Friend—

Today, Senator Cory Booker and Representative Steven Horsford introduced the Break the Cycle of Violence Act — groundbreaking legislation that will provide $5 billion in funding for community led evidence-based gun violence intervention and prevention programs, invest over $1 billion to support youth employment programs in communities hardest hit by gun violence, create a National Community Violence Response Center and create a federal Office of Community Violence Intervention.

Since our founding, we’ve been working to empower and resource community led strategies to end gun violence. From testifying to Congress to testifying to international members of the United Nations, we have demanded we start the process of ending gun violence by investing in the communities hardest hit by this crisis.

The Break the Cycle of Violence Act is the largest proposed investment in community led strategies in U.S. history and wouldn’t be possible without your support and our collective years of advocacy. This act would create a national grant program and in the Department of Health and Human Services to support, enhance, and replicate community violence prevention units in local government and community based nonprofit organizations.

Each grant awarded by the Break the Cycle of Violence Act could be renewable over five years, and would go to fund community based violence intervention programs, hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP), survivor support programs, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) programs, and other effective strategies that reduce violence.

This year, our country has suffered from historic spikes in gun violence, with most of these tragedies disproportionately impacting communities of color. Gun violence is not just a political issue: it is literally life or death for too many people of color in this country. This legislation will create resources and long term infrastructure to implement a comprehensive strategy that will directly support Black and Brown communities. We want to especially thank leaders of our Invest In Us Coalition and the Fund Peace Campaign for making this moment possible.

Today, we are one step closer to ending this crisis in our communities through proven gun violence prevention strategies potentially gaining federal support for the first time in history.

Now we need Congress to take action.

Join us in calling on our Congressional leaders to take action now and pass the Break the Cycle of Violence Act!

In solidarity,

Greg Jackson

Advocacy Director