City, CT Against Gun Violence Partner To Create New Department

NEW HAVEN, CT — New Haven officials and Connecticut Against Gun Violence have teamed up to create an Office of Violence Prevention under the city's new Department of Community Resilience.

Connecticut Against Gun Violence is an advocacy group that seeks to end gun violence in the state through new gun control laws, non-legislative violence prevention programs and administration of the state's existing gun laws, according to its website.

The group's executive director, Jeremy Stein, told listeners at a Friday press conference that gun violence should be a "top priority" in New Haven, the Yale Daily News reported.

To prioritize the reduction of gun violence in New Haven, Stein said, the new office will look for "community-centric, evidence-based solutions," according to the Yale Daily News.

Connecticut Against Gun Violence will conduct public listening sessions and research existing violence prevention programs nationwide, The New Haven Independent reported.

The city will use the group's findings to coordinate existing efforts, fund new programs and assist local survivors of gun violence, according to the Independent.

"The overall goal of this office is to help the city provide a coordinated response to gun violence from the prevention side all the way to the aftercare side," Mehul Dalal, the city’s health and human services director, told the Yale Daily News.

The press conference was held at the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing, which was created by local volunteers to memorialize the city's gun violence victims, the Independent reported.