Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence (B.R.A.G.), a cure violence program created by nonprofit, Good Shepherd Services, is continuing its series of peace barbeques held at various locations within the boundaries of The Bronx’s 46th, 47th and 52nd Precincts throughout the summer months. The “B.R.A.G. Northwest Peace BBQ” was held on Saturday, July 16, in Fordham Manor. The events aim to uplift local communities, and are part of a wider effort to curb the prevalence of ongoing gun violence, particularly among the youth across the borough.

 

From noon to 5 p.m., kids and adults were seen enjoying themselves along the East 193rd Street block between Jerome Avenue and Morris Avenue, adjacent to St. James Park, in Fordham Manor, as the group brought together elected officials and community members for an afternoon of free food, games, face-painting, and music to celebrate unity and non-violence in the local community.

 

As previously reported, the B.R.A.G. program, operated under Good Shepherd Services nonprofit, uses the Cure Violence™ model, which deploys violence interrupters to help prevent at-risk youth from engaging in retaliatory violence within the community. They intervene in potentially deadly situations and engage community stakeholders to de-normalize gun violence.

 

B.R.A.G. has been active in the Northwest Bronx for some time now and operates within the boundaries of the 46th, 47th and 52nd Police Precincts, working in the neighborhoods of Fordham, Bedford Park, University Heights, Kingsbridge, Mount Hope, Williamsbridge, Wakefield, and Edenwald. Norwood News has covered the group’s ongoing work at various stages over the years.

 

We spoke to David Caba of B.R.A.G. at the Fordham Manor July event who said about 100 to 200 people had passed through the block over the course of the day. “This is our third year doing it in this particular block,” he said. “Our area is a lot bigger than this, that we cover when we do our home anti-gun violence work. But this is one of the neighborhoods that always wants to hear our message of peace, how are we doing, how peaceful things are here.”

 

Caba continued, “And they’re [the residents] a part of the solution. This is community solutions to community issues, and so, we involve them in every step of the way just to change the norms around here, where any type of violence is rejected, and we change the norms for everyone to think in terms of safety and peace.”

 

Caba said the group did their usual email and social media blasts about the event and posted flyers around neighborhood buildings to let families know in advance. “So, the only ones that come to say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was happening here,’ are from some other part of The Bronx that they happened to be in the area,” he said, adding that everyone was welcome regardless. “Come on in and enjoy yourself, get something to drink and food, have your kids play in the bouncy houses and all the activities that we have.”

 

On the topic of gun control and gun safety, and the latest legislative wins announced at both a national and local level, we asked Caba if he felt encouraged or skeptical about whether the new laws would make a difference. “So I’m encouraged by it, because there was a time where the violence issue was not considered a health issue, a public health issue in our country,” he said.  “And now, everyone is very well aware that it is, and we’ve been doing this work long before the country’s mindset came around to the fact that yes, this is a public health issue for our entire country.”

 

He added that there was always more that could be done, nonetheless. “As you know, we have spikes throughout our nation, and so, we’ve been combating that. What I can say is, in the B.R.A.G. catchment areas, if you take a look at our statistics, it’s a lot different in our catchment areas, the zones that we work in, than it is outside of that. What that simply means is that we have to expand that. We have to grow that. So, we need to spread the cure. It [the program/approach] was called ‘cure violence’ out of Chicago. We need to spread that cure.”

 

The group started the program, working in the neighborhoods located within the boundaries of the 46th precinct, and have since expanded to the 47th (in 2015), and in 2018, they started operating in the 52nd, and are now triple their original size. We asked Caba if the reason the program was able to expand was because it had received more funding. “That’s part of it,” he said. “This past fiscal year that just finished on June 30, they said, ‘We’d like for you to expand,’ and it was a citywide expansion.”

 

Caba added, “The president [Joe Biden] is also administering millions of dollars for community violence intervention programs as well. So, that’s another revenue stream that’s going to come to New York City, and so, we’re moving in the right direction with all of this, and mark my words, it’s making a difference. In fact, if you take a really good look at last year’s numbers, and compare it to this year’s, we’ve actually improved. The issue is that the pandemic has us looking two years ago, and the disparity is so great that they’re still measuring that. But if you look at last year, we’re already improving.”

 

Caba is right. As of Aug. 21, The Bronx has seen 86 murders (270 citywide) so far this year, compared to 93 as of the same date in 2021, 339 shooting victims (1,077 citywide) so far this year, compared to 384 as of the same date last year, and 291 shooting incidents (896 citywide) year to date, compared to 328 as of the same date last year. Some numbers have also even dropped since July 2022.

