POUGHKEEPSIE – SNUG, the gun violence interruption program in Poughkeepsie, has received additional funding from Albany. Former Poughkeepsie Mayor-now State Senator Rob Rolison announced the funding at Poughkeepsie City Hall.
SNUG (‘Guns’ spelled backward) is under the Family Services Inc., umbrella of services and Rolison delivered $50,000 to Family Services, earmarked for the SNUG program.
Rolison noted that he supported the state-funded program as mayor and he still backs it. “We need to take every kind of approach we can take to prevent violence – especially where this is geared – to prevent retaliatory shootings.”
“Their mission is to go places where the police are not necessarily welcomed,” Rolison said of the SNUG activists, many of whom are former gang members who spent time in prison. The “interrupters” as they are known, reach out to at-risk youth to counsel them on the negative effects that gun violence will have on their future. In the event of a shooting incident, the SNUG staff reaches out to those considering a retaliation shooting, in an attempt to prevent the continued violence.
SNUG Program Director Ykim Anderson has taken over a program that had faltered under previous management and has improved the organization’s presence in Poughkeepsie. In accepting the grant, Anderson said “This money will help the team continue our professional development, continue to build transformative relationships, and strengthen this community.”
Despite not being able to verify the program’s effectiveness, Rolison supports the initiative. “Based on how SNUG is modeled, it would be very difficult to measure the prevention side of what they’re doing.”
