Anna at large city councilor, and I'm the chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice.

Today is July 2nd, 2026.

The exact time is 10 01 a.m.

In accordance with Chapter 2 of the Act of 2025 modifying certain requirements of the open meeting law and relieving public bodies of certain requirements, including the requirement that public bodies conduct its meeting in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public.

The City Council will be conducting this hearing virtually via Zoom.

This hearing is being recorded.

It is also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city-council-tv and broadcasted on its finity channel eight RCN Channel 82 and files channel 964.ps at Boston.gov and we've been made part of the record and available to all counselors.

Public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing.

Individuals will be called on in the order in which they signed up and will have two minutes to testify.

If you wish to sign up for public testimony and have not done so, please email our central staff liaison.

ShanePac at Shane.gov for the Zoom link and your name will be added to the list.

Today's hearing is on docket number zero nine seven zero, message and order authorizing the city of Boston to accept and expend the amount of one million seventy-three thousand dollars two hundred and thirty-nine for thirty-four cents in the form of a grant for the FY26 Senator Charles Shannon Junior Community Safety Initiative awarded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and to be administered by the Boston Police Department.

The grant will fund regional and multidisciplinary approaches to combat gang violence through coordinated prevention and intervention, law enforcement, prosecution, and re-integration programs.

This matter was sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and was referred to the committee on May 13, 2026.

Today I am joined by my colleagues in order of arrival, District 2 City Council, Councilor Ed Flynn.

We've also received a letter of absence from at-large city councilor Ruth C.

Louis Gen.

Allow my colleagues, a brief opening remark, and we're going to go into our panel.

The Shannon Grant is an investment initiative that supports the City of Boston's comprehensive public safety strategy through regional and multidisciplinary approaches and collaborations among state and city agencies, along with partnerships with faith-based, philanthropic and business organizations within the community.

In order for the city of Boston to offer this initiative, the City Council must vote to authorize the order to accept and expend the 1.07 million dollar grant.

For the FY26, today's hearing is part of that oversight process.

The Shannon grant is intended to fund coordinated prevention and intervention, law enforcement prosecution and reintegration programs aimed at reducing gun, reducing gun gang and youth violence in the city.

These initiatives provided programs and resources that serve positive youth development and recreation activities and specifically target hotspots areas in Boston.

I want to extend my appreciation to Demon Bills for his leadership through his process each year as a project coordinator for the senior Charles Shannon Community Safety Initiative in the Boston Police Department.

It's my understanding.

It's 15 years now, so I really appreciate your efforts.

Last year, we held a productive and insightful public hearing in this committee to conduct oversight of the FY25 sharing grant.

During this hearing, we heard from the nonprofits and community organizations about the benefits this grant has provided for their work.

We also heard directly from youth and community members who are directly impacted by these programs about the impact the programs had on their lives.

Today I want to ensure that my council colleagues continue to hear from these organizations directly about the work they do.

They are doing in our Boston in our Boston communities and how this grant will support that work so that my colleagues are well informed prior to this grant being brought up before the council for discussion and later vote.

We're here up to five minutes of touch and more today from each organization.

And I want to reiterate my intention from the from the invitation sent to each organization that I hope that it this is a beneficial opportunity to introduce your work and mission to the Boston City Council rather rather than a hurdle to jump.

I recognize that this is added work for you, and I'm deeply appreciative of your participation in today's hearing.

We're honored and fortunate to have so many organizations with us today to focus on their work and be respectful of their time.

I won't be um pausing for counselor questions after each organization's presentation so we can keep a smooth flow.

But for my colleagues, please let me know if you have any questions you'd like us to collect in coordination with Central Staff, so we can send out these requests for the information on behalf of the committee.

My office can also assist you in connecting directly with any of the organizations and participants in today's hearing.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly or to my staff.

So with that, before we go to Mr.

Bills, um Councilor Plynn, do you have any um quick opening remarks?

Yes, thank you, Council Santanor.

I'm I'm here at my office at the city council.

Um I was I was expecting a high-ranking person from the Boston Police Department to be here to answer questions about public safety um security challenges we have in the city of Boston.

We are seeing a significant rise in crime in Boston.

There was a Boston police officer that was recently assaulted in the community.

I wanted to ask some questions uh directly to the police commissioner.

Um you mentioned that this grant will fund gang um you know initiatives to reduce gang violence, support law enforcement, um, and troubled spots, but those are those are important questions and um for us to ask a police commissioner or a member of the command staff.

Um with that, and it's and it's a lot of money.

We're going to vote on, I'm gonna support it one million dollars for the book for the Boston Police Department, uh, but the Boston police uh commissioner or someone from the command staff is not here, and those are the questions I like to ask about uh public safety initiatives, community policing, staffing levels.

Um, what are our what are our staffing levels and why are they so low and how do we work together to address recruitment and retention?

Um, so I'll stop there.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn, and as always, I'm I'm always happy to um put any questions on uh on behalf of the committee.

So please send those over.

Um if your questions are not answered today.

Um appreciate your attendance.

We've also been joined by City Councilor at large, Councillor Murphy and District 6 City Councilor Ben Weber.

I'm gonna give both of them um brief opening statements.

So, Councillor Murphy.

Thank you, Council Santana for holding this, looking forward to hearing from the nonprofits who do benefit from this.

I know they've come before us in the past, but uh happy to hear from them and looking forward to supporting it, but want to reiterate what Council Flynn just said.

I wasn't sure.

I was trying to look on the Zoom attendees.

The last hearing we held a couple months ago, Council Flynn and I sponsored nobody from the police showed up.

So it is um disappointing, especially going into this heat wave in the summer and not being included in the summer safety plan that I know the administration has been pushing out.

So wish there was someone we could ask directly those questions.

I know we can put things on the record, but we know that those questions more times than not don't get answered anyway.

So maybe before this hearing's over, someone will be hopping on from the police department.

Um, I'm not sure, but thank you as the chair for hosting and just looking forward to listening and supporting when you bring this up for a vote.

Thank you, Councilor Murphy.

And again, we do have Mr.

Bills from the Boston Police Department.

Um he is who we invited.

We I as the chair, I thought that you, as someone who ran the who's run been running the program for 15 years, he has the possibility to answer questions specifically to this grant.

Um, and then we'll obviously we'll be hearing from the organizations.

Um, but as always, happy to um put any questions um on behalf of the committee.

Um thank you for your time, counselor Weber.

Do you um you have the floor?

Yeah, thanks.

Uh um, I think uh last year we heard from uh Hyde School Task Force about uh the importance of these grants and uh I know that during the budget amendment process we we talked about credible messenger program uh which uh I think uh has had uh sort of bumps getting out of the gate.

Uh and I and Mildred Haley, and uh interested to hear how that's working and what the plan is uh going forward.

Um so I just want to thank the chair for holding this uh this hearing.

I look forward to the discussion.

Thanks.

Thank you, Counselor Weber, and thank you to my colleagues for being here.

All right, I will now like to introduce today's panelists with us today.

We have them and Bills, who is a project coordinator um for the Shannon Community Service Initiative, um, working with the Boston Police Department.

Um, I want to turn the floor over to you for your opening remarks, and we'll go from there.

