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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is using her progressive star power to call attention to a once under-the-radar violence interruption program in the Bronx that is delivering data-driven results in a community known for high rates of gun violence.
Now in its ninth year, the initiative called Stand Up to Violence has treated over 1,700 victims of violent trauma and reduced gun violence in the community by 59%, according to hospital staffers involved in the program. They recently published their findings in a pediatric medical journal. Ocasio-Cortez said the results show that the program could be a model for the rest of the country.
“What we’re here to talk about is what works,” Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday during a visit exclusively accompanied by a Gothamist reporter. “And this is one of the only things that has been clinically proven to stop violence.”
Based in Jacobi Hospital, Stand Up to Violence is a first-of-its kind gun violence program in New York where interventions take place soon after a gunshot victim is brought into the emergency room. Social workers and so-called credible messengers — community members, including former gang members, who have lived through violence — are dispatched to resolve disputes and stop retaliations.
The program, which operates in Ocasio-Cortez’s district, has nearly tripled its operating budget in the last two years to $5 million, according to Dr. Noè Romo, a pediatrician who is the program’s medical director.
In addition to federal funding, Stand Up to Violence also receives financial assistance from the city and state.
The congresswoman’s support for the program comes at a moment when City Council lawmakers are engaged in bitter budget negotiations with Mayor Eric Adams, a centrist Democrat who has expressed support for violence interruption programs while also expanding policing.
A recent call by some progressives to shrink the NYPD’s $5 billion budget has left Democrats divided, with 15 Council members electing to leave the influential progressive caucus after the group redefined its mission.
Shootings year-to-date citywide have dipped by 21% compared to the same period in 2022, according to NYPD statistics. But the level remains higher than before the pandemic when crime was at record lows.
During her conversation, Ocasio-Cortez described budgets as “moral documents.”
Asked about the community’s concern about police violence, she replied, “Shifting our investments into community programs like these, I very strongly believe reduces incidents of police brutality.”
In one of her sharpest critiques of city spending, she added: “We have militarized the city while under-investing in the youth opportunities that actually keep young people employed and prosperous and families supported. We have militarized the city and we don’t even have housing.”
At the same time, for a program that is delivering data-driven results, the initiative is yet to be duplicated in other parts of the state.
“We’re still New York state’s first and only hospital-based violence prevention initiative that’s truly providing a hospital and community component,” Romo said.
Under a Republican-controlled House, Ocasio-Cortez said future efforts to secure large federal grants for the Bronx program would be difficult. The key, she said, lies in getting matching funds from the city and state.
New York City has roughly 18 gun violence interruption programs. In his first year, Adams said he wanted to increase the number of hospital-based gun violence programs.
During the roughly hour-long conversation with organizers, Ocasio-Cortez was peppered with a mix of questions: about her path to politics, her work as a member of congress, and whether she was a Yankees fan (she is).
A frequent target of Republicans and even some moderate Democrats, she argued that politics should be irrelevant in the face of data-backed programs like Stand Up to Violence.
“Let’s put our differences aside,” she said. “Show me what you have done that is clinically proven to reduce violence in your community.”
“Because I’ll show you mine,” she added.
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