Roosevelt Islander Online: President Joe Biden Visits Jacob Blackwell PS 111 School A Few Blocks From Roosevelt Island To Learn About Community Capacity Development Gun Violence Prevention Program Yesterday

Roosevelt Islander Online: President Joe Biden Visits Jacob Blackwell PS 111 School A Few Blocks From Roosevelt Island To Learn About Community Capacity Development Gun Violence Prevention Program Yesterday

Yesterday,
President Joe Biden
was only a few blocks away from Roosevelt Island learning about the community
based gun violence prevention program from
Community Capacity Development
during a visit to
Jacob Blackwell PS 111 school
in nearby Long Island City.

According to the LIC Post:

 … Biden visited P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell, located at 37-15 13th St.,
to meet with school principal Dionne Jaggon and local violence interrupter
teams tasked with de-escalating conflicts before they turn violent. The
elementary school is situated between the Queensbridge and Ravenswood
Houses– two NYCHA complexes where there have been several shootings in the
past two years…. 

… Jaggon told Biden that the violence interrupter teams – operated by a
non-profit group called
Community Capacity Development
(CCD) — had significantly reduced violence levels at the school, which had
around 330 students enrolled last year. The violence interrupter teams,
Jaggon told Biden, use tools such as conflict mediation—which have made the
school safer. She said the CCD has also joined forces with the school to
address food insecurity, financial illiteracy and a lack of after-school
programming for students….

CBS New York
reports on President Biden’s visit yesterday.

Here’s more video from President Biden’s visit to PS111 school in Long Island
City with the
Community Capacity Development
team.

Roosevelt Island
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
adds: 

I want to thank President Biden for coming to New York City today to
announce more actions to treat the gun violence epidemic as the public
health crisis it is. In the first month of this year alone, we have lost
more than 3,000 American lives to gun violence — we must honor all the
victims with action. I am hopeful that with the President’s support, we can
break the NRA’s stranglehold on Congress and finally pass meaningful,
life-saving legislation.  

I am especially encouraged by President Biden’s focus on stopping the
interstate flow of guns through the ‘Iron Pipeline’ and will continue to
push my legislation to make gun trafficking and straw purchases a federal
offense. For too long, the ‘Iron Pipeline’ has enabled people to skirt New
York’s strong gun laws. In New York City alone, as many as 74% of the
firearms used in crimes were trafficked from other states with weak gun
laws.

In February 2021,
Congresswoman Maloney introduced gun safety legislation.



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