Office of Governor Tony Evers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 13, 2026
Contact: [email protected] 
 
Gov. Evers Recognized at 2026 Gun Violence Summit with “Safer Communities Champion Award”
Governor’s years of violence prevention efforts and historic creation of the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention recognized at 4th Annual Emergency Gun Violence Summit in Milwaukee 
MILWAUKEE — Gov. Tony Evers, who has made addressing violence, reducing crime, and keeping Wisconsin’s kids, families, and communities safe a cornerstone priority of his administration, was honored with a surprise award at the 4th Annual Emergency Gun Violence Summit, hosted by Forward Latino and the 80% Coalition in Milwaukee. The honor was given to the governor by Forward Latino President Darryl Morrin in recognition of Gov. Evers’ steadfast efforts to reduce crime, prevent violence, including intimate partner and gun violence, and improve community safety across Wisconsin, specifically acknowledging the governor’s historic work to create Wisconsin’s first statewide Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention last year. 

“As a father and a grandfather who’s also a governor, I have never and will never accept violence, including gun violence, as a foregone reality or stop working to change it,” said Gov. Evers. “Gun violence is an issue that has been a top priority for me and my administration over the past eight years, and together with advocates like those at Forward Latino, the 80% Coalition, and so many other dedicated community leaders, policymakers, survivors, researchers, and advocates, we are working to end the cycles of violence and keep kids, families, and communities safe. I am beyond humbled, grateful, and touched to receive this honor, and I will never stop fighting to build a safer future for our state.”  
Gov. Evers receives award from Forward Latino President Darryl Morrin   Gov. Evers poses for a photo with stakeholders of the 80% Coalition with award
(Left) Gov. Evers receives award from Forward Latino President Darryl Morrin, (right) Gov. Evers poses for a photo with stakeholders of the 80% Coalition with award
The governor’s receipt of this award comes as earlier this month, Gov. Evers joined the Milwaukee Bucks to announce the launch of the statewide “Real Love is Respect” campaign during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, aimed at raising awareness of the issue of domestic and intimate partner violence in Wisconsin and connecting Wisconsinites with resources and help if they need it. The partnership, announced by Gov. Evers earlier this year, is supported by a $200,000 investment by the Evers Administration. To learn more about domestic violence prevention or to find additional resources, go to RealLoveIsRespect.wi.gov. 

Just last week, Gov. Evers and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley also celebrated the official ribbon-cutting of the new Forensic Science and Protective Medicine Facility in Southeast Wisconsin, the new state-of-the-art home of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Crime Lab, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management. The Evers Administration secured $138 million to support the project, part of the governor’s longstanding efforts to invest in streamlining Wisconsin’s criminal justice system, support victims and survivors, and build stronger, safer communities. 

EVERS ADMINISTRATION’S EFFORTS TO END CYCLES OF VIOLENCE, REDUCE CRIME, AND KEEP KIDS, FAMILIES, AND COMMUNITIES SAFE 

Since Day One, Gov. Evers and his administration have worked to address violence and keep kids, families, and communities safe. In his first year as governor, Gov. Evers called a special session of the Wisconsin State Legislature to address gun violence in the state of Wisconsin and proposed two critical proposals relating to universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders. Despite the fact that a majority of Wisconsinites, including gun owners, support the implementation of commonsense measures like universal background checks (79 percent) and extreme risk protection orders (85 percent), Republican lawmakers refused to take up the governor’s special session bills. To date, there is still no issue Republicans have done less about than guns.

The Evers Administration has also directed more than $100 million of the state’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds toward community safety and violence prevention efforts, including, as noted above, creating a new statewide Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention, which works to reduce crime, prevent violence, including intimate partner and gun violence, and improve community safety across Wisconsin.  

In addition, Gov. Evers’s efforts to address the root causes of violence has included investing in programs and interventions being spearheaded by organizations already working in local communities, including: 
  • $6.6 million to the Medical College of Wisconsin’s (MCW) Violence Prevention Project, which is housed in their Comprehensive Injury Center. These funds are being used to support research, data collection, education, and community engagement efforts around violence prevention as a public health issue;     
  • $10.4 million also to MCW’s Violence Prevention Project to administer a competitive grant process to support violence prevention project efforts statewide. Ten communities and organizations were selected to receive these funds in June 2023;      
  • $8 million to the city of Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention, now the Office of Community Wellness and Safety, to respond to the pandemic-related uptick in violence and trauma with projects that take a public health approach to violence prevention;     
  • $20 million to support VOCA grant recipients, as the state has seen critical cuts to federal VOCA funding over the last several years and an increased need for services; 
    • Gov. Evers later signed 2023 Wisconsin Act 241, which directed $10 million to support violence prevention and crime victim and survivor services, including providing funding for sexual assault victim services, domestic abuse grants, and child advocacy grants. 
  • Approximately $19 million for a statewide law enforcement grant program that provided an allocation to every local and Tribal law enforcement agency in Wisconsin, enabling agencies to address the unique needs facing their communities, including training, recruitment bonuses, community policing needs, and technology investments;      
  • $1 million for the Wisconsin Technical College System to support part-time police academy programs in Wisconsin;      
  • Nearly $20 million to Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee for criminal justice system initiatives and community safety projects; and     
    • More than $16 million toward reducing the pandemic-related backlog of criminal cases statewide. 
Gov. Evers has also proposed commonsense community safety and gun safety measures in all four of the biennial budgets he has introduced to date. The governor’s 2025-27 Executive Budget proposed the most robust and comprehensive gun safety reform efforts to date, including:  
  • Providing ongoing funding to make the Office of Violence Prevention a permanent office in state government;    
  • Investing $66 million to support services for crime victims statewide and help critical victim service providers stay afloat after seeing significant recent reductions in federal funding under VOCA;    
  • Closing a loophole to prevent domestic abusers from possessing firearms;   
  • Promoting and supporting the safe storage of firearms to prevent guns from getting into the hands of kids, people who may be at risk of harming themselves, individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms, and individuals who are a threat to others;    
  • Enacting “red flag” laws to give law enforcement and loved ones critical tools to help keep people safe;    
  • Creating a new program called the Self-Assigned Firearm Exclusion (SAFE) Program, which will help ensure folks who are in crisis have access to the resources needed to keep themselves and others safe;    
  • Requiring violent history checks for most firearm purchases;    
  • Requiring a waiting period between firearm purchases and possession; and     
  • Banning untraceable guns and certain firearm modification devices. 
Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature removed the vast majority of these proposals in the biennial budget process and have largely declined to take action on commonsense gun safety measures or pass other meaningful investments to make Wisconsin’s communities safer, despite multiple of these provisions having support from a majority of Wisconsinites. Nevertheless, since 2019, Gov. Evers and his administration have been working to keep Wisconsinites and local communities healthy and safe, including taking action to prevent gun violence through commonsense gun safety reforms and working to invest directly in violence prevention and intervention. 
An online version of this release is available here.
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