Syracuse City Council Budget Hearing for Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence - April 21, 2026
Syracuse City Council Budget Hearing for Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence - April 21, 2026
The Syracuse City Council held a budget hearing on April 21, 2026, for the Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence (MORGV). Councilors Helen Hudson, Joan Rousser Jones, Nave, Caldwell, Monto, and President Pontiagua attended. Latif Johnson, director of MORGV, presented the budget, and Deputy Chief Dave Metz of the Syracuse Police Department provided testimony on interagency collaboration.
Discussion Items
- Budget Overview and Justifications: Latif Johnson reviewed the budget, noting that the three part-time credible messenger positions were previously funded by DCJS and that MORGV now seeks city funding to continue them. He explained that office supplies ($2,500, corrected from a clerical error showing $25,000) cover supplies for community outreach and programming. Professional services ($50,000, down from $250,000) support the trauma response team and therapists on a mobile unit. Travel expenses ($6,050, up from $991) fund training and conferences to stay current with community violence intervention (CVI) best practices. Johnson stated that the entire budget is now city-funded, with zero grant support, though he continues to pursue federal (DOJ) grants.
- Data Tracking and Accountability: Johnson emphasized that MORGV tracks all activities, using a data analyst to record youth interactions, meetings, and contract deliverables. He described the office as coordinating an "ecosystem" of partner organizations, ensuring accountability to reduce violence. Deputy Chief Metz confirmed that the collaboration between MORGV and SPD has been integral to enforcement strategies and contributed to a drop in violent crime.
- Neighborhood Ambassador Program: Councilors inquired about the new Neighborhood Ambassador program, funded by state dollars through 2027. Johnson clarified that ambassadors are not yet appointed; they will be part-time seasonal workers (May to November) embedded in neighborhoods to organize community meetings, connect residents with services, and empower neighbors. Councilor Caldwell suggested ambassadors meet with district councilors to identify specific problem areas. Johnson stressed ambassadors are coordinators, not therapists, and rely on professional services for clinical support.
- Response to Youth Affected by Gun Violence: Councilor Caldwell raised concerns about children who are not directly involved in violence but are impacted as victims' family members or witnesses. She argued that these "good kids" are often forgotten and called for dedicated support. Johnson responded that MORGV now proactively sits in affected neighborhoods (e.g., after the Palmer Ave shooting) at 7:30 a.m. to identify and serve these children. He announced a new program, "Mothers Against Gun Violence," starting in May 2025 (likely a slip, should be 2026 per meeting date) in partnership with the Salvation Army, providing family functional therapy for mothers and eventually children. Johnson noted that additional funding would be needed to scale support for the approximately 20 children impacted per incident.
- Prevention vs. Intervention: Councilor Monto asked whether MORGV could shift focus more toward prevention and exposure to positive activities, not just crisis response. Johnson described the office's role in coordinating prevention, including college tours and YMCA memberships, and holding organizations accountable for follow-through. Deputy Chief Metz added that SPD's targeted enforcement on high-risk individuals allows other programs (parks, recreation) to flourish.
Key Outcomes
- No formal vote was taken; the hearing was for informational budget review.
- Latif Johnson confirmed the launch of the Mothers Against Gun Violence program in May 2026, with the goal of expanding to children in subsequent months.
- The Neighborhood Ambassador program will begin in May 2026, funded through 2027, with recruitment and training ongoing.
- Councilors expressed general support for MORGV's work but highlighted the need for better public messaging about successes and for expanded services to victims' families. The meeting adjourned by motion.
Meeting Transcript
I'm good right here. I thought you were leaving, Jimmy. Um good afternoon. We I would like to call the order, the um budget hearing for the mayor's office to reduce gun violence, which falls under public safety. I have with me today counselors Helen Hudson, uh Councilor Joan Rousser Jones, Counselor Nave, Counselor Caldwell, Counselor Monto, um, and President Pontiagua. Along with um Yeah, Matif Johnson Kenzie. Latif Johnson. Yeah, who runs the uh mayor's office to reduce gun violence. Um yeah, so go ahead. You can you can have the floor first. Thank you. So I did um give you guys a map of kind of the positions along with the numbers. Um so as we start off, um when we talk about the credible messengers, the first line uh that is for three part-time individuals, and if you look on the um uh the breakdown uh the outreach staff, uh we would be looking to receive uh money from the city for those uh positions, those three part-time uh staff. Those positions previously were funded um through DCJS, um, and we're looking to continue to do that work. Uh that outreach work is working with um many individuals throughout the community today. Uh we will be doing an outreach um down on Sterling and Palmer. So those the type of things that those outreach workers would be doing. Um any questions so far? Good so far. Okay. So as we go down to um line um where it says less uh the reimbursement from other funds. Um and when we go down to contractual other expenses, those are all those um the grants that we had. So we did have some grants um that funded um a lot of the positions. Um over the last I would say I've been in this position for four years, so most of the funding for the directors for the mayor's office of juice gun violence uh was through grants um besides myself um as director. So I was the only one that was paid through the city. So what we're looking to do is continue to pay our um project manager or project coordinator and also our data analysts uh who provide services to to our office. Um I think office supplies um are are at at a minimum in operating supplies, the same uniform supplies um as I have on today. We we do wear mostly uniforms when we go out. They're uh quite a bit. Say that again. The operating supplies 2300 is to 25,000. That's a big joke. Maybe it's not a mistake. No, not 25,000. No. That's not operation. Yeah, that's probably a m typo. So is it 2500? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, so that's just supply more than office supply. So when we do outreach, when we do our uh programming, like today we go out, uh, we're gonna feed some some kids after school. Um different programming we do that. That's what that supply line is. That's my apology. I'm looking at office supplies, but those are overall for things that we do throughout the community, different outreach that we do. Most of that was funded through the grants also. And then I'm looking at professional services, that took a big drop. Professor, so the trauma response last year. Um they received in 2024 25 250,000. Um that was cut down to 50,000 as of um 2025.
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