Yesterday, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice and White House Intergovernmental Affairs Director Julie Rodriguez convened the final national meeting of The White House Community Violence Intervention Collaborative (CVIC), a cohort of 16 jurisdictions committed to using American Rescue Plan funding or other public funding to scale and strengthen their CVI infrastructure. Investing in evidence-based community violence interventions (CVI) to reduce gun violence is a key pillar of President Biden's comprehensive strategy to prevent and respond to gun crime. Mayors, law enforcement leaders, CVI experts, and representatives from more than a dozen philanthropic institutions participated in the meeting to discuss the work of the collaborative and the Administration's continuing commitment to this work.
Leaders of CVI organizations discussed how CVIC has helped them advance their work - including by making them more competitive for grant funding. Leaders described how, through the technical assistance facilitated by CVIC, they have established a co-responder program to respond to emergency calls, brought young people and law enforcement into the same room to talk about improving public safety, scaled up the number of individuals served by skills training and entrepreneurship programs, and even established new community violence intervention programs.
Federal officials reaffirmed that the Administration will continue its commitment to community violence interventions as a cornerstone of the President's strategy to reduce gun crime and make our communities safer. Through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and last year's omnibus budget, President Biden secured the first-ever federal funding stream dedicated solely to community violence interventions. Because CVI programs need more resources to do their work, this Administration continues to call for Congress to provide $5 billion over 10 years for community violence interventions.
Announced in June 2021, the Collaborative was an 18-month initiative to enhance partnerships and coordination in each jurisdiction and to facilitate peer-to-peer learning around effective community-based public safety strategies. National experts and federal agencies are providing training and technical assistance (TTA) to help communities assess their existing public safety ecosystem, identify gaps, and build the capacity to expand programming that saves lives and provides needed services to communities impacted by gun violence.
Jurisdictions participating in the CVI Collaborative include:
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Baton Rouge, LA
Chicago, IL
Detroit, MI
King County, WA
Los Angeles, CA
Memphis, TN
Miami-Dade County, FL
Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN
Newark, NJ
Philadelphia, PA
Rapid City, SD
St. Louis, MO
Washington, DC
Philanthropies supporting CVIC include:
Arnold Ventures
Ballmer Group
The California Endowment
The California Wellness Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Emerson Collective
Ford Foundation
Heising-Simons Foundation
Joyce Foundation
Kresge Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Microsoft Corporation
Open Society Foundations
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