Thank you so much for being with us again.

Thank you, Councilor.

So uh the Shannon grant funds um support the city of Boston's comprehensive strategy aimed at reducing gun, gang and youth violence within the city of Boston by providing services and intervention programming to at-risk and gang affiliated youth within the neighborhoods.

Um the grant has been a successful collaboration balancing city, community, faith-based and social service, and law enforcement organizations, um, providing opportunity prevention, social intervention and prevention strategies, community mobilization and organizational change and development.

Um this is a grant that we receive from the executive office of public safety and security.

Um, out of this year's funding, one point seven three million.

Um we will fund 17 different um nonprofits and city-based organizations.

Um last year we were able to fund 28 different um organizations, but because of the cuts in funding from the state, from the executive office of public safety and security.

Um, we had to have kind of share that in half.

Um, again, the Shannon grant, this is a 20th year of its operation.

Um, in that timeline, we've been able from the Boston Police Department to fund at least 250 different nonprofits with around the city.

Um, the Shannon grant funding cycle um has been a blueprint for other funding cycles within the city.

Um so I'm very proud of that work that we do on the same side.

It is a part of the city's public safety um initiatives, community policing based initiatives.

Um this one is led by myself, a civilian.

Um, but we are in constant partnership um with all nonprofits that are in a lot of nonprofits in our city, um, different police units, um, but it's definitely something that i i agree with uh the counselors that we we do need to have a a more clear safety plan.

Um but we we are just kind of I'm buckled down on this one.

This is the thing that we do, this is our initiative.

Um, I really want to send uh support to all of my um partners in this in this long running program um again we it over 250 this year um with the with the partnership that we have 16 out of 17 are uh people of color led um women led 10 out of our 17 partnerships um we're just very very proud of the work that they've done um the work they have been doing and they they kind of everyone is receiving cuts in funding everyone is looking at where we can get more money for our programming more money for youth jobs I know the council is aware of this um I just want you to all kind of take that into heed this is a program for public safety but this is mainly a program to support our young people um that are affected by violence in the city of Boston and all of the staff that are working diligently hard to make sure that their their programs are getting the young people services um so I just thank you for the council thank you for this um hearing um but please be aware that this is an initiative that supports the city through nonprofit organizations um which are the backbone of what we do.

So thank you for the council um let me run through some of our all of our partnerships for this year that would be BCYF um girls leadership program um Boston Medical Center violence intervention program um Boston Public Health Commission the Lewis D.

Brown Peace Institute Project Right Youth Connect the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office YOU Boston the Record Company the Veronica Robles Cultural Center Beantown Slam Teen Empowerment Maverick Landing Cultural Center Sportsman's Tennis and Enrichment Center Zoomix We Are Better Together and Mothers for Justice and Equality those are our partners for this year to 2026 um we're in mid year of our programming like half of the year is already past us and this is our hearing um a bit late but we we still are our programs are still going through so thank you for the council support for all of our partnership um and that's it.

Thank you Mr.

Bill um appreciate your testimony there.

I am gonna kick it off just with one question and then I'll go to Council Flynn.

I remember last year you you went over some numbers about I think it's it's been a 20 year program I think um you had specific statistics about gun violence in the city of Boston and um how over those 20 years um in coordination with this um grant funding and this program um that we've seen um reductions in those numbers right uh you also just mentioned that I think there was 30 plus organizations that were awarded um this that were awarded um some of this grant funding last year compared to 17 this year uh do I mean do those numbers are still are uh are uh gun violence and are those numbers still coming down um what are happening to our organizations who lost this funding are are are are they still receiving support in any way um just want to make sure you know how do we fill that gap there um I for support I don't know how organizations who lost our funding um are receiving support this year from the city I'm not aware of any other funding sources that are um like that that are like this but I I know there are some I know there's youth development grants that are there I know there's others grant funding sources but um unfortunately we couldn't we couldn't we didn't have any didn't have the funds that we had last year so we're talking every organization receives a certain amount we can't we don't want to make make them do all these work for uh less less things less money and so it's just it's it's difficult for us to to try to do that.

Statistics I have for you I can send you but I mean certain things just for last year simple assault arrest um in Boston increased by 17% um arrests for robberies increased in Boston sixty two percent um aggravated assaults um increase two percent um it's it's we have been following less there's been less youth arrest um but there's still there's always gonna there's always arrest and there's always violence that happens um and we we just try to get ahead of it um by supporting those young people and supporting the younger people who have been affected awesome thank you um I'm not gonna go to my council colleagues if anyone has any questions for Mr.

Bills Council Flynn um you have the floor thank you Mr.

Chair and thank you Mr.

Bills for being here for the important work you are doing um can you just repeat the last couple of sentences you highlighted about what crime has gone up over the last year can you can you repeat that please um the those those numbers are from 2021 to 2025 um simple assaults in Boston increased by 17% um arrests for robberies increased by 62% in that time period 2021 and 2025 and aggravated assaults increased by 2% in Boston 2021 to 2025.

Okay.

W what what what about violent crime over the last over the last six months?

I haven't I don't have that yet I can get that to be though.

Okay that would that would be great those and and what is the how is Boston police responding to violent crime knowing that we're understaffed police officers are working 16 hours a day and then to reduce the to reduce the overtime we are not putting police officers on overtime many of these shifts are just not being manned at the necessary um staffing levels is that something that's a concern to you that's really not in my purpose to say um but I can get you that information if you send the questions to the to the staff and okay no I I respect that I understand that I want to be respectful to you I I do understand it's not an issue that um you will you focus on that's more of the senior leadership of the Boston police and that's why I I did feel it was important to ask those questions if the police commissioner was here I know the police commissioner hasn't been here in a long in a period of time or has not shown up even when he's requested to be here um but those are the types of questions I wanted to ask but but Mr.

Chair was did we did we invite anyone from the uh command staff.

Thank you counselor for the question um no we we invited Mr.

Bills um who the same process we ran last year um he was overseer of this specific grant I think um I think the the questions that you're bringing up and um I think are very valid especially with everything that's going on right now and I think warrants are probably a different type of hearing um to have the appropriate staff there to be able to answer those questions.

I think this is related to that but I think this specific is just specific to the Chan grand and Mr.

Bills has been overseeing the Shannon grant for over 15 years and we invited um the organizations um so happy to work on a hearing with you um and others um to to try to address the questions that you're trying to get answered okay no thank you thank you um chair and I go back to that violence I saw on the video about the police officer being assaulted.

And I think I think it's important for every elected official to condemn the violence against um to condemn the violence we witnessed, but it's never acceptable to assault a police officer um and and someone that assaults a police officer should be arrested, prosecuted, and if and if convicted, a state sentence.

I just think we need to set the right example that it's not okay to assault a Boston police officer.

We are dangerously low with staffing levels.

We can't, we don't have enough police officers on the street.

Crime is up in the city of Boston.

We've saw we saw many violent crimes take place, including in my district.

I'll acknowledge that, including in my district, um, in South Boston and the South End.

But we can't pretend that everything is going okay and that there's no violence and there's no crime in Boston.

We have to, we have to address it.

But we only can address it, Mr.

Chair, if the if if the commission and the senior leadership are available to speak with us, they they chose not to do that.

