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 mediationwhich 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 Presidents support, we can break the NRAs stranglehold on Congress and finally pass meaningful, life-saving legislation.

I am especially encouraged by President Bidens 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 Yorks 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.