POUGHKEEPSIE – Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado met with members of SNUG, the group tasked with interrupting gun violence, in Poughkeepsie on Friday.
In a closed-door meeting at the SNUG office at the Family Partnership Center, Delgado and others involved in the program that receives funding from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) talked about various efforts to improve the reach of the program.
SNUG (guns spelled backward) is a program in many New York municipalities that are plagued by gun violence. In addition to Poughkeepsie, the program is also visible in Newburgh and a few Westchester communities. SNUG targets at-risk youth between the ages of 14 and 21 in an attempt to discourage them from engaging in gun violence. The program’s results are not readily visible or identifiable, something Delgado disputes.
“Any life that is saved by virtue of this program makes it priceless. When you are thinking about the impact that this is having in communities that have historically been marginalize, or neglected or underserved, when you are able to have a direct effect on people’s lives and stop them from continuing down a vicious cycle, that impact is profound,” he said.
The lieutenant governor said the SNUG program will continue to build relationships with school, police, and other community organizations to identify those at risk of committing violent acts and proceed to work with those youth.
