Mineola, N.Y – Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi was joined today by  Police Commissioner James H. Lawrence, Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), Legislators Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck), David Denenberg (D-Merrick) and David Mejias (D-North Massapequa), George Siberón, Executive Director of the Nassau County Youth Board and Inspector Robert Turk of the Taskforce Against Gangs to announce the allocation of $500,000 to support employment and career development services for current and former gang involved adults and youth at imminent risk of youth violence and/or involved in gang activity.

Suozzi also announced that as of May of this year, total gang related incidents are down by more than 30%. This comes after last year’s more than 37% drop in gang related incidents.

 Agencies funded include the Economic Opportunity Commission of Nassau County, Inc., STRONG Youth Inc. and the Education and Assistance Corporation.

The award is coordinated through the Nassau County Youth Board and Nassau County Department of Social Services and Nassau County Taskforce Against Gangs (TAG) Coordinator Inspector Robert Turk.

“I am very pleased that we are able to award these local agencies the funds to continue their important work,” County Executive Suozzi said.  “These agencies will help to keep our children away from gangs, drugs and violence and that kind of protection is invaluable to Nassau County and its families.  We want to target youth violence in our communities and better educate our young people of the dangers of gang involvement.”

The agencies were awarded funds as a result of a competitive bidding process.  The major program components were: 

• Street outreach.
• Vocational services, including job skills, resume writing and job placement.  This is an important component to providing alternatives to youth who are gang involved.
• Community involvement including collaboration with local schools, police, community groups, churches and religious organizations. 

“We must use every resource at our disposal to deter and prevent kids from joining gangs and these funds will move us towards that goal,” said Presiding Officer Jacobs.
These funded projects are part of the Prevention and Redirection components of Nassau’s Anti-Gang Strategy.  The purpose of Nassau County’s Anti-Gang Strategy is to prevent gang violence and criminal activities, deter youth and adults from joining gangs and to redirect gang-involved youth and adults away from Gang Activities.

Services provided through this Initiative will focus on employment and career development while also meeting the needs of youth and adults, labor market requirements of employers and security needs of communities.

The Taskforce Against Gangs Coordinator's Office has coordinated law enforcement efforts with the seventeen villages and two city police departments within Nassau County as well as New York City, Suffolk County, New York State Police and federal agencies, including the FBI Street Gangs Taskforce, ICE, ATF, DEA. In addition, the 11 Nassau County TAG coalition partners meet on a regular basis to discuss anti-violence strategies and initiatives and Gang Awareness Presentations are conducted throughout the County and are made available upon request.

As a result of these efforts, Nassau County has seen an additional 31% decline in gang related activity this year, beyond last year’s 37% decrease. Gang related contacts case reports are up almost 30%, gang member gun arrests are up 60% and other weapons arrests are up 80%.

The County’s war on graffiti continues to bring positive results with gang graffiti case reports down more than 13%.