June marks Gun Violence Awareness Month across the country. In the Bronx, lawmakers pushed for more stringent gun reform laws, increased federal funding for local cure violence programs, an anti-gun violence rally took place along Valentine Avenue, and other rallies are planned throughout the remainder of the month, all in efforts to address what has long been categorized as a gun violence epidemic.

 

Bronx shooting incidents were up 190 percent in May, compared to May 2020, while the number of shooting victims in the borough over the month increased by 271 percent, compared to the same period last year.

 

In the 52 precinct, which covers Bedford Park, Fordham, Kingsbridge, Norwood, Bronx Park, and University Heights, year-to-date shootings are up 133 percent, compared with last year, and the number of shooting victims has increased by 150 percent during the same period. In the 46 precinct which covers Fordham, University Heights, Morris Heights and Mount Hope, year-to-date shootings are up by 250 percent and the number of shooting victims during the same period has increased by 300 percent.

 

On June 3, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and District 13 City Councilman Mark Gjonaj joined staff members of Jacobi Hospital in calling for more funding for programs like Jacobi’s “Stand Up to Violence (SUV)” gun violence reduction program.

 

Bowman, Ocasio-Cortez, and Schumer called on Congress to provide nearly $400,000 for the hospital’s youth violence reduction program. The event was held just three days after a bloody Memorial Day, when more than a dozen people were shot across the city, including the murder of Bronxite, Amir James, 15, who was shot and killed at East 123rd Street and Lexington Avenue in East Harlem.

 

Schumer said the money, if approved, would come from the Congressional Community Project Fund, from which Bowman and Cortez had jointly requested $393,840 in May. If received, the funds will go towards Jacobi’s SUV program, adding a new emergency room, a social worker, and a case worker. Schumer said the case worker would be assigned to the person or family affected by gun violence throughout their journey.

 

Later, on July 30, the congresswoman confirmed that the funding request was approved by Congress.

With Jacobi officials standing behind her and her colleagues in elected office, Ocasio-Cortez said, “When we have these concerns, when we have crises where violence starts to increase in our community, we know that one of the most effective things we can do is take a public health approach, and it is these heroes right behind us who made this happen.”

 

Praising the SUV program that was founded in 2014 and modeled after the Chicago-based Cure Violence program, Bowman, a former teacher, said, “I would not be a member of Congress if it weren’t for Jacobi and SUV. If I didn’t have the mentorship, the coaching, the guidance, the friendship as a young kid who used to run these streets like a lot of my former students, I would not be standing here today, and it’s an innovative program, but it’s also a very common-sense program.”

 

Meanwhile, explaining the clinical approach to crime, Dr. Noe Romo, the medical director of the SUV program at Jacobi, said the program was established initially by the hospital’s trauma center’s collective efforts and response to treating gun violence. He said the center’s dedication to using a public health approach was the right one by not just treating the medical situation, but looking beyond the confines of the hospital “to treat the violence like the disease that it truly is.”

 

According to Romo, the program has, so far, responded to over 1,300 patients admitted for violent trauma, and has decreased the incidents of re-injury by over 50 percent. At the same time, he said the program has decreased shootings in the hospital’s response area of the Northeast Bronx by 45 percent. Romo added, “This funding will allow us to provide wraparound services to our patients and allow the SUV program to better protect and treat our patients.”

 

During the press conference, a reporter asked Cortez for her stance on bail reform, which some believe is one of the reasons for the skyrocketing crime rate in the City. In response, she said, “This blaming of bail reform is not evidence-based. There’s no facts / data to back it up. What we have here is [an] actual clinical approach, with facts and evidence to back it up.”

 

Meanwhile, in Albany, as reported by Norwood News, first-in-the-nation critical gun sense legislation (A.6762-A Fahy/S.1048-A Myrie) aims to end the ‘Iron Pipeline’ or flow of illegal guns into New York from other states. The bill has now passed the Senate and the Assembly, as of June 11.

The following day, Friday, June 4, Bronx State Sen. Luis Sepúlveda (S.D. 32) allocated grants totaling $50,000 to three community-based, gun violence intervention groups: Save Our Streets (S.O.S.); Stand Up to Violence (SUV); and Guns Down, Life Up (GDLU) from the New York State Office of Victim Services (OVS) in line with the Community Violence Intervention Act (CVIA). S.O.S. received $25,000, SUV was allocated $15,000 and GDLU was awarded $10,000.

 

Speaking at the event, Sepúlveda said, “The gun epidemic is now a health crisis and is now the leading cause of death of young men of color between the ages of 15 to 25. The violence has a ripple effect that hurts everyone, not only those involved, [but] it traumatizes children, families and entire communities.”

 

After thanking Sepúlveda for the funding, S.O.S. program director, James Reddick, said of the program, “Our goal is to push forward our message of non-violence.” He said it was also important for the community to learn how to take care of themselves, and to make sure that the trauma that young people, adults and seniors go through is addressed in a timely fashion, making their lives easier, more productive, and positive.