Um, but we have to, we have to come up with a summer plan.

If there is a summer plan that was rolled out by the city, it's not working.

We need to refocus our efforts on what our plan is this summer and prioritize more police on the streets supporting police officers, community policing.

I don't think I don't think we're doing community policing any longer in the city of Boston.

And I think part of it is all is we have to treat police officers with respect as well.

They're part of the solution, they're not part of the then they're not part of the problem.

Um, but we need to include them in decision making.

And I think there's an there's a role for the city council to play if we want to play that role and um challenge the leadership of the Boston Police Department.

Um, but I don't know if there's any appetite on the city council to do that, um, but the status quo is not working.

Crime is on the rise, violence is on the rise, police officers are understaffed, and residents know that.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Council of Clinton.

And again, happy to work with you in your office on I'm gonna set up another hearing on that topic.

Um, Murphy, you have the floor.

Think thank you.

Um thank you for the presentation.

If you could just touch on the data we use to evaluate if these um, you know, nonprofits, how do we what metrics are we using?

And I know we're gonna hear directly from them, and I know they do great work, but when we're tying it directly to say gang violence or you know the things we're tying it to, how do we know that it's been effective?

Counselor, I can send you um, we we have a research partner in Northeastern.

Um, and every year there's an evaluation of the Shannon grant.

Um there's uh I could send you the the web link that we use for all of our rubrics, um, challenges, um, statewide allocations.

Um it's something that's done every year for us um by our partners here at um Northeastern.

Um but what we're looking at when we're talking about Shannon specifically is those very basic things like we're looking at case management.

How many how many case management cases have been gone have gone on for the year?

Um we're looking at how many people attended community mobilization meetings.

That means our community-based meetings about violence and violence intervention, how many young people participated in education programs, um, how many young people participated in positive youth development and recreation programs, how many hot spots were visited.

Um, so those kind of things are the things that we look at.

So for example, I could tell you in 2015, um, sorry, 2025, um, there were 2,487 youth that received case management programming.

Um there was 2,404 young people that in the case management um achieve their goals.

Um again, this is we're this is what we're looking at.

We're not kind of looking at the police and what the police are doing.

We're looking at what the nonprofits are doing um with the funding.

Um about six thousand community members um attend event events, meetings, and presentations about community violence.

Um, though that would be about 239 meetings specifically about that.

Um education and employment, um, about 3,275 young people um participated in education programming specific for this, um, and about 1,218 young people participated in employment programs.

Um very very pertinent to youth funding, youth jobs funding that we are all looking for, all of our partners.

Um about 4,015 youth um participated in recreational programming, um, which is a very much a part of violence prevention.

You have to have something for young people to do that isn't very um focused on something that's always strict.

Um, you have to have young people that are having a good time for the summer.

Um, we have programs that provide for that.

You have to have a programming that's very important for young people in after school programming.

We provide services for that as well.

Um, so this is those are the kind of things um counselor Murphy that we manage and that we kind of are measuring um our success of this program.

No, so that's good to hear the the that focus.

I know there's other organizations, and I know we've been advocating to increase you know youth summer jobs and programming directed towards the school, and yes, the data, and I believe it has to be true that it's effective in preventing what happens when there's a murder when we know there's gang violence.

How do we uh do these funds then get redirected or move towards the needs there?

Once something does like that happen, which has been unfortunately happening a lot, especially in my neighborhood here in Mattapan.

For Shannon specifically, um, when there are partners, partners that we uh work with, um, there will be two different organizations that I can name specifically that work with families that are affected by murder, that would be the Lewis D.

Brown Peace Institute, um, as well as Boston Medical Center Viat program that works with young people who have been shot um in our city.

Um, and so those programs specifically.

Is the peace institute?

Sorry, is the peace institute funded through this grant?

Yes, Lewis D.

Brown, okay, okay, thank you.

Um so those would be the two programs, and I'm I'm limiting to them because I know their exact work, but I can't say that all of our other programs are not also doing this work.

Um because of Boston is not a large place, um, we do have a lot of kind of programs that are kind of providing those services.

Um, I can name New Connect that does the case management, they will probably work with somebody who has been affected.

Um, and so it's all of the programs are doing this work specifically um to try to change the trajectory of violence in our city.

Thank you.

I have no other questions right now.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Counselor Murphy.

Counselor Weber, um, you have the floor.

I also want to um I don't think High Square, I know High School Transport has received this in the past.

I don't think they were mentioned um in the organizations that were, so they might have been part of that 30 to 17 reduction, but just wanted to give you that heads up.

Um, Council Webber, you have you have that you have the floor.

Yeah, thanks.

Uh yeah, I was gonna ask about High School Task Force, which um, you know, in my district, wonderful organization.

They're they're not being funded.

I guess can you just you know what what went into that decision?

And um, again, that programs programming won't they be able to offer?

Um it's it's just we had a limited amount of funds this year.

Um, the way that Shannon Cycles work, we try to fund organizations for a few years and then rotate.

Um, and so that's what we had to do this year.

Um High Square Task Force is an absolute great organization.

Um we support their work.

Um we also supported last year um BHA and Mildred Haley Housing for that programming that you specifically mentioned earlier.

Um, but we weren't able to do that this year.

Um last year there were the Shannon um the EOPS executive office of public safety and security here with specific funding for housing.

Um, and that didn't pass over to this year.

So last year it was mandatory that we fund housing.

Um, and then this year we just could not do that with the with the cut in our finding.

Okay, and so yes, so credible messenger also that the received funds.

I know it was to BHA last year, that's that's also not in this.

Not in this grant, but I'm not sure that they're not doing that program.

Because I think it was Teen Empowerment that was doing the credible messenger programming there.

Um, I'm not sure if they're doing or if it wasn't teen empowerment, it might have been.

Yeah, missions.

We we funded it through our amendments.

Okay, great.

In part or whole, I'm not sure, but uh, uh, because yeah, they they had lost uh funding.

Um I guess so, in terms of uh, I guess for credible messenger, do you have any metrics to report on like outcomes from that?

I can't I don't have it specifically here on me, but I can look in in the report for last year um and try to pull that out.

I don't have it on me right now.

But it's can I take a happening break really quick?

I need to take a break really fast.

I I that's fine with me.

Uh the chair.

Thank you.

But just recess, I guess.

Well, um, can we do a four or five minute recess?

That's who so who's on the second panel?

I just I don't have that.

So um there's nothing necessarily a panel.

We have all the organizations.

Um the potential organizations.

Okay.

So for the grant fund recipients.

All of them.

Okay, great.

I don't have all of them today.

Um we this is why we also did it virtually.

Um it's it's like a holiday weekend.

Um, but we also wanted to make sure that we um got this passed or get this up for a vote at the next council hearing.

Um so the timing of everything is um was kind of a little off this year, but we we do have several organizations, and um we will be providing virtual testimony and we have several um who provided a written testimony as well who who weren't able to participate in today's hearing.

Okay.

Yeah, I'll I'll be back in a minute.

I just have like one or two more questions for Mr.

Bills and then uh take up the comments for saying and we'll get back when uh Mr.

Bill's come back.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh Counselor.

Yep, no worries.

