INVEST IN US Coalition Letter
President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
The 117th Congress
While the Covid-19 pandemic dominated news headlines in 2020, shootings and other forms of community violence simultaneously surged in far too many cities, with America suffering a historically unprecedented single-year spike in homicides. The coronavirus pandemic and America's community violence epidemic are inextricably linked. Communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the virus have also been hit hardest by the nationwide increase in violence. With emergency resources straining to respond to Covid-19, and budgets being crunched nationwide, cities, states, and community-based organizations are struggling to find the resources to address rising rates of gun violence. The negative impact of violence on economic activity is well established. As America seeks to rebound from the devastating impact of Covid-19, investing in effective violence reduction strategies is essential to public health, the national recovery, and to addressing the structural racism that has left too many communities exposed.
Every year, nearly 40,000 people are killed and tens of thousands more are injured by guns. In 2018 alone, 75% of deaths by homicide were either Black or Latinx. Every day, more than 100 lives are lost and hundreds more are injured by gun violence. Despite these facts, it has been noted that the federal government has the opportunity to invest in effective solutions that have been proven time and time again -- but have failed to fund them.
We already know what works to reduce violence: prior to the pandemic, many cities implemented effective models for violence intervention and prevention initiatives, achieving rapid, sustained reductions in shootings and homicides without exacerbating mass incarceration by providing targeted and sustained investments in violence intervention and prevention initiatives.
With the surge of two crises taking a toll on communities of color, policy makers must take immediate action to support survivors, frontline advocates, and communities of color. In order to support the life-saving efforts of gun violence prevention, policy making must focus on the communities and individuals most impacted by this crisis. Making robust federal investments in evidence-based community violence prevention and intervention programs is essential for reducing gun violence in communities, addressing the root causes that fuel violence, and laying a foundation for rebuilding safe and prosperous communities in the months and years ahead.
That is why we, the undersigned community organizations, are coming together to call on our leaders to invest in the voices of survivors, frontlines organizations and communities closest to the pain of gun violence that have the proven knowledge, relationships, and expertise to build safe and just communities.
Working to support, fund, and amplify frontline leaders is critical and urgent. with front line community-based violence intervention and prevention program models have had a documented association in homicide reductions, and we are urging that the federal government take action today, starting with the following actions:
Include emergency funding for impacted communities and community-based organizations in the next Covid-19 relief package. Congress should earmark funds in the next round of federal emergency relief spending for the express purpose of supporting evidence-informed, community-based responses to homicide, shootings, and group-related violence, including addressing the unique challenges posed by COVID-19. Congress should create a Community Violence Relief Fund to be administered through an existing grant structure such as the Department of Justice’s Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) Program. This funding, which prioritizes a community-centered approach to serious violence, should be available to nonprofit organizations in addition to government agencies in order to funnel desperately-needed financial support to violence prevention and intervention service providers on the ground.
Immediately pass legislation to create $5 billion in new grant programs that will ensure consistent funding to such communities like the Break the Cycle of Violence Act. While short-term, one-time support via the relief package is needed, a robust and sustained investment must follow. The Biden campaign promise of a $900 million, eight-year investment to address community violence should be implemented through the framework of the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, which was introduced in the last session by Senator Cory Booker and Representative Steven Horsford. This legislation would create a new federal grant program to support local governments and community-based organizations in areas disproportionately impacted by gun violence. Grantees could use this funding first to conduct in-depth qualitative and quantitative analysis of local community violence dynamics through a review of incidents and data-driven research; this data would be used to identify the small subset of individuals in the community at the highest risk of involvement in community violence. Funds would be used to implement, based on problem analysis results, evidence-based interventions such as direct community violence intervention, survivor focused programs, hospital-based intervention programs, as well as health and human services targeting those most at risk or impacted by violence.
Create an Office on Community Violence to coordinate the federal response. Congress and the Biden administration should work together to create an Office on Community Violence with a mission to “provide federal leadership in developing the national capacity to reduce community violence.” This office should be modeled after the Office of Violence Against Women and serve three core functions: (1) direct a suite of federal grants to localities disproportionately impacted by community violence, with an emphasis on underserved communities of color, in order to expand evidence-informed violence reduction strategies in partnership with community stakeholders; (2) build the country’s technical assistance capacity when it comes to the implementation of community violence reduction strategies; and (3) set a research agenda for the community violence field and disseminate best practices.
Gun violence doesn't just impact the one person who is killed – it impacts an entire community. At the community level, studies have shown that gun violence has a substantial long-term effect on local economies by reducing job growth and business investment in the neighborhoods where violence is most prevalent. Through a community-led public health lens; cities, counties, states, and the Federal government can approach gun violence like any other public health crisis by getting to the root of how we can make solutions. Expansive federal investments in community led violence prevention and intervention programs is essential for reducing instances of gun violence in communities of color, and is a necessary step to address the systemic causes of violence.
Sincerely,
The Invest In Us Coalition