NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WKBW) — For two years, the SNUG Niagara Falls team has walked city streets with a singular mission: stop the shootings before they start.
The state-funded street outreach program, whose name is “guns” spelled backwards, has celebrated 24 months without a single gun-related homicide in its target areas.
Outreach workers Antoine White and Gregory Palmer say the achievement comes from countless conversations and consistent presence in the neighborhoods most impacted by violence.
“We make a difference,” Palmer said. “They’re willing to sit down and talk with us before they respond or act to a situation.”
WATCH: 'We make a difference': SNUG Niagara Falls celebrates two years without gun-related homicide
White called it both challenging and rewarding.
“The hardest part, but it becomes the most rewarding part, is changing the norm of someone that thinks one way, but we have an opportunity to help them change their mindset and their behavior,” he explained.
The program also focuses on the city’s youth, offering mentoring, counseling, and safe activities so kids can “just be kids,” said SNUG office worker Kenya Spencer. “Some of them had to grow up early…so it’s very encouraging for me to actually help them do that.”
Site-based social worker Jacqueline Gray stressed that the job isn’t finished.
“We don’t go by, ‘oh, it’s been two years.’ How do we make it five years? How do we expand?” she said.
As SNUG looks ahead, its goal is clear: a lasting culture shift where peace becomes the norm, not the exception, in Niagara Falls.
