Philadelphia lawmakers laud inclusion of funds to fight gun violence in cities
(The Center Square) – State lawmakers from the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus announced recently that the Pennsylvania Legislature has allocated $30 million dollars for community violence prevention programs.
The funding will support local efforts to take preventive measures to stop growing gun violence that is occurring across the state.
The block grants allocated for the new state budget and will be managed by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Earlier in the year, PLBC chair Rep. Donna Bullock, D-Philadelphia, with Reps. Morgan Cephas and Amen Brown, both D-Philadelphia, introduced House Bill 696 which included a similar grant program to address gun violence.
“The families of loved ones who have lost their lives to gun violence have rallied with us and asked us as legislators to do something,” Bullock said in a news release. “This money is an investment to be used toward that next step in the work for which the PLBC has been laying the groundwork for years. This investment will finally help us move forward to begin investing in programs that we know will work and are led by people in our communities with boots on the ground.”
Data has shown a surge of community gun violence in Pennsylvania with Philadelphia surpassing 250 homicides and Pittsburgh at a 90% increase in shootings this year. The year 2020 marked Harrisburg’s deadliest year for violence in the city in the past three decades.
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