Congress Moves Federal Funding for Violence Intervention Forward

House committees approve $5 Billion in funding for community-led gun violence prevention

Sept. 15—Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee joined the Judiciary Committee in approving $2.5 billion in federal funding—a total of $5 billion between the two committees—for community-led gun violence prevention as part of President Biden's Build Back Better Act. The HAVI celebrates this historic step and applauds the committees for advancing this critically needed funding to address the gun violence crisis that is ravaging communities nationwide. Fatimah Loren Dreier, Executive Director of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (the HAVI), a group working to build a national network of hospital violence intervention programs, issued the following statement.

“This past weekend in Chicago, seven people were killed and over 60 shot—including 9 young people. This is utterly unacceptable. Those closest to the pain know what is best for their communities, which is why investment in community-focused, evidence-based strategies has time and again produced significant reductions in gun violence in our most vulnerable communities. Our leaders worked tirelessly to secure the $5 billion commitment from the Biden administration in April of this year. Today's vote is the first step in actualizing this lifesaving funding and means we are that much closer to getting this funding into the streets, to the people that need it most.

“Now, we call on the full House to pass the Build Back Better Act with the $5 billion, which has broad, bipartisan support. The solutions to ending gun violence exist—it’s up to Congress to fund them.”

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