New York State is putting nearly $36 million more behind its fight against gun violence, awarding $35,987,983 in Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) grants to law enforcement agencies across 21 counties outside New York City on Thursday. The announcement comes as the state touts some of its steepest shooting declines in two decades, with Governor Kathy Hochul crediting the funding strategy for driving down firearm violence in upstate and Hudson Valley communities.
Governor Hochul announced the new round of funding in a social media post Thursday, framing it as part of a broader $4 billion investment in public safety, $1 billion of which she said is focused specifically on preventing gun violence. “Shootings are down 19% this year and 67% since I took office,” Governor Kathy Hochul
wrote, adding, “That's not a coincidence. It's what happens when you do the work.” The grants are administered by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, which funds overtime, personnel, equipment, and technical assistance for 28 police agencies alongside district attorneys' offices, probation departments, and sheriffs' offices, according to
Sun Community News
.
Thirteen Departments Report Zero Gun Deaths
Through August, 13 police departments participating in the GIVE initiative — including Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Schenectady, Utica, and Watertown — reported zero firearm-related deaths, per the same account. Those cities represent some of the mid-sized urban centers in the upstate and Hudson Valley regions that have been central to the state's violence-reduction push.
The new money is spread across nine state regions, with Western New York receiving the largest share at $9.01 million, followed by Finger Lakes at $6.58 million and Mid-Hudson at $5.42 million, the station's report notes. Those three regions have historically reported some of the highest volumes of violent crime outside New York City.
Multi-Year Declines Across Upstate Cities
The new funding builds on a trend that predates this year's figures. Shooting incidents with injury across GIVE communities had already fallen 52 percent between 2021 and 2024, according to Governor Kathy Hochul's office. Individual cities have seen even steeper drops since 2021, with Albany recording a 56 percent decline in shootings, Buffalo 66 percent, and Niagara Falls 59 percent, the governor's office reported.
Communities in the GIVE program also saw an 18 percent decline in overall index crime during early 2025 compared to the prior year, including a 19 percent drop in violent crime categories, per the governor's office. New York State first established standardized tracking for shooting incidents and firearm victims in 2006, a baseline that state officials continue to use when describing current numbers as record lows, as reported by Newsweek.
Part of a Larger State Budget Push
The $36 million GIVE allocation sits inside a much larger pool of money. The New York State FY 2026-27 Enacted Budget set aside $352 million in total funding for statewide gun violence prevention, intervention, and enforcement programs, according to the governor's office. That budget also funds complementary efforts, including $18 million for the Crime Analysis Center Network, $21 million for the SNUG Street Outreach Program, and $20 million for Project RISE, which focus on community outreach and youth intervention.
The GIVE program specifically covers jurisdictions outside New York City's five boroughs; NYPD statistics are tracked separately by the department, though both have shown downward trends in violent crime over the same multi-year window. State officials attribute the statistical declines directly to targeted public safety funding and evidence-based policing strategies, though crime trends are shaped by a range of socioeconomic factors, and police-reported data continues to draw scrutiny in an election season.
Hoodline previously covered a Poughkeepsie shooting case that cited the state's mid-year 2026 shooting drop statistics and local SNUG outreach funding, part of the same statewide push now receiving fresh investment.
