The City of Buffalo introduced the executive director of the new Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Thursday.
Social worker Adrienne Garr will lead the initiative, which aims to expand community programs and strengthen victim support services to tackle gun violence in the city.
Her initial plans include hosting community roundtables, launching a public information campaign and starting a youth advisory board.
"There's a lot of youth who are in the community. They are known to carry weapons. We would like those voices on this Youth Advisory Board, Garr said. "They're rarely heard from because they're hard to get to. I am bringing along with me different kinds of partnerships to make that task a little bit easier, but we need to hear from them about what actually works for them, what isn't working and maybe what we could do better."
Garr joins the city with more than a decade of experience in program direction and crisis intervention according to a city press release. Since 2020, she served as a social worker at the Erie County Medical Center where she led the Should Never Use Guns (SNUG) street outreach program.
Garr's position was included in this year's budget and the city will work on securing further grant funding for future positions and initiatives, according to a city spokesperson.
Buffalo Police Department data shows an approximate 30% decrease in violent crime in the city between 2021 and 2025. Common Councilmember Zeneta Everhart - who spearheaded efforts to establish the office - said that's all the more reason to "double down" on prevention strategies.
"Yes, homicides are down, gun violence is down, and that is important and that's something to celebrate," she said. "But what is more important is that we double down on that work and we get out into our neighborhoods, into our communities, speaking with families, speaking with our young people about the issues that they're dealing with."
The local lawmaker has become a leading advocate for reducing gun violence after her son was injured when a white supremacist shot and killed 10 people at the Tops grocery store on Buffalo's Jefferson Avenue on May 14, 2022. The Buffalo office is modeled after the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention created by President Joe Biden in 2023 after officials visited the site of 5/14 in the days following the attack. That office has since been disbanded under President Donald Trump, but Everhart said the work continues.
"Those meetings are still happening with gun violence prevention organizations across the country. We are still talking. We are still having these conversations, and this today means that Buffalo is going to be safer," she said.
Former Buffalo Mayor, Byron Brown, signed an executive order to establish the Buffalo office on the same day he resigned last October.