 

We referenced a promise made by Mayor Eric Adams during a roundtable discussion on gun violence held with various cure violence groups in Bedford Park back in February, after then-11-month-old Baby Catherine was shot in the face at Valentine Avenue. One of the cure violence group representatives had highlighted that they operate with limited resources, and are competing for funding against larger nonprofit organizations which have admin departments that have more time than they do to wade through the bureaucratic administrative process of dealing with several city agencies to make their case for funding.

 

They said they preferred, instead, to spend their time doing the actual work of curbing gun violence on the ground in local neighborhoods. Adams had promised the groups he would create a liaison who would be their point of contact going forward to eliminate this need for them to deal with several different agencies. We asked Caba if such a person had been appointed.

 

“To my knowledge, [the person] may have been appointed, but we haven’t yet had the official sit down and meeting to identify the parameters by which we will collaborate and operate together, and reach out when those moments come,” he said. Norwood News followed up with the Adams administration to ask if the role had been filled, or if perhaps Andre T. Mitchell, the Adams-appointed “gun czar” fulfills this liaison role also. We did not receive an immediate response.   

 

Another point raised by cure violence groups during the same roundtable in February was the need for more frequent trash collection. They said this was needed because people were hiding guns under the trash. We asked Caba if he had noticed any improvement in that regard. “Yes, in fact, it has improved,” he said, adding that a group of elected officials, citywide, had recently gotten together and were calling themselves the [new] “Rat Pack.”

 

The group reportedly aim to take on a more direct approach to curbing the rat situation in the City. District 11 City Councilman Eric Dinowitz held a “rat academy” a few months ago to educate the public on how to prevent rats from gathering in their buildings. We reached out to the councilman’s office for confirmation of whether this means he is a member of the so-called [non-musical] “Rat Pack.” His office responded, saying the councilman was not an official member of the “rat pack” yet.

 

“But he has definitely been taking on the issues of the rats in the city directly, besides reviewing the legislation on a bunch of rat-related bills,” an official at his constituency office said. “He is very concerned about the growing rat problem, so he is evaluating the newest legislation on the issue. Also, our office successfully got DOHMH to assess a big rat problem in the Riverdale part of our district, and they are using every tool to get rid of the rats, including dry ice and CO2. We also got an extra clean-up for Tracey Towers to address the rats in that location which we’ve received numerous complaints about!”

 

In reference to the pressure due to the so-called “Rat Pack,” Caba added, “So that noise, that advocacy is starting to reach the right people. There’s electeds in every one of the [inaudible] that are coming together as this Rat Pack to attack the issue and so, that’s connected to what it is we want to do.”

 

He continued, “So, I’m encouraged by that. I’m most encouraged by the fact that we’re expanding,” he added. “Very much like the addiction world, where drug treatment at one point did not exist, and now it’s everywhere. It’s almost impossible not to be able to get help with that. It’s the same thing when it comes to violence. Any kind of violence, we should be anywhere that you need the help and so, we’re moving in that direction.”

 

Norwood News also spoke with a program analyst from Good Shepherd Services on the day. She preferred not to give her name but said she wanted to be there to support B.R.A.G.’s work. She agreed with Cabo that it had been a successful event, adding, “Despite the rain, seeing everyone come out, it’s great to see.”

 

We also spoke to some attendees, both young and old. One female parent called Nika said she was a bit concerned about the smaller kids potentially getting hurt by some of the bigger kids inside the bouncy house. “My son, so one of the big kids landed on his head, and I guess his teeth bit down on his lip and, you know, I just got the bleeding to stop. Nobody is controlling this.” We raised the point with one of the B.R.A.G. representatives, who said, “I just pay attention while I see them [the kids] going in, and if I see a little kid, I’ll pay close attention,” he said.

Nika continued, “Then they had the best food for them [B.R.A.G.], and they only wanted to give us hotdogs. I went up in the line and they had steak and pork chops, and I was like, ‘Is that for us?’ They told me, ‘No, it’s just for staff.’ And then, they give me a hot dog.”

 

Nika added that a lot of the other activities had closed down when she arrived with her kids. “The only thing that was open that the kids enjoyed was the face painting,” she said. “Everything else was closed down. I got here early.” We suggested that maybe this was an earlier temporary break due to the rain, and she said that the rain had stopped at that point. We asked her if she felt it was a good idea, nonetheless, to hold such an event.

 

She said, “Oh, I’m happy because it’s free, yeah! And the kids are having fun. They get to have fun instead of being in a house, and one of the main things I’m happy about is that the coronavirus pandemic thing is over, you know? Everybody gets to be out here, happy. So, that’s nice and fine, and when the kids have fun, I have fun!”

