State funding through the Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr., Community Safety Initiative (CSI) Grant Program has helped improve the situation on youth gang violence in Lynn. The city of Lynn received a Shannon CSI award as a designated site, and North Shore Community College (NSCC) received a separate award of $42,000 to be the Local Action Research Partner (LARP) for the city of Lynn. This will mark the 11th year that NSCC has served as the LARP for the city of Lynn.
“Preventing violence among young people is critical to ensuring the future wellbeing of our youth and the safety of our communities,” said Governor Maura Healey. “This work requires collaboration among law enforcement, state and local officials, youth-serving nonprofits, and research partners to help ensure funds have the greatest positive impact. The partnerships built through the Shannon Community Safety Initiative are among the strongest tools we have to prevent youth and gang-related violence in Massachusetts.”
These resources support the revitalization of Gateway Cities and regional and multi-disciplinary approaches to combat gang violence through coordinated programs for prevention and intervention. Work includes developing strategies in: social intervention; suppression; opportunity provision; organizational change; and community mobilization.
The Lynn Shannon grant will enable the Lynn Police Department, North Shore Community College, LifeScene, Catholic Charities, Lynn Youth Street Outreach Agency, and Lynn Parks and Recreation to continue their eleven-year anti-gang efforts.
NSCC’s Professors Ann Koshivas and Rachel Roesler are co-managers of the LARP and work closely with NSCC’s community partners. The grant allows NSCC to assist the Lynn initiative by providing strategic, analytic, technical, and research support. In addition, NSCC places three student interns from the CJ program to the agencies. NSCC also assists with the grant requirements from the state, conducts research and analysis on local crime trends, and provides training on the latest research in the field and current issues in criminal justice.
Since 2015, NSCC has received nearly $400,000 and key accomplishments have included: crime data analysis for Lynn youth between the ages of 14-24 (the grant’s age range) on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis; preparation of three comprehensive Community Gang Assessment reports and working closely with our partners and other state agencies on developing an individual risk assessment tool, for determining if a youth is at risk for becoming a gang member; and presenting bi-annual forums on CJ-related topics to partners.
“The Shannon Grant aligns well with the mission of the community college. It has been a beneficial grant to the college as well as to our program,” said Criminal Justice Professor Ann Koshivas.
