FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 22, 2004

SCHUMER SECURES $500,000 FOR COMMUNITY ACTION ORGANIZATION OF ERIE COUNTY

Funds will help crack down on neighborhood crime in Buffalo's East Side

US Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that he has secured $500,000 for the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Erie County, as part of the Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations
component of the omnibus bill passed today by the Senate. The funds will be used to create programs aimed at fighting crime in Buffalo's East Side.

"Make no mistake about it. Innovation and hard work are important, but to really get crime down you need to provide a community with the resources it needs to put its good work to use. Delivering this money to CAO will get our crackdown on crime running on all cylinders," Schumer said.

The funds will be used to fight neighborhood crime in Buffalo's East Side, a low-income part of the City. CAO, through United Neighborhoods - a community building organization with a track record of performance in Buffalo and Erie County - is putting together a tight-knit partnership of Neighborhood Advisory Councils, Block Clubs, parents, schools, local businesses, faith-based organizations and local law enforcement.

The partnership will coordinate community safety issues, racial profiling, community policing, Annual County-Wide Block Club/Neighborhood Watch Conference, and facilitate Community Court/Restorative Justice programs. The CAO is addressing the issues of neighborhood crime using preventative methods at the root rather than by increasing holding facilities after crimes have occurred. Since he took office in 1999, Schumer's efforts to keep Buffalo's streets and neighborhoods safe have included sponsoring the original legislation in Congress that created the successful COPS program that helped hire federally funded officers throughout Buffalo and New York State, including recent funding for 32 community officers.

The funding was included in the Omnibus conference report passed by the House and Senate. The report now awaits the President's signature.

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