Friends—

Today we celebrate a historic victory—President Biden has just announced bold Executive Actions to fight gun violence! 

The Executive Actions are robust and include clear actions to address community gun violence including:

• Directing five federal agencies to immediately make changes to 26 different programs to direct vital support to community violence intervention programs. These changes could lead to increased investments in community violence interventions.
• Directing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create materials to educate states on how they can use Medicaid to reimburse certain community violence intervention programs, like Hospital-Based Violence Interventions.

Today’s historic announcement comes after years of working to push our leaders to prioritize gun violence in communities of color, and on the heels of President Biden committing $5 billion dollars to fund evidence-based community violence prevention programs. This commitment, and the Executive Actions announced today were the direct result of our meetings with the Biden-Harris Administration, and we are proud to say that we have committed allies in this Administration. 

This is HUGE and exactly why we started this work, this organization, and the fight with many of you. 

In addition, President Biden has just announced that he is nominating David Chipman to direct the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Since the beginning of our organization, he has shown both personally and professionally that he is committed to implementing bold solutions to end all forms of gun violence, including supporting communities of color. 

It’s been 8 years since I survived gun violence, and since then over 800,000 people have been directly impacted including family friends, multiple mentees, neighbors, fellow activists in this struggle and so many more. Coming off one of the hardest years for gun violence in recent history, our communities could not have been hurting more for leadership and change...and today we got that.

We started CJAF nearly five years ago to fill a critical policy and organizing gap across the gun violence prevention movement, as the movement leadership largely ignored the concerns of Black, brown, and Indigenous people.

Today we celebrate, but this victory is not the end of our fight. Here are FOUR quick ways you can help today:

1. Thank President Biden: Join us in tweeting thank you to President Biden, for today’s Executive Actions and for committing to working to end gun violence.
2. Urge Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer to support the American Jobs Plan: Join us in calling on our Congressional leaders to swiftly pass President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, which includes the critical $5 billion investment in community violence prevention and intervention programs. 
3. Volunteer with our team: Fighting to end gun violence is a daily opportunity to make change. Sign up for a volunteer by messaging our Distributing Organizing Manager, thia’[email protected].
4. Text for updates: Text “JUSTICE” to 79606 for up-to-date ways to take action, and information on work happening in your local community.

We thank President Biden, Vice-President Harris, and the entire Biden-Harris Administration for their partnership and look forward to continuing to work together to build a safer world for our communities. 

In solidarity,

Greg Jackson Jr.

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