For Immediate Release
May 26, 2005
Please Contact: Colin Durrant (617)722-1650 or
Dalié Jiménez, 617-722-1650

(Boston, MA)  Anti-gang prevention and policing activities in Somerville received over $250,000 in the Senate’s FY06 budget approved earlier this week.  Senator Jarrett T. Barrios said the money will be used to develop a youth prevention program to give kids alternatives to gangs and to boost State Police Anti-Gang efforts in Somerville.  The youth leadership project will be named in recognition of the late Senator Charles E. Shannon, Jr.

“We’ve got to attack gang violence with a two-pronged strategy of prevention and targeted law enforcement,” said Senator Barrios.  “Safe streets and communities depend on supporting the kinds of programs that give youth opportunities and build bridges between police and neighborhood leaders.”

Senator Barrios and staff in the late Senator Shannon’s office joined with Mayor Joe Curtatone to secure a $250,000 budget amendment for the “Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. At-Risk Youth Project” to continue the work of the Center for Teen Empowerment in Somerville.  The money was also included in the House’s FY06 budget through the efforts of the entire Somerville House delegation and the support of House Second Assistant Majority Leader Representative Byron Rushing. Additionally, Somerville was included in a list of ten cities that State Police’s Anti-Gang Unit will focus more attention and increased resources on under a new $900,000 earmark.

According to Teen Empowerment Executive Director, Stanley Pollack, “These funds will enable TE to expand a powerful network of youth leadership and significantly increase our efforts to turn Somerville youth away from gang violence and towards positive involvement with their community.”

In June 2004 Mayor Curtatone hired Teen Empowerment, a nationally recognized non-profit organization based in Boston to launch a model youth leadership program for the city.  The Teen Empowerment model, designed by former Somerville youth worker Stanley Pollack, hires Somerville teens and teaches them sophisticated organizing, communications, and management skills as they work to develop programs that involve their peers in positive community action. A FY06 Budget Conference Committee is expected to be named in the next week that will begin hammering out differences in the Senate and House budgets.  

“The Senator, who was also a former police officer for twenty years, consistently advocated for the kind of educational prevention programs like the one that now bears his name. He certainly would have been proud to see this vital funding earmarked for the Teen Empowerment Program in Somerville, as they do a tremendous job day and day out,” said Shannon’s Chief of Staff, Sean Fitzgerald.

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