So we're gonna go back into session.

Um I know Counselor Weber.

Um had a few more questions.

So counselor Weber, you have the floor.

Sure.

Uh just in terms of uh how to decide how how you decide where the where the grants go.

I mean, do you have like a do you let have data or you do you look at geography?

I had can you just walk me through that?

Yes, we do.

I mean, there's an application process um for the grant.

Um we do look at like locations, um, what the program provides.

Um there's a there's a a rubric that we use for for our grants.

Um because everybody who's applying is their organization is great.

You know what I mean?

Everyone is applying, we know that they do they're doing good work.

Um sometimes it's the limit would be if there's like three different programs that offer some sort of a sports initiative or a basketball thing, um, or if there's three different programs that are offering um like high set high set um courses.

Um, so sometimes it's just like, well, we can't have we can't do all three because we don't have the funding to do that.

Um, I would love to have it.

Like at the beginning of the Shen 20 years ago when it started, um, we had three million dollars to use.

Um this is more of a asking like seeking the counselor's the council's assistance in kind of figuring out how we could use state funding better for us, um, and how we can get those kind of things back to those levels that we had in the in the beginning.

Um but yeah, for us specifically, that like this year we probably got about sixty-five different organizations that apply for our funding.

Um, which would have been great in the in the last year because we could have been able to do almost 30 of them.

Um but this year was because of the limit in funding, we couldn't do that.

Um it's just it's every year we have a you know, we have a committee that reviews the the applications.

Um it's a it's just difficult to do every year because we have seen like a drop in the funding.

Uh some years, it's good, um, but this last two years we've kind of seen a reduction in funding, and it I I it seems like it's forecast to also drop.

And if it in the consecutive years that's going to follow this one.

Um, just would love assistance from the council if if you know sources of funding for our organizations, um, to kind of so we can get it out to them.

Um and it's instead of this, you know, and it it's it's hard to do because a lot of our organizations have been with us for a while, and I've been around the city for a while and I know the different places.

Um we're really trying to make sure everybody has adequate funds to run their organizations.

We don't want that to happen, but sometimes it's it does.

We've seen tons of organizations lose funding and then lose their organizations, and that's it's heartbreaking um for us.

But we just we can't, we don't have funds like we this one specific grant I'm talking about, but there's other sources of funding that at our community meetings we know that you know we they lost this.

There was a lot of the loss of these funds and so we're all kind of looking at those pools of water um and try and trying to sit from all of them and it's it's difficult for all of our partners.

Um also difficult when there's a loss of youth job funding, um, which a lot of our programs are using to sustain their young people.

Um so it's a fight that uh we've been doing for 30 years now in the city.

Um it's sometimes it's it's disheartening that we're still having these conversations here in 2026 that we were having in 1995, the same battle for youth job funding is still exist.

Um so that's I don't know, Councillor Webber.

It's it's difficult, but we're trying.

Um, in terms of uh you know, history of gang violence, you know, Jackson Square, Heat Heat Street, Mildred Haley, you know.

So I I'm a little concerned right here that you know you don't have funds for credible messenger, which we're trying the city council's helping out with Heights where Task Force is losing funds is what in this package, is there anything you can point to um for for that community uh in my district?

I would say in well, youth connect is now based in in your closer to your district over by Edmondston.

Um Health Commission does programming all around the city.

Um BMC vibe all around the city, same thing with BCYF.

Um, yeah, I'm I'm aware I mean a lot of these programs do great work all over the city.

I just is there anything uh obviously there'll be I think some services that touch upon that area because they're just you know citywide, but is there anything um specifically in High Square?

No, not this year.

Yeah, yeah.

Um okay, and then I I just what one last thing I know uh the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling on sort of juvenile you know life sentences of uh I think it was without parole, you know, change that rule, and there's there's now people coming, you know, who are being released, and I know I've heard concerns that you know the city needs to make sure we're providing services for people so that when they're you know maybe they were involved in a gang-related incident, you know, 15 years ago or 20 years ago, and now they're coming back to the community, like what we're what we're doing around that.

Uh you mean re-entry, you mean?

Yeah, yeah, correct.

We really don't do Shannon doesn't really provide right now any kind of re-entry programming.

Um I would probably lean on our other partners or SSYI or um the maybe the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office has a program, but we currently for this grant specifically, we don't have any reentry program.

But I know some of our programming, some of our program partners do work with re-entry.

Um back again, that would be like the Lewis T.

Brown Peace Institute.

I know they have an initiative um to go behind the wall and talk to the young to people there.

Um so but for us, we don't have that currently.

Okay, okay.

Thanks a lot.

Uh thanks for your answers and uh thanks to the chair.

Back to you.

Thank you, Councillor Weber.

I just want to uh before I do move on to the um potential grant funding recipients.

Do um Councilor Flynn or Councilman, do you have any other questions for for Mr.

Bills?

Yeah, I just uh maybe one quick question.

Can you just briefly briefly highlight the award recipients, the grant recipients that are receiving the funding and for how much?

Um I can tell you who um I don't I'm not comfortable with the how much part, but I could give you the the general.

Um so on all of our program applicants they're applying for um about 40,000 in funding.

Um there's t there's some programs that receive a bit more than that, but those are the ones that are doing clinical-based casework.

Um but the awardees again are BCYF, um, Boston Medical Center Viat program, Boston Public Health Commission, the Lewis D.

Brown Peace Institute, uh Project Wright, um Youth Connect, Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, YOU Boston, The Record Company, Veronica Robles Cultural Center, Beantown Slam, Teen Empowerment, Maverick Landing Cultural Center, Sportsman's Tennis and Enrichment Center, Zumix, We Are Butter Together, and Mothers for Justice and Equality.

Are there any uh recipients in the South End or Chinatown or South Boston?

No, sir.

Why is that?

Uh, we just didn't have any applicants from South End or Chinatown.

No one no one applied.

I would have to look through I have to look through.

I don't I'm not sure about that.

Well, how would I I mean that's a that's a I can get back to you and see.

Okay.

I guess.

I have to look through the applicants.

That's why I'm that's what I'm saying.

Like I don't have a list right here.

I mean I'm I'm gonna vote yes on a one one million dollar grant that we received from state and that none of it is going to impact uh district two.

I d I I don't know.

I'm not sure, sir.

Well who who would know then?

Um who would know that?

I would know, but I have to I'd have to find my that's what I say.

I can get back to you with the if we did have an applicant from the South End or Chinatown.

I have to look through the applicants.

Um I mean I could I could rattle off a lot of nonprofits that do exceptional work that would be interested in this work in this field that are engaged in this field.

Um, but is it is it a case that they applied and weren't accepted or they just didn't apply at all?

I would have um again I have to get back with you with the applicants.

Mr.

Chid, are you familiar with um who it who applications were received uh from district two?

No, so thank you, Councilman.

I think we can we can definitely follow up with Mr.

Bills in terms of the list of um all people who applied throughout the whole city and see um you know the we can probably pretty easily identify um uh the different districts um and we can see who applied from South Add and Chinatown and South Boston.

Um, you know, I think also I think this also calls for that.

I think we can do a better job at making sure that uh you know when the Shannon grant is out that we're um connecting it to the organizations and nonprofits in the district.

