GIFFORDS Applauds Major Federal Investment in Community Violence Intervention Funding

March 25, 2024

Washington DC — GIFFORDS, the gun violence prevention group led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, applauded the investment in community violence intervention programs through the Department of Justice’s Community-based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI). The Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations package included $50 million for CVIPI, in addition to the $50 million provided by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Since its creation in 2022, CVIPI has allotted $200 million in grants to community violence intervention programs.

Vanessa N. Gonzalez, GIFFORDS Vice President of Government and Political Affairs:

“Community violence intervention programs are crucial in the fight against gun violence. Until a few years ago, Black and Brown leaders across the country worked to stop gun violence in their communities, one person at a time, with little to no federal funding. These programs have proven to be effective in saving lives, especially when they’re funded and well-implemented. Although many critical gun safety initiatives unfortunately saw cuts this year, the strong bipartisan support for the Community-based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative proves that lawmakers see the value, impact, and effectiveness of violence intervention programs. GIFFORDS applauds this investment and will continue to ensure these programs receive the support they need.”

Other Gun Safety Investments of FY24 funding include:

$1.625 billion for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
$18.1 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Youth Violence Prevention program to expand their work supporting violence intervention programs, including those that provide de-escalation and conflict mitigation skills, and health care and community outreach organizations.
$25 million for firearm injury and mortality prevention research, divided evenly between the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
$140 million for Project AWARE grants, including $17.5 million specifically for grants supporting efforts in high-crime, high-poverty areas.Project AWARE grants seek to support youth mental health, with the goal of preventing youth violence. This is in addition to the $60 million made available for FY24 through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
$88 million to support reporting of records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) through the National Criminal History Improvement Program and NICS Act Record Improvement Program grant programs.
$60.5 million for the Office of Violence Against Women’s grant program that aids in the investigation of domestic violence and enforcement of protective orders. This includes $4 million for a homicide reduction initiative and up to $4 million for the domestic violence lethality reduction initiative.
$24.5 million for the National Violent Death Reporting System, the most comprehensive database for violent death-related data within the U.S., which helps inform our approaches to violence prevention.
$28.2 million for the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, including $26.2 million for the Zero Suicide program, which helps address the issue of firearm suicides. Firearm suicides are increasing at an alarming rate, with provisional data from the CDC indicating that 2022 marked the highest documented level since at least 1968.

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