B.C.’s Education Minister announced $4.9 million in funding over three years, to expand a school-based gang and gun violence prevention program

Rob Fleming says the money will offer help develop training and resources at schools in 16 communities across the province, including Kamloops.

“The expanded ERASE school based gang and gun violence program will offer things like new online resources for school district staff, for parents for students,” he said.

“Way too often we hear about young people dropping out of school because of the lure of gang life. We need to have a response that matches the increasing complexity of the world that we live in today.”

Fleming says the programming on gun and gang violence prevention will also be tailored for each individual community.

“Recently, we’ve experienced gun violence in school communities,” he said. “The world is changing, social media and other things that were not features of school life 10 to 20 years ago are a big part of how students communicate with one another about how violence can be perpetrated.”

Kamloops was one of the original 12 communities where the ERASE program was launched, and Fleming says to date, more than 8,000 students, parents, educators and community partners have taken part in 110 education sessions across B.C.

“It didn’t take long to realize that it was tremendously successful,” Fleming said. “The new funding will continue to sustain programming in those communities and add more innovative programming opportunities as well as expanding to serve four more communities.”

Those new communities are Campbell River, Chilliwack, Courtenay, and Hope.