Um it is competitive right now, as as as Mr.

Bills mentioned.

This used to be a three million dollar grant that now is at one million dollars.

Um and you're seeing um you know there are some citywide um programming happening with some of these organizations, so you know I think BCYF, the uh um the the DA's look so there are programming happening throughout the whole city that touches district two.

Um but I don't you know uh there are there's no specific one directly from the South End Um or Chinatown who was awarded this.

Um I will follow up as the committee chair to get the list of all the applicants um and we will make that available to our counselors.

Thank you.

Yeah, I'm I'm concerned about that.

Um, I don't think I've ever missed a hearing on on this issue.

I'm here and get engaged advocating for for the funding and um we'll we'll we'll support it, obviously, and then there are city councillors that that are not here that that don't show up.

They're going to be voting on a million-dollar contract next next week, and that they don't have the ability to weigh in about their thoughts or opinions about the grant.

But you know, I I do think I do think city council is uh, Mr.

Chair, need to start showing up to these important hearings.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn.

And okay, let's see, Councillor Murphy.

So, Councilor Weber, you also have questions for Mr.

Bills.

Yes, yeah, I'm good.

Thanks, Chair.

Okay, great.

Um, well, thank you, Mr.

Bills, for being here.

We're not gonna go to, um, really appreciate you answering our questions, and then we'll be also following up with some more information, especially around who will apply, and yeah, so we can get that um, we can get that to all the counselors as well.

Um, hopefully ahead of of the vote.

Um, just like a follow-through.

Like, the grant is usually released in around around August.

Um, it's up on the city's website.

Like it's it's public, um, so it's not that I'm not seeking people from all the districts.

I'm just putting it up in whoever applies.

Who that's that's who we get.

So um South End was was my old hanging my old stomping grounds.

I used to work at the Harry Tubman House of the United South End Settlements for um many years.

I worked at um via Victoria, and so it's it's near and dear to my heart as well, counselor.

So thank you again.

Um, thank you again.

We will dismiss Mr.

Bills.

Um, and now we're gonna go over to um at this time.

I would like to begin inviting our potential grant fund recipients to each um percent and testify.

I will call on each organization and ask your representative to testify up to five minutes when your name is called.

Please unmute yourself when you begin um your testimony.

Please state your name and your organization affiliation for the record.

Um, with that, we are gonna start with um mothers for justice and equality.

Or maybe we actually don't have them yet.

Um, do we have the center for teen empowerment?

The representative from there.

Abigail, oh, that's it, yep, that's even Aviga Forrester.

Yeah, sorry, sorry.

I was having some uh just a little bit of technical difficulty here.

I apologize.

I really appreciate you being here.

Um you have the floor.

Thank you, counselor.

I appreciate it.

Um good morning, everyone, good morning uh to the committee.

I would like to thank City Council Santana and the entire committee on public safety and criminal justice.

My name is Abergall Forrester, and I am the CEO for the Center for Teen Empowerment.

Our mission is to employ, train, and empower youth in collaboration with adults to create peace, equity, and justice.

The Shannon funding has been instrumental in fulfilling our mission.

In our mission, we mentioned the word collaboration.

We have found in the in over in the over 34 years of doing violence prevention work, collaboration is critical, not only among service providers and intervention specialists, but more importantly, with law enforcement.

For decades, the Shannon grant has been a bold statement to commute to communities impacted by violence regarding the state's commitment to ensuring law enforcement, community-based organizations, and community members, primarily youth and young people, find ways to implement violence prevention efforts together.

This funding isn't just uh about agencies receiving money, it is a statement that our city slash state is committed to ensuring collaboration between law enforcement and community members stay at the center of violence prevention.

As an organization, the Shannon Grant has allowed us to continue our work around creating space for youth and law enforcement agents to get to hear from each other and know each other.

Community members and law enforcement agents knowing each other is the most critical aspect for why this funding needs to be expanded.

Youth in dialogue with law enforcement agents to create and develop strategies to prevent violence, is a best practice when it comes to reducing gun violence and creating safer environments.

We've had several opportunities and incidents where young people who have been in dialogue with law enforcement agents and have been seen in their community by the same law enforcement agents had a positive interaction.

That is violence intervention and prevention at its highest level.

The funds from the Shannon Grant has supported Teen Empowerment's outreach to gang involved youth and also has allowed us to expand the work we do to create specific initiatives that target street involved youth who are not yet involved in gang violence, but on the periphery of being influenced into being gang involved because of the social abnorms that are putting pressure on them.

I recommend, as the leader of Teen Empowerment, passing the expansion for the Shannon Grant, and if possible, expanded it even more.

It is one of the only funding funding sources that hits three essential elements of public safety prevention, intervention, and collaboration.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share why the Shannon Grant is significant resource to our organization and the other organizations who are recipients.

We look forward to continuing to receive this funding as we continue to expand and focus on making our city safer.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Really appreciate your presence and the work that you do.

Next up, we have I think from the record company.

Do we have Pablo Velas?

I can see you in here.

Yes.

Hello, good morning.

Good morning, Chair Santana, Pablo Velez from the Record Company, and good morning, members of the committee.

As I said, my name is Pablo Velez, and I serve as the director of development at the record company.

I really appreciate the opportunity to speak today.

And thank you to the city for its continued investment in the record company through the Shannon Community Safety Initiative.

Founded in 2010, the Record Company was created around a simple but powerful belief.

Creativity should be a pathway to economic mobility.

Boston has no shortage of talented artists and musicians.

What many young people lack is access to affordable space, professional equipment, mentors, industry networks, and clear pathways.

We exist to remove those barriers.

Today the Record Company serves more than 3,000 artists every month across two facilities.

Our South End campus at 960 Mass Ave is home to affordable recording studios, rehearsal rooms, production suites, and TRC Academy, our free workforce development program for young people, ages 14 and 24, that is taught by Berkeley instructors and industry professionals.

Our 55 Morrissey Boulevard campus in Dorchester is one of the is one of Boston's largest creative small business hubs, home to more than 400 artists and creative small businesses.

And together, our two facilities serves artists from 21 of Massachusetts' 40 Senate districts, with many of the young people we serve coming from Boston neighborhoods that have historically faced barriers to opportunity.

We launched TRC Academy because we saw talented young people with tremendous creative potential, but no clear pathway into Boston's creative economy.

Through the Shannon Grant, we've been able to provide free hands-on workforce development that teaches audio engineering, music production, and music business, while also helping students develop the professional skills and employer values, how to interview, communicate professionally, write effective emails, collaborate with clients, and build confidence in the workplace.

In just one year, more than 100 young people have graduated from TRC Academy.

We've expanded access through partnership with City's Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement, and organizations, including Beat the Odds, Boston Music Project, Boys and Girls Club of Boston, Community Music Center, Boston, Codman Academy, and many others, while creating additional pathways through Bunker Hill Community College.

But what makes TRC different is that our support doesn't end with students when students graduate.

We've intentionally built what we call a continuum of opportunity.

Academy graduates have been hired by the Record Company to provide live sound engineering for our events, referred to paid recording and production opportunities through clients using our recording studios, continued into higher education through our college partnerships, and even launched businesses inside our 55 Morrissey creative entrepreneurship hub.

