I met Ben Walsh while I was raising funds with the Southside Community Coalition, Inc. to develop the Eat 2 Live Food Cooperative. As Deputy Commissioner of Neighborhood & Business Development for the City, Ben helped find ways to develop the project and bring the opportunity into fruition. Today, Eat 2 Live offers fresh food at a reduced price in an area of high poverty. His involvement in the process displayed his ability to get things done, his leadership and his concern for residents in our city who confront poverty everyday.

As the Director of SNUG, a program that combats gun violence, I support Ben Walsh because I believe he has a firm understanding of the correlation between poverty and violence. I have absolute faith that, as Mayor, Ben Walsh would use his experience and connections from working in economic development to engage both the public and private sector to create opportunity for our young people who are too often living in poverty, weary of the future and in desperate need of opportunity. As Mayor, Ben would be a strong advocate in our efforts to combat gun violence and he has proven that he is capable of strengthening the city’s economy in neighborhoods that are most in need. 

Randy White is the Director of SNUG in Syracuse, a program that combats gun violence on city streets, using mediation and negotiation to produce peaceful outcomes in disputes. He resides in Strathmore and serves as a Board member for the Southside Community Coalition, Inc.

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