Group Calls Legislation to Address Gun Violence and Mass Killings a Good Start to Building the Overall Community Violence Ecosystem and Eliminating Gun Violence in All Our Communities

June 24, 2022—The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (the HAVI) commends Congress’s passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a package of gun violence prevention measures that includes funding for community violence intervention. The following is a statement from the HAVI’s Executive Director, Fatimah Loren Dreier:

“Congress’s passage of new measures to address the crisis of gun violence in our communities is a historic step toward recognizing that gun violence is a public health crisis that requires public health solutions. The inclusion of $250 million for community violence intervention—the result of years of advocacy by Black- and Brown-led gun violence prevention groups—represents the first Congressional funding for community-based solutions to end the deadly scourge of daily gun violence in communities of color.

Violence impacts our nation in many ways—from mass shootings to daily gun violence devastating Black and Brown communities. We must equally and forcefully address all forms of violence and intergenerational trauma. 

Addressing gun violence is complex; it requires a broad community violence intervention ecosystem that includes several strategies that get to the roots of violence emanating from concentrated poverty, racism, and structural inequalities embedded in communities of color for decades. 

The HAVI supports Congress's bipartisan action to end the inertia that has kept sensible responses to the plague of gun violence from being enacted on a national scale. We must come together as a nation to address this crisis that has traumatized our communities for far too long.”

In November, the HAVI will bring together hundreds of health care professionals, frontline violence intervention workers, government officials, and policy experts for its 12th annual conference with the theme: Going Further, Together: Building the CVI Ecosystem. The conference will center the movement-building, collaboration, and effective partnerships that are happening locally and nationally as part of a growing movement to align community violence intervention efforts across government, community-based organizations, hospitals, and frontline violence intervention to maximize impact and end gun violence. Learn more here.