Yesterday, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice and White House Intergovernmental Affairs Director Julie Rodriguez convened a meeting of The White House Community Violence Intervention (CVI) Collaborative, 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 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 today’s meeting, along with the four lead training and technical assistance (TTA) providers—Cities United, Community Based Public Safety Collective, Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI), and the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform—and Hyphen, which anchors the initiative.
Announced in June, the Collaborative is 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.
Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice stressed the continued urgency for CVI in communities and channeling these resources to local community-based organizations that engage Black and Brown communities and those hardest hit by gun violence. Intergovernmental Affairs Director Julie Rodriguez facilitated a discussion with mayors and city officials who shared their on-going commitment to support community violence interventions and described how the Collaborative is helping them to strengthen and more effectively align their programs.
During the meeting, Mayor Melvin Carter of St. Paul, Minnesota outlined his belief that evidence-based community violence interventions have already helped ensure public safety in his community and that the work of the Collaborative, coupled with President Biden’s strategy to reduce and prevent gun crime, should serve as a blueprint for communities around the country.
White House staff shared updates on other Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to invest in and support CVI, including recent guidance issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that explains how communities can apply to use funds from the $3.4 billion Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to support CVI strategies and new awards from the National Institute of Health to support CVI research and implementation projects.
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, FL
- Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN
- Newark, NJ
- Philadelphia, PA
- Rapid City, SD
- St. Louis, MO
- Washington, DC
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