Despite what the far-right tries to say, community violence intervention programming works, John. The solution to gun violence has NEVER been and will NEVER be more guns.
Gun violence disproportionately impacts Black and brown people, who make up less than a third of the US population but account for more than three-quarters of gun homicide victims.
This isn’t by accident, it’s the result of centuries of white supremacy, disenfranchisement, disinvestment, and oppression.
So, where do we go from here?
Community violence intervention programming puts the power back into communities’ hands so they can keep each other safe. Trust already exists between community members; all they need are the resources and the space to take care of one another.
Just take a look at this case study from Baltimore ⤵️:
A mass shooting in July 2023 tore through an annual summer block party, leaving two people dead and 28 others injured. After this tragedy, Baltimore ramped up its work in this neighborhood through its Violence Intervention Program, Safe Streets. Safe Streets has multiple offices across the city of Baltimore and is focused on treating violence — especially gun violence — as a public health crisis. As a result, homicides are down about 24% compared to this time last year. That’s on top of a roughly 20% decline in 2023, when Baltimore recorded less than 300 homicides for the first time in nearly a decade. In addition, the Brooklyn neighborhood in Baltimore celebrated over a whole year with zero homicides. There’s no ambiguity, this type of programming works. |
Black and brown communities deserve better. Young people deserve better.
It’s why we fought so hard for the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and their $250 million investment in community violence intervention policy.
We’ve got a lot in the works to keep fighting for more investments in community violence intervention. We will continue to empower young people in the fight to end gun violence. Together, we can flip the script on how we talk about and address this epidemic in our communities — it’s the only way we’ll achieve a future free from gun violence! Can we ask for your support today?
In solidarity,
March For Our Lives
|
Your Personal Invite To the Movement Fund 💌💙 At March For Our Lives, we call our monthly supporter program The Movement Fund. Why are monthly recurring donors so important? The amount of one-time individual donations we receive as an organization varies vastly from month to month. Without a steady stream of monthly donations coming in our door, it would be impossible to accurately plan our budgets, create long-term strategies to win a future free from gun violence, plan and execute on-the-ground organizing efforts, recruit and train more gun safety champions, and more. |
