Employment has been difficult for many since the recession. And despite Harlem being listed as one of the top 10 safe neighborhoods in Manhattan, there is still violence, especially gun violence. A New York State Mission Society organization, Operation SNUG, is working to halt gun violence throughout the state of New York while implementing employment program experience that NYSMS has.

In West Harlem, Operation SNUG Project Director Robin Holmes said that she works with summer internship programs, and this past summer she had around 1,300 applicants when only 300 jobs were available. According to Holmes, the gun violence could be related to the lack of employment for younger individuals

“Even though a lot of people think crime is down, murders and shootings are not,” Holmes said.

Operation SNUG (“guns” spelled backwards) was launched by the NY state senate in 2009 and has been working toward reducing gun violence mostly with adolescents.

The most recent shooting was of a young girl, prominent is basketball, named Tayshana Murphy, 18. She was shot and killed on Sept. 11 in the Grant House in West Harlem between Morningside and Old Broadway. According to an article on the NY Daily News, she was killed by other teens because of mistaken identity during a “turf war.”

Ray McLaughlin, who works as a community assistant at the CD9 board, located by the Grant House, said that he feels most violence in NYC is community based and lack of money for desired lifestyles cause violence. “People within the communities are fighting. People try living above their means in Harlem and it causes tension and crime,” he said.

According to an article on Patch.com, unemployment dropped from 6.9 percent in August 2010 to 6.6 percent last month and the labor force also dropped from 17,500 to 17,100 workers from 2010 to 2011, according to a recent New York State Department of Labor report.

This poses the question, does the lack of employment for adolescents in NYC increase the threat of their involvement with gun violence?