An area school district will receive a share of $15 million in grant money from the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention.
The Valders Area School District is one of 25 school-based initiatives that will get a share of the funding.
Specifically, they will get $35,750 that can go toward suicide prevention and firearms safety training or to support mentoring and after-school programs to keep kids out of harm’s way, among other uses.
Governor Tony Evers said he’s very proud to get the funds out the door to the dedicated folks across the state who are working to address the cycle of violence that traumatizes our kids, families, and neighborhoods.
The Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention was created via an executive order in 2025 following the deadly Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Madison that took two people’s lives and injured six.
Statistics from a group called Everytown for Gun Safety say gun-related deaths in Wisconsin have increased 16% from 2015 to 2024, and in every year since 2019, there have been more mass shootings than days in the year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
