By Paul Tuthill
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Springfield, MA – The city of Springfield Massachusetts could be one of the first to benefit from the new antiviolence initiative proposed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. WAMC"s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..
Governor Deval Patrick called for a focused and concentrated effort to curb youth violence through prevention and intervention programs , tougher gun laws and a clamp down on street gangs.
Marilyn Anderson Chase, an assistant secretary of the Masssachusetts Office of Health and Human Services will direct the initiative.
The plan is to put ten million dollars initially into programs in the state's most violent cities, designate three new gun-related crimes that would make it easier for police to go after so-called high impact players and to expand the definition of organized crime to include street gangs and drug dealing networks.
Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno hailed the governor for making youth violence a priority.
Officials say the effort will initially target cities with the highest violent crime, which would include Springfield, according to Darryl Moss, the mayoral aid who coordinates the city's youth violence prevention and anti gang efforts..
Moss says the tougher gun laws would also be a big help.
DeJuan Brown , executive director of AWAKE, a Springfield based violence prevention program, is very enthusiastic about the governor's approach. He said he was impressed by Patrick's promise to not waste money on programs that don't work.
The Springfield Institute sponsored a study of several youth violence prevention programs. Institute director Aron Goldman said the governor's plan contains a number of good strategies..
Goldman said youth violence can be blamed in part on structural problems, including bad schools, high unemployment, and disparities in health care.
Reporting from WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau on the campus of Western New England College, I'm Paul Tuthill.