The Surrey school district’s youth gang intervention program is getting a $270,000 boost from the B.C. government, Premier Christy Clark announced hours after the city’s latest public shooting.

Clark said the Surrey Wraparound Program has a proven track record of steering elementary and high school students away from gangs, but there are about 40 at-risk kids waiting to get in.

The province promised its one-time funding injection will cut that number in half.

“[Wraparound] makes such a difference for young people, but we know now that there’s a waitlist and kids who are on that waitlist have families and communities who are deeply worried that they’re going to go down the wrong track,” Clark said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

The program is funded by the federal government, and the premier said she’s hopeful Ottawa will step up and provide the rest of the money needed to eliminate the waitlist altogether.

NDP justice critic Mike Farnworth scoffed at the request, however, arguing if the province were serious about tackling Surrey’s escalating violence problem it would ensure every student on the waitlist is admitted.

“The idea that you couldn’t have funded for $250,000 more a program that would help 40 kids who are right now on a track to lead a gang lifestyle, I think is really unfortunate,” Farnworth said.

“Instead we’re left with 20 kids are going to get to go in the program and 20 kids aren’t.”

Clark and Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner also called on the federal government to approve Surrey’s request for 130 additional police officers in the city.

“That number will allow us to build on our Youth Unit, and particularly at times when children are more vulnerable, after school hours and before supper time,” Hepner said.

Surrey RCMP Chief Supt. Bill Fordy said the Wraparound program is an important part of law enforcement’s efforts to curb ongoing violence in the city, which has a heavy focus on community intervention.

Young people can easily be lured into the false promises of a gang lifestyle, Fordy said, but the program helps them “make more informed, sound, brave, life-changing decisions” and foster better relationships with their family, friends, and the community at large.

Since the Wraparound program was launched in 2008, it’s taken in around 500 at-risk students.

Clark’s announce came less than 12 hours after gunfire rang out yet again in a Surrey residential neighbourhood.

Blood was found on the pavement at 124th Street and 94A Avenue, but it’s unclear whether anyone was struck in the shooting.

The incident marked the 23rd shooting committed in Surrey and Delta since early March, the majority of which have been linked to a turf war between low-level drug dealers that’s killed one young man and injured several others.

The RCMP said it’s too soon to confirm whether the latest outburst of gun violence is connected to the others.

It’s also unclear whether the shooting is linked to a stabbing that put a man in hospital early Tuesday morning with wounds to his upper body.

In neighbouring Delta, police announced Tuesday they’re hoping to combat violent crime by installing mobile tower cameras in the city.

Four high-resolution cameras mounted thirty feet high will be recording 24 hours a day, police said, but the footage will only be accessed on the orders of an Inspector from the DPD or B.C.’s anti-gang task force.

“We believe they will both deter criminal actions related to the violence, but also aid us in the investigative process,” Acting Chief Const. Lyle Beaudoin said in a statement.

The cameras have been set up at 80th Avenue and 120th Street, but could be moved in the future.

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Nafeesa Karim and Lisa Rossington