, as we’ve begun to resume our normal activities, this ongoing crisis has only grown worse,” Jean-Pierre said. “There’s nothing more important to me than keeping Suffolk County families out of harm’s way, which means taking steps to protect our youth and ensuring those who are struggling receive the support they need. This roundtable allowed me to work alongside other officials to discuss and implement strategies that will keep our neighborhoods safe from gun violence and encourage a brighter future for all. I thank Governor Cuomo and his team for organizing this important initiative.”

Numerous programs were discussed to address the recent scourge of gun violence in Suffolk County, such as the creation of both summer and long-term jobs for at-risk youth. In addition, a variety of summer youth programs will be established at local state parks this summer, including Robert Moses and Belmont Lake. Other initiatives include hiring new violence interveners to work at existing community intervention programs and expanding assistance for mental health support, substance abuse treatment and family crisis intervention.

Participants at the roundtable included New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Commissioner Michael Hein, representatives from the Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo, school officials, not-for-profit executives, community leaders, representatives from the New York State and Suffolk County Departments of Labor and other elected officials. This comes after the Governor declared a gun violence disaster emergency in order to strengthen gun violence prevention efforts and allow the state to treat this ongoing problem as a public health crisis. 

Jean-Pierre has worked tirelessly to make Long Island a safer place to live, and secured $100,000 for the Wyandanch SNUG Neighborhood Violence Prevention Program during the past legislative session.