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Support the Break the Cycle of Violence Act (2021)

7.7.2021

The Break the Cycle of Violence Act, introduced by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV), represents a historic investment in addressing America’s community gun violence crisis. Community gun violence is a public health crisis that disproportionately impacts our Black communities, reflecting our nation’s persistent racial inequities and low financial investment in communities of color. The Act would be a first of its kind, targeted investment of billions of dollars over eight years in America’s most impacted communities. This long-term funding builds upon American Rescue Plan funds and existing federal grant programs that the Biden-Harris administration has authorized to immediately fund community violence intervention programs.

The community-based violence intervention strategies supported by the Break the Cycle of Violence Act are informed by public health models and provide culturally competent, trauma-responsive services to individuals and communities impacted by gun violence. These programs have been proven to reduce gun violence, shift community norms, and improve the outcomes and resiliency of gun violence survivors.

The Act would support the implementation and sustainability of program models such as:

Specifically, the Break the Cycle of Violence Act would create within the Department of Health and Human Services: 

  • A $5 Billion Federal Grant Program over the next eight years. These funds would go to cities with high rates of gun violence and within those cities, to local government, hospitals, and community-based organizations.
  • An Office of Community Violence Intervention to coordinate the grant program and other provisions of the Act.
  • A Community Violence Intervention Advisory Committee composed of community gun violence intervention experts and frontline workers representative of the communities most impacted by community gun violence.
  • A National Community Violence Response Center to provide technical assistance, implementation support, data collection assistance, research coordination, and capacity-building to grant recipients.

The Act would also establish within the Department of Labor:

These comprehensive investments in the implementation and sustainability of community-based violence intervention programs are critical to reducing gun violence and building resilience and opportunity in our communities.

Everytown is proud to be a member of the Invest In Us Coalition, which helped make this progress possible. The coalition is comprised of community and national violence prevention organizations committed to building support to fund evidence-based community solutions to gun violence and educate leaders and the general public about proactive solutions to make our communities safer.

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