January 2, 2025 |City of Lynn, City Services, News

Lynn receives Shannon Grant funding from state

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The City will receive $446,354 in funding awarded through the Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative, including new funds to support violence prevention in public housing sites. The grant program is an important tool in helping communities build collaborative programs to improve safety and reduce gang activity.

The Shannon Community Safety Initiative (CSI) is a state grant program that awards funds annually to support regional, multi-disciplinary program sites that take collaborative and evidence-based approaches to reduce youth and gang violence.

Lynn’s funding includes $69,421 in Housing Site Initiative Funding in the first year those funds were available to support violence prevention in public housing.

“We are pleased to receive this funding from the state as we continue to implement programs and interventions to stop and prevent gang activity,” said Mayor Jared C. Nicholson. “We are fortunate to do this work in collaboration with community partners who are equally committed to addressing this problem.”

In its grant application, the City proposed a collaborative, multi-dimensional effort to respond to gang recruitment and activities, consisting of four nonprofits, LifeScene, Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development, Catholic Charities, and Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy. Much of these efforts are led by the Lynn Police Department and involve other municipal partners such as the Department of Public Works, which manages Lynn’s Teen Drop-In Center. There is also support and buy-in from North Shore Community College.

The intervention efforts mentioned are supported by extensive research on best practice, with a local orientation on: outreach and case management supports, educational, personal development and workforce programming, and diverse opportunities for socialization for at-risk and gang-related youth ages 14-24.

The funds received as part of the Housing Site Initiative will be used at the Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood’s Curwin Circle development, where programming includes: homework assistance and tutoring, drop-in socialization, creative and recreational options, family engagement activities and college prep.

“The Shannon Grant Program has long been a priority of the Lynn delegation and we are thrilled that the City of Lynn has been awarded this impactful state funding once again,” said Senator Brendan Crighton. “This program has a proven record of violence prevention and we are thankful that the City and our community partners continue to remain dedicated to this critical work.” 

The Shannon CSI funds are managed and administered by the Office of Grants and Research (OGR). A total of 15 program sites were awarded grants totaling approximately $11,179,673. Each program site will receive support from a Local Action Research Partner (LARP), which will assist with strategic planning, critical analysis and continuous feedback to support program operations and ensure that funded programs remain within scope, on schedule and within budget.

The Shannon Community Safety Initiative (CSI) is a multi-pronged approach to address a community’s gang and youth violence problem using five strategy areas:

• Social intervention 
• Suppression 
• Opportunity Provision
• Organizational Change
• Community Mobilization

The Shannon CSI incorporates key elements of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Comprehensive Gang Model. It utilizes a multi-pronged approach to gang violence prevention, which includes providing social interventions, suppressing acts of violence, providing positive opportunities, creating organizational change and mobilizing communities to prevent and reduce gang activity.

Th above press release was submitted to us by the City of Lynn.