New York City Mayor Eric Adams, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and the New York City Gun Violence Prevention Task Force on July 31, 2023, released “A Blueprint for Community Safety,” outlining a forward-thinking roadmap with upstream solutions to address gun violence throughout the five boroughs. The report builds upon all the work the Adams administration has undertaken over the last 18 months to reduce gun violence by double digits and culminates months of engagement with communities most impacted by gun violence, including young people, whose feedback was critical in shaping the strategies and recommendations that will ensure the city continues to build on the public safety gains made since January 2022.
The Gun Violence Prevention Task Force was formed in June 2022. Co-chaired by First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Man Up! Inc. Founder A.T. Mitchell, the task force represents a multi-agency, cross-sector effort to address the root causes of gun violence and develop recommendations to promote long-term safety across all communities. As part of this effort, more than 50 members of the task force, representing 20 city agencies, engaged roughly 1,500 community residents over the course of spring 2023 through community convenings and youth town halls.
“Public safety is not only a prerequisite, but the pathway to prosperity. It is what we have campaigned, and what we have delivered. Overall, crime is down across the city year to date, and our numbers continue to trend in the right direction. The work of public safety is never done and even a single loss of life to gun violence is a tragedy,” said Mayor Adams. “Today, we are taking our efforts to end gun violence to the next level with this new ‘Blueprint for Community Safety’ — a more than $485 million dollar plan that will double down on our public safety efforts, invest in our most impacted communities, support our young people and get them on the right path, and activate every level of city government to prioritize prevention-based approaches to public safety.”
“As co-chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, our goal has been on traveling upstream, focusing on how we can stop people from picking up guns in the first place,” said First Deputy Mayor Wright. “This blueprint is a product of cross agency collaboration, engagement across all levels of government, and, most importantly, direct conversations with the most impacted communities. Together, we have unveiled a blueprint that meets the urgency of the moment and delivers a path forward to make public safety a reality for each and every community.”
“I am extremely excited for this moment where we can finally make public the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force blueprint,” said A.T. Mitchell, co-chair, Gun Violence Prevention Task Force; and founder, Man Up! “This living document is the beginning of a historic collaborative effort, that once implemented, will work to prevent gun violence from happening in our city. It is my professional opinion that this plan will work because it was created by every facet of the city that is impacted by gun violence.”
