No single mayor or federal agency can hope to tackle the complex, multifaceted challenge of gun violence on their own. Around the country, cities like Baltimore, Miami, St. Louis and Kansas City are bringing together government, law enforcement, service providers and community in pursuit of the shared goal of stopping the violence, Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon told the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "We are starting to see the impact of these efforts, with homicide rates in many places dropping significantly in the last year," Solomon said. "But there is so much more progress to be made."
The Justice Department is "working to help build the community infrastructure that is an essential complement to law enforcement when it comes preventing and reducing violent crime," Solomon said. She said the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) that she heads "has made an unprecedented investment in community violence intervention strategies that deploy trusted credible messengers to mediate conflicts, interrupt cycles of violence and build bridges to opportunity among residents at highest risk of shooting or being shot themselves." OJP has awarded nearly $200 million over the last two years under our Community Violence Intervention (CVI) and Prevention Initiative. This is the largest targeted federal investment in these strategies in history, Solomon said. OJP has funded 76 site-based grantees in 29 states, as well as microgrants in many communities. These include city-led collaboratives, community-based nonprofits and multi-site state initiatives that both seed new efforts and expand established interventions. The vision here is to grow and strengthen CVI ecosystems and ensure they connect to the larger public safety infrastructure in cities, Solomon said..