The FBI has recognized a Newtown nonprofit for its efforts in stopping gun violence.

The organization, Sandy Hook Promise, was honored by the FBI Monday for the lives it's saved and will continue to save.

FBI agents presented the nonprofit with the 2019 Director's Community Leadership Award, which has been given out annually since 1990.

Co-founder Mark Barden chalks up his organization's big impact to the positive approach it's taken.

"We're not political, we're not divisive," Barden says. "We really train students and empower them with the tools to look out for one another."

Those tools include Know The Signs training programs and PSAs that help people recognize the warning signs that come before violent tragedies, to stop them before they start.