What is SNUG?

COMMENTARY | Today, community activists, grade-school children, and members of Albany's Arbor Hill and South End communities rallied in front of the Governor's mansion for funding for SNUG. The name SNUG, I am told, is not an acronym, simply the word "guns" spelled backwards.

First, what is SNUG?

SNUG is a community outreach program based on a model developed in Chicago. SNUG reduces gun violence by sending representatives into communities affected by gun violence within 72 hours of an incident of gun violence. After a shooting has occurred, members of SNUG drop literature and speak to members of the community, reaching out especially to young people in urban communities who are the victims -- and often perpetrators -- of gun violence. The goal is to combat the gang culture of retaliatory violence which has deeply permeated urban neighborhoods.

As an organization, SNUG was funded by New York State by a $500,000 grant. The program is still in its infancy in this area, though this model has been proven effective in many other urban areas. In the past year, News Channel 13 reports that the number of shootings in Albany have been reduced by a third. Still, though SNUG reached out to politicians who represent areas of Albany affected by gang violence, none of the elected representatives of those communities came to the rally that SNUG held.

Albany seems unwilling to fund a program that clearly saves lives. Those who allegedly represent these communities didn't deem it worthy of their time to support an organization in their community which has been an impetus for positive change.

Community activist and Albany resident Willie White's take is that New York State's not funding SNUG is a "racial problem": Albany is unresponsive to the needs of its minority communities. White further stated that it costs about $210,000 to house a juvenile inmate for one year. Gang culture and gang violence has permeated to younger and younger children in urban communities. SNUG directly reaches out to the 14- and 15-year-olds who live in our communities and are affected by gun violence and the culture of gangs and retaliatory violence. South End resident Clara Phillips suggests a step further: That we can reduce gun violence in Albany by talking to grade-school children in urban neighborhoods. We need to talk to young people long before they come under the influence of gang culture.

According to White, the model on which SNUG is based is supported by the research of four major universities. It is proven effective, and more importantly, SNUG has engaged members of some of Albany's most troubled neighborhoods to fight against gun violence. The program involves people in the community, to reduce violence where they live.

The salient point I feel like I can make is this: In an urban environment, when you read about a single incident of gang-related gun violence, there are really two lives effected. After every shooting in Albany, one young person in Albany is in the ground, the other young person is in a prison cell. That's the stark reality that SNUG has been proven effective in combating. The last question is, why is Albany not funding SNUG, when the benefits to our community as a whole are so obvious?