And we're already seeing the results.

Nine out of ten graduates continue creating music and audio projects after completing the academy.

More than one third have already worked in professional recording studios.

One in four have applied for paid creative opportunities, and one in four have already secured paid music or audio work.

One graduate, Deja Fitzgerald described TRC Academy by saying, There's nothing like being able to capture your heart through music, and the TRC Academy helps you get there, this feels like home.

Another graduate, Christina Bartley shared, I now have a much clearer understanding of how to approach music as both a creative and a business.

And Leda Marenara told us, now I know how to represent myself professionally.

I learned how to set up my sole proprietorship, track my business expenses, and file taxes correctly.

Perhaps the most telling is what our graduates asked for next.

94% want additional training, more than 80% want paid studio opportunities, 75% want internships, and nearly 70% won mentorships.

They don't see TRC Academy as the finish line, they see it as the starting point of a career.

Their journey continues at 55 Morrissey, where 70% of our creative entrepreneurs are already earning or building toward earning income through their creative work.

86% report increased collaboration since joining our community.

37% say they would significantly scale back their work if the record company no longer existed.

And 26% say they would consider leaving Boston altogether.

Those numbers demonstrate why creative infrastructure matters, not only for artists, but for retaining talent, strengthening neighborhoods, and creating economic opportunity through our city.

Public safety doesn't begin when a young person is in crisis, it begins when they can see a future for themselves.

The Shannon Grant helps us give young people that future through education, employment, and community.

On behalf of everyone at the Record Co.

Thank you for your continued investment in Boston's young people and for helping us build a safer, stronger, and more creative city.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Pablo.

Really appreciate your testimony and really appreciated the insight from some of those participants.

Awesome.

So next up we have Youth Connect.

I believe we have Kevin here.

Yep, I see Kevin.

Kevin, you have the floor whenever you're ready.

I unfortunately am experiencing some tech.

Let's see if this works, but I do have some tech issues, unfortunately, as we transitioned our systems.

I'm hoping everyone can hear me though.

Can hear you, yep.

Okay.

So my apologies on the video.

I'm not quite sure what's going on with it.

I tried testing it.

Uh, but good morning, uh, Chair Santana and other members of the Boston City Council.

My name is Kevin Barton, and I serve as the executive director of Youth Connect.

Uh, thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today, but more importantly, uh, thank you for your continued advocacy on behalf of the Shannon Initiative.

Um, in a year when so many organizations are navigating real fundraising challenges, your willingness to champion the funding and then to give community-based providers like ours a platform to be heard, it was a really a great deal.

Uh, so for 30 years, uh, Youth Connect has directly embedded licensed social workers inside Boston Police stations.

Uh, we're currently located in 10 stations and citywide units, including uh East Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Madatan, Jamaica Plain, Charlestown, and the South End, to provide free voluntary mental health services to our most apt-promised and system impacted between the ages of 10 to 24.

Uh, young people are referred by officers following arrest or for reasons including impact from or causing community violence, substance use, weapons carrying, and periodic delegation.

Uh, Shannon grant funding remains essential to our mission.

Uh, the truth is we know that about 65 to 70% of youth in the juvenile justice system struggle with mental health challenges.

Uh, we also know community-based intervention and prevention is more effective than incarceration, and we know that relationships are what often drive change.

So, this year we we probably served over 560 youth and their family members across Boston.

Our social workers are providing individual family therapy, meeting with young people in DYS in correctional facilities, including Nashua, Treyday and South Bay.

We're meeting young people in schools and also in their homes.

We beat up safety planning around victimization, perpetration of violence, and also retaliation.

We build networks of caring adults around each young person, and we really are trying to coordinate services of modern and across social service agencies and juvenile justice providers to ensure that families, young people and families are not falling through the cracks.

Ultimately, we need to reduce some of the root causes of risky behaviors that we know are associated with arrest, incarceration, and community violence.

What makes our model distinct is that all of our services are completely free.

They are voluntary and they're not time limited.

We don't bill insurance, which means grants like the Shannon Grant are essential.

Recent cuts to the Shannon grant has had real impact on so many organizations, so many of my career organizations.

And I know many of us have uh come together to really try to figure out ways that we can support one another and collaborate, which is which is great.

Um at Youth Connect, we do remain determined and fortunate to provide the same level of care despite these reductions, but it does come at a cost.

Continued and sustained funding means we can continue to operate outside of the insurance system, which means we do not terminate services because one person misses a pointless uh for the young people that we serve.

This is uh we stay for the line haul.

And critically, uh, we don't just serve the young person, we serve the entire family.

And we do this in partnership with over 200 other community-based organizations.

So, by we we really do believe that by wrapping support around the whole family system who did build a village that strengthens stability at home, it deepens trust, and it quite frankly produces better outcomes for young people and for the city of Boston.

So we know Boston is rich with resources.

It's it's it's not about not having resources, but it is about mitigating the barriers to access that we tend to focus on, particularly for the young people that we, along with so many others on the screen serve.

Uh, we have to literally get those barriers.

Um, and then I just wanted to honestly just say thank you to the City Council for your continued championing of these funds, and I really do look forward to continued uh collaboration and book both for the continued support.

Uh, definitely want to thank you, Demond uh Bills, for your stewardship of the funds, and again, what you are for your time and your commitment to Boston People.

This is how we get it done.

It was all together, and it goes a collaborative effect.

And my apologies for the uh the video.

It was working before, I promise.

Um, areas thank you, Kevin.

I appreciate your presence and appreciate the work that you do every single day on behalf of our Boston to youth.

Um awesome things.

Next up, we have um BCYF.

I think we have the Erica Butler with us today.

Um, we do.

Can you hear me?

You, yep.

I have the worst uh speaker today.

My other speaker broke.

Good morning, everybody.

I'm glad that we have this opportunity to see everybody.

I know it's right before the holiday, but um this has been a very important grant for BCYF for the girls' initiative.

Um, on behalf of Marta, the commissioner and myself, um, we wanted to say thank you again um for giving us this opportunity to talk about the great work that we do.

Um, this has been an ongoing process for us.

Literally, we've had this grant for 15 years.

Um, I have been the sole provider for maintaining and making sure that we do have these services for girls at the community center.

Um, also, the other thing, just to let you know, especially those of you that are asking questions in regards to other neighborhoods.

I do plan this summer and I have in the past expanding our, you know, RA.

I do the girls' initiative, but because of all the disparities with the different things happening with the youth, I have extended to do youth nights in collaboration with a few different agencies.

Um at BCYF sites as well, as well as Shaivu has been a strong partner with us, and we're hosting family nights this summer on Tuesdays for our families 17 and under, and they need to attend with the family, trying to keep that going again, um, as well as girls' nights at Shaivu, Boston Bowl, a few other agencies have stepped up.

I don't want to get crazy, but I'm just giving shout outs to a couple of folks that have been very strong.

Even though the funding hadn't come in as soon as we thought, just so you know, we've been working without the funds for this time, and we've kept whatever programming and things that we had and materials from before and did a lot of things at community centers.

We just had a completion of a girls' night, a paint night at the Hennigan Community Center, and we just reopened the pool.

