PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city was awarded $73,000 dollars to continue its young violence prevention programming.

 

On Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker announced the next round of Charles E. Shannon Grant funding, of which $73,000 will be coming to help continue to Pittsfield Community Connection. 

 

This will be the fourth year of consecutive funding, which is coupled with the city's Safe and Successful Youth Initiative program funding, to provide an array of youth violence programs such as mentoring, job placement and intervention. 

 

"It is extremely important. As we all know we have some real challenges with youth violence in our city and Pittsfield Community Connection has done a good job to give high-risk youth and high-risk young men opportunities to be involved in activities and programs to help them achieve their best potential," Mayor Linda Tyer said. 

 

The Shannon Grant is a key component of the Pittsfield Community Connection, which was formed three years ago. The Shannon funds are targeted to continue a mentoring program for high-risk youth as young as 10 years old. The mentor helps guide the young one away from falling into trouble as well as conduct needs assessments and referrals to social service agencies as needed. 

 

The SSYI funding, which is $500,000 per year, targets an older age group, still focused on high-risk youth, with an array of community partners from police to schools to non-profit organizations. Those in the program receive a higher level case management team and focuses on connecting the youth with jobs, mental health counseling, or furthering their education and training programs. That is targeted for the 17 to 24-year-old range.

 

Pittsfield Community Connection also provides family support programs and has outreach workers in the community, making connections with those youth. 

 

The city began working with the Shannon grant with a $60,000 award in 2013. In January of 2014, the city received a boost to $100,000, which allowed the hiring of a grant coordinator. That grant coordinator began the mentoring program and gave the organization the name - Pittsfield Community Connection. 

 

He has since moved on but on Tuesday he was on hand to represent the city of Pittsfield in receiving the award. That is state Sen. Adam Hinds.

 

"It is meaningful. I've seen it on both sides now. I got to see first hand how it changes lives," Hinds said on Tuesday. "It is critical we go all in on making sure any child gets the attention and support so they have hope for the future."

 

Hinds wasn't in office when the grant application was made or approved, but he still feels it is meaningful for the city and was glad to be on hand for the announcement. Hinds said the connection has really built itself to being an important community partnership helping to turn around the trends of youth violence. 

 

Jon Schnauber had taken over the program a year ago and with the SSYI grant, has been able to expand its menu of services even further. 

 

The city had hoped to grow it even more this year when it applied for $120,000 from the Shannon Grant, but not all of that was funded.

 

"We knew when we began applying for the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative grant that our Shannon Grant funding would be reduced over time because we have that second grant which is much larger," Tyer said.

 

Nonetheless, the mayor said the grant award is "really good news" in confronting the youth violence issues. In total, Baker announced $5.7 million to 15 communities and 11 organizations throughout the state.