Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson (D-Newburgh) announced a combined total of $145,000 in state funding for youth organizations operating in the Cities of Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. Granted last year through the New York State Office of Children and Family Services and administered by the county youth bureaus, the funding is directed to organizations that offer extracurricular activities to local youth.

Jacobson said, “There continues to be an alarming uptick in gun violence in the Cities of Poughkeepsie and Newburgh, so I am grateful New York State stepped in to provide extra funding for organizations like Newburgh Elite Track and the Boys & Girls Club. We need to give kids something to say “yes” to by providing alternatives to gangs and drugs. By doing so, we will help kids stay off the streets.

“This funding allowed organizations to expand its programming and increase local youth participation in activities ranging from boxing, track and basketball to media production, farming, and the performing arts,” Jacobson continued. “I am committed to keeping our kids and communities safe and will always advocate for funding that can help us do just that.”

The organizations that received funding are the Newburgh Ministry, Newburgh Urban Food and Farm, Newburgh Armory Unity Center, the Zion Lions, Newburgh Elite Track, the Boys & Girls Club of Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, Real Skills, Rebuilding Our Children and community, and Nubian Directions II.