Biden-Harris Plan Signals Historic Shift in Support for Public Health Solutions to Address Gun Violence

Plan Widens Lane for Communities to Intervene and Slow Violence

JUNE 23, 2021— A leading violence intervention group called the newly released Biden-Harris plan to reduce gun violence a game changer in its support for and expansion of community and hospital-based organizations to address the gun violence crisis plaguing cities across the country.

“There’s been talk for decades about treating violence as a public health issue, but this plan represents a game changer in its unprecedented support for evidence-based solutions that address the root causes of violence,” says Fatimah Loren Dreier, Executive Director of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) and author of a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post. “President Biden’s plan shifts resources to those communities hardest hit by the skyrocketing rates of gun violence.”

"The President's action today to form the Community Violence Intervention Collaborative is a powerful and strategic step in the right direction,” adds Kyle Fischer, Policy Director for the HAVI. “These are smart shifts in policy that not only deliver critical resources for proven violence prevention strategies, but also signal a dramatic and sustainable shift toward an integration of community advocates and public health institutions that will save lives."

SEE: Video Clip of Fatimah Loren Dreier discussing Biden’s Infrastructure Plan on CNN with Fredricka Whitfield

The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (the HAVI) is a national network of hospital-based violence intervention programs that serve violently injured patients by addressing the social determinants of health. The HAVI has expanded health-based, trauma-informed care through innovative community-hospital partnerships and the cultivation of a powerful national alliance of violence intervention specialists, emergency room doctors, trauma surgeons, and researchers who work in communities affected by violence.