ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara announced a $400,000 grant to the city aimed at stopping the cycle of violence that leads to numerous shootings.

The inmate re-entry organization Get Connected 815 will receive the money from the Illinois Department of Human Services “Greater Illinois Re-Imagine Violence Prevention Services” grant.

Get Connected 815 is a non-profit organization that says its mission is to “merge formerly incarcerated adults as well as their families back into the community.”

Group members will focus on helping people who are at higher risk of being involved in gun violence, McNamara said, adding that the organization will send teams to every single shooting in the city.

“Some of those reasons include, number one, is seeing what is taking place; number two, they want to interrupt that second act of violence. We know much of the violence taking place in our community and across the country is … retaliation violence that takes place, and so they are going to go in and help medicate and build relationships, work with those people. And, they are also going to address the trauma that those individuals have been impacted by,” McNamara said Friday.

For more information on Get Connected 815, click here.