Haverhill, Lawrence and Methuen were formally awarded state grants Wednesday to help reduce youth and gang-related violence.
Haverhill and Methuen will share $310,466 from the Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative, while Lawrence will receive $299,866.
“Preventing violence among young people is critical to ensuring the future wellbeing of our youth and the safety of our communities,” said Gov. Maura T. Healey in a statement. “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 state grant program awards money yearly to support regional, multi-disciplinary program sites that take collaborative and evidence-based approaches to reduce youth and gang violence. The funds are managed and administered by the Office of Grants and Research (OGR). A total of 15 program sites were awarded grants totaling approximately $11,179,673. Each program site will receive support from a partner agency that will assist with strategic planning, critical analysis and continuous feedback to ensure programs remain within scope, on schedule and within budget. Partners were awarded a total of $785,543 based on their applications submitted separately from communities.
Officials said this is the first year a portion of Shannon grants support violence prevention in public housing. Legislators mandated housing sites that have seen enforcement actions by the U.S. Department of Justice be given preference.