AN ACT to appropriate funds to the prestige empowerment group to fund the establishing safe cultures program.

Whereas, the rates of gun violence and homicide are increasing rapidly across the country, and the City of Greensboro is not immune to this phenomenon; and

Whereas, unfortunately, minority teens and young adults often resort to gun violence in the City of Greensboro. Studies suggest that young people turn to acts of violence for a multitude of reasons, with one of the most prevalent being that they are merely reflecting the violent nature of their society as a whole; and

Whereas, to counter some of the contributing factors to this culture of violence in the City of Greensboro, the Prestige Empowerment Group has designed a community‑based program, known as Establishing Safe Cultures, to offer alternatives to the existing negative influences in our society by focusing on positive reinforcements; and

Whereas, the Establishing Safe Cultures program will provide young people with constructive actions to lessen gun violence rather than lecture them on their negative behaviors; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Office of State Budget and Management the sum of one hundred twenty‑five thousand dollars ($125,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2023‑2024 fiscal year to provide a directed grant to Prestige Empowerment Group, a nonprofit corporation, to fund the Establishing Safe Cultures program to help lessen the incidents of gun violence among the youth in the City of Greensboro.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2023.