newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The state Attorney General's office Thursday awarded $2.8 million in crime and gang prevention aid to 14 community organizations and police departments

At a press conference at the William C. McGinnis Middle School in Perth Amboy, Attorney General Anne Milgram also announced Public Service Electric & Gas is providing $1.5 million this year to leverage state support for gang and crime prevention events at school programs such as New Jersey After 3, Inc. and Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach.

"The new programs being supported through our Neighborhood Crime Prevention & Intervention Initiative represent the cutting edge of best practices when it comes to ensuring that we are keeping our young people safely in school and positively engaged," Milgram said. "At the heart of this Initiative is a commitment to fostering effective community collaboration to keep kids safe from gangs and gun violence. PSEG's commitment to prevention programs serves as a statewide and national model for a community-business partnership. The company's contribution significantly leverages funding from the state and will enable us, collectively, to reach more than 3,500 young people in positive and meaningful ways."

Aid is going to NORWESCAP of Phillipsburg, $223,020; Hamilton (Atlantic County) police, $110,354; Prevention First of Asbury Park, $123,460; Prevention Links of Hillside and Roselle, $161,650; Burlington City police, $144,220; Jewish Renaissance Foundation/Boys & Girls Club of Perth Amboy, $280,984; Boys and Girls Club of Lodi-Hackensack, $186,510; Boys and Girls Club of Camden County, $186,510; Boys and Girls Club of Vineland, $186,510; Boys and Girls Club of Trenton and Mercer County, $238,488; Family Service Association of Pleasantville, $186,500; Salem police, $271,400; West New York police, $125,600 and the Salvation Army-Ironbound Boys & Girls Club of Newark, $186,510. The aid covers a two-year period.

PSEG's $1.5 million commitment will support the efforts of nonprofits including New Jersey After3, Inc., Boys & Girls Clubs, and United Way, as well as initiatives by the Boys Scouts, Girls Scouts and the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers. PSEG was the first corporation to provide significant funding to support the state's Strategy for Safe Streets & Neighborhoods when last year it provided $50,000 to Boys & Girls Clubs for gang prevention programs. This year, the company has given an additional $75,000 to sustain and expand the effort and committed $450,000 to New Jersey After3.

"We can't arrest our way out of the problem of violent street gangs and gun violence," Milgram said. "That is why proven and evidence-based prevention programs aimed at keeping kids in school and in safe places like the Boys & Girls Clubs are so important. We must make kids who are at risk more resilient to the pressures of gangs.''