Rep. Hinson introduces and then withdraws bill to fund City of Gainesville’s Gun Violence Prevention program

Rep. Yvonne Hinson speaks at the legislative delegation meeting on January 9, 2025

Updated on February 20, 2025

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson (D-Gainesville) introduced a bill for the 2025 Legislative Session (HB 441) that would have appropriated $500,000 in state funding to create a Gun Violence Prevention Pilot Program, run by the City of Gainesville, but she withdrew it a few days later.

The bill would have created a Gun Violence Prevention Pilot Program as part of the City of Gainesville’s IMPACT GNV initiative in collaboration with the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Offices of the State Attorney and Public Defender of the 8th Judicial Circuit. The program would provide mental health services, community-based intervention programs, conflict resolution training, and alternative opportunities for youths between the ages of 10 and 21 who are at a moderate or high risk of being a victim of gun violence, are offenders who have inflicted bodily harm or death, or are returning to the community from a delinquency residential program. Services would also be available to family members of eligible youths.

Services would include individual therapy sessions, group therapy sessions, family therapy sessions, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, art and music therapies, substance abuse treatment, mediation training, restoration of relationships, and resilience and leadership skills.

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Participants who are involved with the juvenile delinquency system or are on probation would be provided with opportunities to obtain a GED degree; job training, skills development, or an apprenticeship; or employment at high-risk or critical-need positions.

The bill required the City and Alachua County to make annual reports documenting the number of participants in the program, the rate of gun violence in the age group and geographic area served by the program, data on risk factors for gun violence in the geographic area served by the program, feedback from program participants, and recommendations to expand and improve the services provided.

The pilot program would have expired on June 30, 2030, and the bill appropriated $500,000 in nonrecurring funds for the 2025-26 fiscal year to the Department of Children and Families to implement the program.

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