City of Racine invests more than $500K in violence prevention

NOW: City of Racine invests more than $500K in violence prevention
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RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- One day after Milwaukee officials laid out their crime numbers, Racine officials are putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to battling violence.

Racine Mayor Cory Mason announced Friday, Jan. 13, that the city awarded $513,874.80 in grants to local organizations to reduce violence. Mayor Mason said overall violent crime in Racine has decreased by 5% but gun violence is skyrocketing.

"We certainly seen an increase in gun violence everywhere in the country and Racine has not been immune from that, so we're using a good chunk of the ARPA funds that we have to really invest into law enforcement and crime prevention," said Mayor Mason.

Mason said those committing gun crimes in his city are getting younger and younger. He believes to make a difference in the community, they must start with the youth.

"The view of it is if you can engage people when they're young and give them a meaningful opportunity to succeed instead of engaging in a gang or engaging in some other unsafe activities; the ability to prevent crime before it happens goes up dramatically," said Mayor Mason.

The city has helped fund several local organizations that focus on Racine's young people, such as Payne Consulting. The organization specializes in community engagement and community-based programs. They are reintroducing a mentorship program to help combat violence.

"Seeing the uptick in violent activity made us want to do something and we all have heart for children and so we wanted to revive our mentoring program and reach out to young people who could use some extra levels of support," said Kim Payne, co-founder of the organization.

The mentoring program invites youth to join the organization for three hours after school, targeting children between the ages of 9 and 13. It offers cohorts, group discussion and even boxing with a diverse group of mentors.

Mayor Mason said he's hopeful these efforts will help shift gun violence trends in Racine.

"If kids don’t find love at home they'll find it on the streets, right? What we want to do is create a sense of community that supports families and supports young people to prevent crimes before they even occur," said Mayor Mason.

The City of Racine said they are inviting more local organizations to join their efforts, the deadline for applications is Jan. 26.

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