California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wants his state to dedicate more money to preventing violence, including gun violence.
In a revised state budget released on Thursday, Newsom included $27 million for the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, which provides grants to cities and community-based groups that work on community education, youth outreach and other violence-reduction efforts.
The new figure is three times higher than the $9 million the governor proposed in his original January budget ― the amount allocated to the program last year.
It is not clear how much of the program’s past grants have gone specifically to gun violence prevention initiatives, as opposed to other anti-violence efforts. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for clarification.
A news release from the California chapter of gun reform group Moms Demand Action touted the grant program as supporting groups “that apply a localized approach to address gun violence in California’s hardest hit neighborhoods.”
“Gov. Newsom demonstrated today that he knows just how important community-based violence intervention programs are to saving lives in our communities,” Krystal Lopilato, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action in California, said in the release. “This increased funding... will mean increased safety in the communities hardest hit by gun violence.”
The governor’s revised budget announcement comes just days after a deadly school shooting in Colorado and less than two weeks after a deadly shooting at a synagogue near San Diego.
The budget still has to be approved by legislators.