LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, and community leaders unveiled a new initiative for gun violence prevention in Jefferson County.

The Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods has received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for a three-year pilot program dedicated to preventing gun violence in the Newburg neighborhood.

The Newburg Gun Violence Reduction Project aims to address gun violence in the neighborhood.

Funding for the project will develop a system for collaboration between residents, nonprofit organizations and city and state agencies to increase violence intervention efforts, including training city outreach professionals in conflict mediation.

According to police, Louisville has seen more than 40 shootings so far this year.

“I am thrilled that we are getting federal resources right here into local hands; local hands that know how to stop gun violence in our community. To give kids a chance, to give people a chance to make sure that our neighborhoods are safer, stronger, healthier and are more secure. Officials say projects like these will make a positive impact on the city,” said Congressman Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky. 

“There is much more work that can be done and must be done and while our hands at the local level might be tied by some of the state laws that prohibit us from doing some of the things we’d like to do right here in Louisville, that is not stopping us. All of us are taking action. We’re taking action with urgency to reduce the amount of gun violence in our city,” said Greenberg. 

The Newburg Gun Violence Reduction Project will include an interrupter site being established in the neighborhood, joining the ranks of existing sites in the Portland, Shawnee, Russell, Smoketown and California neighborhoods.

The Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods say they expect the program to give valuable insight into the needs of specific Louisville neighborhoods.