SPRINGFIELD, MA (WSHM) -
Springfield has been awarded nearly $1 million to help fight crime in the city.
The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security announced that the city has been awarded the Shannon grant, which will go towards the C3 initiative in the North End.
The funding means that these streets in the North End will continue to see the changes that residents have been wanting to see for so long.
"You can see the difference. It's wonderful that the kids are behaving and everything we're trying to do to help these kids make it happen," said President of the New North Citizen's Council Jose Claudio.
Claudio is one of the many trying to transform the North End.
He says with the help of the $714,000 Shannon grant, the innovative C3 policing unit, a joint force between state and local police, will continue to grow.
The funding from the state will allow for more overtime and programming for kids trying to get out of the gang lifestyle.
"It's wonderful to have this approved grant for the city and for us, especially, so we can make a difference in the neighborhoods and in the whole area of Springfield," Claudio said.
Since the C3 unit began targeting crime in the North End by partnering with the community and people like Claudio, crime has been cut by 68 percent.
Now with continued funding by the Shannon grant, which targets communities with youth gang problems that are working to end it, Claudio says he's more hopeful than ever for the future of his neighborhood.
"Especially the Springfield police because they do have a hard job and they need all the help they can get," he said.
Springfield also received funding from the Shannon grant last year, but this year they got a nearly $70,000 increase to continue cutting crime in the city.
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