 

Luis, 24, lives on the block and said he had arrived late to the event, adding, “But, it was nice.” Asked if he felt such events improved the quality of life for residents, and if, generally, he felt safe in the neighborhood, he agreed, adding, “Yeah, I always feel safe. I don’t have problems with no one, that’s for sure.”

 

Asked what was the best part of the event, another female resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “Definitely the kids enjoyed the bounce house. We got out here pretty late, but that was the main attraction that they liked, the face-painting as well. Yeah, I think it’s a good day for the kids to come out and have some fun. It’s kind of different out here in this neighborhood. I haven’t seen anything like this before, so that was surprising.”

 

She agreed with the other parent that more monitoring was needed of the bouncy house to protect the smaller children. “My little one is in there and he’s kind of tough, he was able to handle it, but after a while, it got a little crazy. So yeah. I thought somebody was in there monitoring it, but then I found out, and I was just like, ‘Oh.’ So, I stayed over there with them, but they were okay. The bigger kids, they did recognize when my little one was in there, and tried to be a little careful.”

 

Asked if she had ideas for how future similar events could be even better, she said, “I can’t say because we got out here pretty late. We’ve only been out here for about an hour. But if I had to say, just so that everybody’s, like, more aware, maybe, like, posters ahead of time, because I didn’t find out about it until about an hour ago.”

 

The parent added that, overall, it was pretty good turnout and her kids were enjoying themselves. We asked how the she felt about safety in the area in general, and if she felt her kids were safe to go out and play locally. “There’s a good amount of adults out there,” she said, adding that this reassured her. “I wouldn’t leave them here by themselves because honestly, there isn’t any police presence and we don’t know too many people around here, so the adult supervision I would be worried about. I live one block away but even still, I wouldn’t let them come by themselves.”

 

She added, “However, to let them run around here and not really have to worry about it [while she was also present], I’m a okay with that.” We asked if she felt encouraged by the recent legislation passed to curb gun violence. “No difference, honestly.” she said.

 

“That’s the one thing that I can be honest about and say. You know, you hear about it, you see it, and you know, politics and that kind of stuff, but I’ve lived in New York my entire life, in Harlem, I live in The Bronx, I’ve lived in Brooklyn. Nothing really changes from my perspective. So just hearing about it, it doesn’t excite me or anything like that. You know that’s the reason why I said I will come out with my children…come out, be vigilant, and stay safe, and you should be okay.”

 

Asked if she had been personally affected by gun violence, she said, “Absolutely, and that’s why I said what I said. You just, you know, keep your eyes open, keep your ears open, and you know, stay out the mess. But overall, that part with more gun laws and stuff like that, I don’t particularly think that it’s going to make a big change.”

 

Asked if she felt more youth programs were needed or if she could change one thing to improve the situation, what it would be, she said, “Yeah, actually, I do. There’s a difference between my generation and the generation that is coming up now. I have my little sister. I have custody of her, and she just turned 18, but I’ve had her since she was nine, and even her generation, there’s a big difference,” she said. “We had more programs in school, reading, music, and different sports and things like that, and there wasn’t as many issues as we have with these kids who don’t have access to that stuff freely, like the way we did. I went to a public school and I still had access to all those things.”

 

The parent concluded, “Just watching over the years, budget cuts, this getting cut out, and that getting cut out, you know, afterschool programs and stuff like that. This is my first year getting my son into a summer youth program, and I have been asking to get him in for years now, and this is the first opportunity, so when those resources are kind of cut short, they really don’t have anything to do.”

 

As reported, public schools should, in the next week or two, hopefully find out what if any changes will be made to New York City’s public school budget for the upcoming year, following an August court ruling which called for its revision, further to announced cuts earlier this year. In the meantime, there have also been allegations made by city council members that they were allegedly misled by some Adams administration officials in the Department of Education who they say were not transparent about the justification for the cuts made to the schools budget during the City budget negotiations a few months ago.

 

Meanwhile, during a recent televised debate broadcast on Aug. 15, before the Aug. 23 primary election for Senate District 33, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, who has since declared victory in the race, said extra funding was sent from the State legislature to the City this year, and even though he acknowledged school enrollment was down, he said he did not understand why the City’s school budget was being cut in light of the receipt of the extra State funding.

 

Norwood News reached out to the DOE for comment in this regard. We did not receive an immediate response. Meanwhile, as also reported, public advocate, Jumaane Williams, announced on Aug. 13, he would stall the property tax collection process, which requires his signature, while the City’s education budget remained in doubt. On Aug. 9, as reported by Gothamist, an appellate court blocked the lower court’s earlier ruling to revise the budget. Further legal arguments are expected to be heard in court in the coming weeks in order to reach a definitive conclusion on the matter.