So we're looking forward to hosting a girls' night there and doing a pool party.

Um so just keeping a lot of things in the community.

Um just to answer you, Counselor Flynn, we will be doing some things in South Boston, working with Barbara and Kathy about doing we always like to do a girls' night bingo, um, and just trying to keep the girls positive, keep them engaged, keep them safe.

Um, that's pretty much what our mission is, and making sure that they know that they can walk into a center and be heard.

Um, and I just really want to emphasize that the summer program, um, this year we will be doing we have a partnership new.

We've had it ongoing with Simmons, but they've given us graciously given up space this summer to do a two-week program in collaboration with Girls Leap about self-defense and making sure that they are aware of their surroundings and what's happening.

Um, we are also hosting a wellness day for girls, and that will also be at a college this summer to allow girls, and I have also with me, I'm not she doesn't want me to say it, but I have one of our partners in my office today from OEA, um, Karma Freeman, who she and I do a lot of stuff with the girls and mentorship and hosting um a couple I know they're doing after darks with us as well at our community centers, which I am so excited about with Pedro.

I think it's gonna be a great thing.

Um, and again, I just I any questions you guys have for me, I'm here.

Um, and if there's anything that you'd like to see or any ideas that you have going forward, I'm open to it.

I just like I said want to keep the girls connected and safe, and that's my mission for this summer and and fun.

You know, we want them to be kids.

And I know a lot of you know I am the one, I don't even care.

I'm still on the tea trying to talk to them.

I will go downtown to Macy's down in the basement to give them flyers.

So I'm just letting you know that these kids are everywhere, and all they want is just a little bit of attention and just listen.

And again, if anybody needs anything from me, please let me know.

Collaborations and I will give a shout out to my Boston police ladies.

They have been very strong and present with the girls.

Um on nights when I'm there by myself doing certain things.

They will show up and be a strong force and help me.

And I don't mean like enforcement, police enforcement.

They're there sometimes doing arts and crafts.

So I just want to say that um, very strong partnership, and there's a few others that I would like to name, but uh but you only get five minutes.

So thank you very much, um, Councillor Santana again.

I appreciate this opportunity.

Thank you.

Um Erica, um, definitely one of the most committed people in the city and um really appreciate the work that you do on behalf of of our Boston um youth, um, specifically our our young um ladies.

So um thank you.

Um and thank you for being here.

Um I think we have one more, maybe a few more, but um Project Wright.

I think we have Mike Hose with us.

Yes, we do.

Yes, and if you could uh elevate uh El Jimal Peoples, I think he was uh on somewhere as well.

He's our lead program.

Uh on I would like to give them a couple minutes and I'll I'll wrap up.

We want to thank all the counselors.

Um, sorry, I don't want I don't want I don't mean to cut you off who what's the name?

LGMA Peoples.

Okay.

I don't see them in the uh waiting room, Mr.

Church.

I see our Lola Taylor.

Yeah, Lola too.

That's that's a that's his daughter.

So I'm moving them over right now.

Thank you.

Uh we appreciate you all taking the time to do this.

This is a comes um the Shannon Grant is a critical funder for us.

We're able to do uh a lot of different activities.

Um, why don't you go ahead and give a little bit of update of the impact of the work that you guys do?

Hi, counselors.

Um, my name is Al Jamal People's Uh, a youth engaged in the work at What Project, right?

Um I did the Shannon grant for many years.

Uh um I came from underneath the Shannon Grant as a participant for Project Right from the Arm Later outreach, and I built my own program in 2000 called the Mike and Al Basketball League.

For many years, we have um preventing intervention of youth violence and the Grow Hall area, especially from Magnolia and Seville Columbia Road along that aspect, um, providing youth with free uh sports program, um, providing uniforms, um, engagement um into the schools from um drug prevention intervention, uh, especially we have worked especially with uh Brown Institute with some of the deaths in our neighborhoods and stuff like that.

So it allowed us to have better access to so many collaborations um with the growth program that Erica Butler stuff from standing girls over there.

So it's just a big old circle of family with what we're doing and connection with youth and violence and stuff like that.

Um every since 2000, um, now 26 years later that I'm running, I'm the director of the Mike and Al basketball program along with my friend that we have provided so many endless countless youth from all over the city and also in these Boston neighborhoods as high school from New Mission, Burke, Charlestown, all over the city.

Um, just for providing more access to everything in any youth program.

I am the only youth program for sports related in the grow hall area.

So this Shannon grant allows us to have participants that have ownership to something positive other than the youth house in our neighborhood that kept the youth found people when I'm going around from spring and summer.

Um we're about to start in July, and this grant provides a lot of stuff and stability for our youth and collaboration with the YFCA and everything else from team night, uh, RCRAS, uh, you name it, anything to keep the kids and involved in anything positive in our neighborhood.

That's what we focus on for the engagement of Mike and Al and collaboration with Project Ray.

Thank you, Al.

And want to thank the counselors and your representatives for coming to our community meeting that we had at the Freedom House that we engaged uh some of our young people, our residents with uh the different police departments to talk about uh what what's the store for the summer.

We should note that a couple um of our staff has had a deal with um uh some of the recent homicides, one of the recent homicide was a member of our 84 chapter that does prevention work around vaping and tobacco use, and had gone to the statewide DPH conference and had told us following his very excited about trying to uh talk to his other peers about um the impact of vaping and tobacco smoking, and another one of my staff is providing support services for a recent homicide to the family uh experience as well.

So we do get funding through the health commission through the VIP program and the community healing response network to provide some of these other support networks.

What's important about the Shannon Grant is that it allows us to build consistent relations with a very difficult population to reach.

We're working with Teen Empowerment to address the um issues at uh at McDonald's.

Uh unfortunately, our community center is it's underway.

Uh it's gonna take another two and a half years to be built.

Um so uh we're trying to deal with that.

And uh Reverend Culper, as I mentioned to you the uh other day, uh Roxbury Y and CA suffered a significant water main break damage, and they're closed for over two weeks, and I might I've heard it's gonna be extended period of time, which impacts uh so many different programs, so many policies and stuff.

So we're trying to be creative, uh continue on with Friday teen night.

We made a request for one of our local schools, and we're waiting to hear from that as well.

But again, the Shannon Grant's been helpful as um uh Abigail talked about.

Yes, we've had different police youth activities where young people develop some relationship with some of the police officers and later on um they see each other in the street and when something comes up uh they're able to uh pull the young person out of the situation and because he wasn't involved and and get them on his way.

So we look forward to continuing this work and thank you again for supporting this process.

Thank you, Mike, and thank you, Abigail.

Really appreciate your testimony and the work that you um you do in our community.

I also um wanna mention we've been joined by district seven city counselor um and your copper um who actually oversees um the work that you're doing right here in your district.

So um Shane, I just want to make sure.

I know we do have more people, but I don't think they're with us right now.

So I just want to do another call for Mothers for Justice and Equality.

Um a call for the Boston Medical Center.

Um I don't see them in attendance, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, great.

And I just want to make sure that um my colleagues do that we will also receive the fantastic from five different organizations, um, well, from Zoomix, um, from Bean Constant and Um with that.

Um do we have anyone um stage?