 

Dr. Marni Confino is director of social work at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi under the SUV program. Explaining some of the work her team carries out during the June 4 event, she said, “Our staff goes into Bronx communities, their own communities and mediate volatile and dangerous situations with the sole aim of saving lives.” Confino added, “Because of their commitment, someone’s son returned home instead of winding up dead in our morgue. Because of their encouragement, a young man picked up a video game, instead of a gun.”

 

Later that day, which marked National Gun Violence Awareness Day, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark joined police officials, community and clergy leaders, as well as members of several anti-violence groups in “A March to End Gun Violence,” through the sometimes, crime-ravaged streets of Fordham Heights and Fordham Manor.

 

Delayed 30 minutes due to a passing thunderstorm, the crowd of about 75 kicked off their march at Slattery Playground on East 183rd Street and marched up Valentine Avenue, amid light drizzle, to East 194th Street. Yelling into a bullhorn, SUV’s director of community outreach, Pastor Jay Gooding, led the group with chants of, “Guns Down! Life Up!” and “Who’s streets are these?” to which the crowd chanted back, “Our Streets!”

 

Referring to the area’s residents, Clark told the Norwood News, after the march, “We’re not afraid to walk the same streets that they have to walk. We understand the same violence that they are experiencing, and we care and love them. We want to do all we can to bring attention to the plight that they have been experiencing on a daily basis.”

 

According to Clark, 467 people were shot in the Bronx in 2020. This year, so far, 215 people have been shot in the borough, compared with 82 during the same period last year. In terms of homicides, 54 have been recorded in the Bronx in 2021 so far, 43 of which involved a firearm.

 

As part of the event, which also included a resource fair, Clark announced the creation of the Bronx Precision Enforcement and Community Engagement (PEACE) initiative. “With non-fatal shootings, so often, we have victims now that are not cooperating, and you know why?” she asked. “They want to take care of it themselves.”

 

Referring to the non-fatal shootings and the new PEACE program, Clark said, “I’m going to treat them just like a homicide. We know who the major offenders are. We know who the major crime drivers are.”

Meanwhile, explaining the strategic selection of the rally’s kickoff point at Slattery Park, located at East 183rd Street, and its end at East 194th Street and Valentine Avenue, Deputy Inspector Thomas Alps, commanding officer of the 52nd precinct, said, “We’ve seen a lot of young men travel the route that we took along Valentine Avenue… and engage in gun violence that’s causing a lot of hardships and death and injuries to many young men on this block and vice versa.”

 

According to Alps, there have been six shootings in and around Valentine Avenue and East 194th Street in the two and a half years since he has been appointed CO of the 52nd precinct, including a shooting a week earlier on East 194th Street, and another two weeks earlier on East 196th Street and Valentine Avenue.

 

Alps added, “There’s a lot of issues on this block. We have gangs, we have drugs, drug sales. So, the police department knows we can’t arrest ourselves out of this situation. We need to bring services to these residents and help these residents who are suffering.

 

Asked if the recent NYPD-coordinated, regular clean-up events, which have been taking place in recent months, together with other community groups like Guerinos Against Graffiti, have helped to stem the culture of gun violence in Fordham Manor, Alps hesitated to say that they have, but added that, the community members were appreciative of their efforts and glad to have cleaner neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, during the June Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) Public Safety committee meeting held on Thursday, June 10, Crime Prevention Officer at the 52nd precinct, Frank Pacella, who was also present at the rally on June 4, was thanked by community members and CB7 members for his and his colleagues’ longtime efforts over the years in addressing crime and other issues in the community.

 

Pacella is due to retire in the next year. Without mentioning any names, he said he wished other City agencies, perhaps alluding to the Department of Sanitation, would also regularly attend such community meetings in the same way the NYPD did, so that agencies representatives could hear the concerns of the community and address some of the quality of life issues they raise, like noise and trash.

 

Resident, Diletta Pina, member of the Facebook group, Norwood Improvement Group, wrote after the meeting, “I have mixed feelings today. My friend, Crime Prevention Officer Pacella at the 52nd Precinct, announced that he will be retiring soon. I hate to see him leave, but I am happy that he gets to retire and spend more time with his family.”

 

She added, “Here he is in one of the Bronx CB7 Public Safety and Quality of Life committee meetings when I was chair of that committee. As always, he never missed a meeting and brought good information for the community residents. The other photo is with me at the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. Good times. I am going to miss him. I wish him a healthy and happy retirement!”

Back at Valentine Avenue, one resident who was sitting outside her building as participants ended the rally due to the arrival of more rain, was asked if she thought such rallies would help send a message to those causing the gun violence in the area. She responded, “No, it’s not going to help. People are dying before they grow up. My little cousin just died. He was shot two years ago.”

 

According to Dr. Kate Eklund of the National Association of School Psychologists, Gun Violence Awareness Day began in Chicago in 2014, and was initially held in honor of Hadiya Pendleton, 15, who was shot and killed just one week after performing at President Barack Obama’s inauguration parade in 2013.

 

 

According to Brother John from Families for Empowerment, a further anti-gun violence rally to mark Gun Violence Awareness Month, will take place in Williamsbridge Oval Park on Friday, June 25. Norwood News will circulate more details about the event, once received.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.