During the Spring of 2006, a precipitous rise in violence in the City of Boston compelled GBIO, the Black Ministerial Alliance, the Boston Ten Point Coalition, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Dorchester Youth Collaborative and the Massachusetts Communities Action Network to work together on a short term emergency strategy to maximize funding to assist agencies that serve at-risk and high risk youth in the City of Boston.

Our collaborative efforts, combined with the leadership of Mayor Thomas Menino, resulted in $700,000 being made available in state funds by Governor Mitt Romney. These funds provided critical resources to support existing community and faith based organizations in positive gang prevention and diversion activities for the summer and fall of 2006. This new funding of $700,000 was awarded on a competitive basis through the State Executive Office of Public Safety and helped increase the capacity of the following organizations and others to serve our city’s youth:

· Agassiz Village · Boston Learning Center · Boston Neighborhood Network TV · Black Ministerial Alliance · Boys and Girls Club of Boston - Roxbury · Bowdoin St. Health Center · Bowdoin St. Afterschool Program · Central Branch YMCA · City Mission Society · Codman Square NDC · Colonel Dan Marr Boys & Girls Club

· Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation · Dorchester Nazarene Compassionate Center · Dorchester Community Center for the Visual Arts · Friends of the Hernandez School · Inquilinos Borricuas En Accion · Mission Safe · Museum of Science · National Black College Alliance

· Phillips Brooks House Association · Project RIGHT · Sociedad Latina · South End Technology Center @ Tent City · Teen Empowerment · Teen Voices · The City School · Whittier Street Health Center · Women's Union · Young Cape Verdean Club

We are asking the candidates for Governor to commit to us that the $700,000 in new funding committed by Governor Romney in 2006 be immediately recommitted as a part of the 2007 budget.

While GBIO members are gravely concerned about the rise in shooting and youth violence in the City of Boston and other cities, we are equally alarmed by increases in teenage alcohol and substance abuse, teen pregnancies, unacceptable drop-out rates and teen suicides all across our commonwealth.

We are asking for executive leadership from the next Governor of MA in creating a state-wide, coordinated strategy to combat the critical problems facing our youth - including violence, drug and alcohol abuse, drop out rates and teen suicide. GBIO, BMA, and the Boston Ten Point Coalition expect to be part of the solution.