Oh, yeah, you got me.

I want to make sure I keep an opportunity.

I don't I don't have to do that.

I'll give you a second.

I don't have anyone sign up for public testimony.

All right.

All right, great.

Thank you.

Um so that brings us to the uh you know the towards the end of this hearing.

Um, you know, obviously there's amazing work being done.

Um, you know, the Shannon grant is uh is uh provides um critical funding to so many organizations.

Um I think as as was mentioned at the top, this used to be a three million dollar grant.

It is now being reduced to just above one million, and we're looking at probably further reductions um in the upcoming years.

So um, you know, just want to make sure that my colleagues know about that.

Um, and maybe we can work with Councillor Weber with the chair of um chairways and means um to see how we can try to see if if there's any gaps that we can um we can help fill as a council.

Um with that, I do want to give Councilor Culpepper.

Do you want to say a few words?

Yep, you have the floor.

Absolutely.

Look, um I rushed down to the office because I didn't have the link at home to get on.

I tried to get on at home.

So I said let me run down to the office because this is such a crap.

We're having some difficulties hearing you.

Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me now?

I'm coming in and out.

I can I can hear you, Robert.

You can hear me.

Am I the only one?

Is it just me or I think Dylan, let's put that up a little bit.

I remember the other book we put it down the other day.

Can you hear me now?

But I do have some difficulties.

So maybe we'll give you a second.

Um I'm gonna go to Councillor Flynn.

I'm gonna get through my colleagues just um brief closing remarks if you have any.

Um and Councillor Cole Pepper will go we'll come back to you.

Okay.

Um, can you hear me?

Council Flynn, do you have anything?

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I will be brief.

I listen closely to um every award recipient and want to recognize the important work they are doing, trying to bring um critical services, especially to young people, to provide them an opportunity of hope and um success, and not to be engaged in um crime or uh or violence.

But I do believe it's important that we have to continue to work together, respect each other, support our young people, especially um during these challenging times as a farmer probation officer.

I I do want us to do some more work um in helping people coming out of jail and helping people coming out of prison uh re-entry services is critical along with um how we're able to work with people that have quarries from the criminal offender record um so that they're able to be successful, healthy, and live a productive life.

So, those are some of the issues I want to continue to work on.

But I wanna say thank you.

Um thank you to Mr.

Bells for the work he has done.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, um, can you hear me now?

Thank you, Councillor Flynn.

Okay, uh, Council Santana, can you hear me now?

Yeah, you have the floor, Counselor Pepper.

You can hear me now?

We can hear you.

Oh, good, okay.

I just want to make sure.

Can I talk now?

You have the floor, Council.

Thank you.

Go for it.

I do want to thank all of the uh folks that testified today.

I didn't catch them all.

I did catch the end of some of the discussion, but the Shannon grant for me is critical.

That grant has saved many, many, many, many, many lives.

And I remember when I was working, Council Santana in the street with the young folks, um, Michael Kozo.

Um we worked.

I mean, I'm talking about in the middle of the gangs.

Mike Kozo was in the middle of the gang, not on the peripheral or not in a building, out in the street.

And that Shannon grant made such a difference for many of the organizations, smaller organizations that were actually doing the work with the young folks in the street.

And I think grants like the Shannon Grant and the small grant that we used to get from the Boston Foundation when we started the Charter Park Peace Program.

We had that grant was focused on the most involved young folks in uh youth uh violence.

And the Shannon grant, when folks competed for it, uh, and they received it, it went right to the work that was being done in the street.

I hate to see it cut.

I hope the city council, I hope we can do something to bring more money to the really anti-violence work that young folks are doing in the street, like and when you look at the difference today, and I know the mayor tells Boston as the safest city in the country.

It's a safest city because of the work that went into the streets.

And I know there are cuts all over the place, but this is one um area of funding that I was hoping would never get cut because it made a big difference in the peace in the streets.

I'm telling you, we always said it takes a job to stop a bullet.

I believe that I've seen it happen, and it's true.

It's you put those young folks to work, their whole life changes, their whole perspective changes.

And so I just want to commend those folks that are still working with the young folks in the street.

I'm working with them from a different perspective, uh, but I still support all the uh anti-violence organizations, youth organizations that depend on that funding to keep the work that they're doing going.

So I thank you, Mr.

Chair, for this hearing.

And uh let's huddle and see what we can do to try and at least prepare for next year.

We know it's cut this year, and we uh anticipate next year being even tougher.

We should start thinking about ways that we can bring more funding, if not to the Shannon grant, to start our own grant program so that we can work through the city to make sure that these organizations have the funds that they need to keep peace in the streets.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

That's all I wanted to say.

Just commend all those folks that are continuing to work.

People can walk through Growth Hall now and not think about anything, not even think, we'll just walk through and see the young folks back out and try to part.

It's just amazing.

But it didn't happen with a lot without a lot of work going into the street.

So hopefully we can work on some funding for next year.

And uh, just want to thank you again for for this hearing and giving the advocates an opportunity to talk about the work that they're doing and the work that they will be doing this summer.

That McDonald's uh Mike, I'm looking at that McDonald's too.

I'm keeping a close eye on there.

I'm starting to go get uh those uh egg McMuffins in the morning just to make sure uh it's quiet over there.

So I'm keeping an eye on it too.

Uh, and so if you hear something or see something, let me know.

If I see something, I'll say something too, okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Counselor Culpepper.

I mean, I I I agree with all that you said, and I think we we should huddle um and see how we can support a lot of this work.

Um, Counselor Weber.

Do you have any closing remarks?

Yeah, no.

Thanks.

I just uh I is the plan, Chair, to bring this up for a vote next week.

Correct.

Okay.

Well, great.

Uh, thank you.

I support this and look forward to working with my colleagues.

Thanks for the uh informative hearing.

Great.

Thank you, Councillor Weber.

I don't see any other counselors.

But okay.

Um, I I I really do want to thank again um all the community members who are here doing amazing work.

Um, you know, just uh very critical work, you know, use jobs and um, you know, change my life for sure.

And I know um uh, you know, I I know how important the work that you're all doing.

Um, you know, we heard from Erica, you know, reaching people out of Macy's basement, you know.

Um, hearing from Kevin of, you know, not just working with the individual, we're working with the entire family.

You know, these are um critical, critical um programming that we need here in the city of Boston.

Um, and definitely want to be able to bring this up to a vote at the next council meeting um and hopefully get it um, hopefully, get it passed, and then hopefully also work on try to see how we can work on funding for the following year.

Um so with that, I just want to thank uh the administration panel.

Um builds uh and all the organizations we all be both your participation and incredible work um for our youth and communities as the chair of the committee on public safety and criminal justice.

I intend to bring the order to accept and expand the FY26 Shannon Grant to the full council for discussion, and it will at our next council meeting next week at a time I intend to recommend as chair that this matter also pass.

Um with that, I don't see any hands up.

Um this hearing on docket number zero nine seven zero is adjourned.

Thank you.

I know and I don't look like that.

Because I love I love to support anything you do.

But um we must come out so that I'll do a bunch of summer.

Yeah, I usually put anything that be on D C Website and on the D C webpage.

If any of these rather than the content is incredible.