Part 5: A Mandate for the Future: What Policymakers Must Do to Sustain CVI
Community Violence Intervention (CVI) is no longer a novel idea—it’s a proven practice. It saves lives, restores communities, and redefines what public safety can be. But for CVI to endure, grow, and meet the scale of the need, it must be supported by more than goodwill and short-term grants.
_It must be backed by policy. _
CVI requires champions from local impacted and non-impacted residents, from within city halls, state capitols, and the halls of Congress—leaders who understand that funding peace, building community trust, and reducing violence are not fringe issues. They are central to justice, public health, and good governance.
This series final outlines what policymakers at every level must do to institutionalize CVI and embed it permanently into the public safety infrastructure of the nation.
Codify CVI into Law
The first step to sustaining CVI is recognizing it as a public responsibility. That means passing laws, ordinances, and resolutions that formally establish CVI as a core publicly funded safety function—a city and state supported and funded system.
Policymakers should:
- Create city ordinances or state statutes that define CVI as essential public safety infrastructure
- Mandate multi-agency collaboration between public systems, community-based entities, and public universities to ensure a well-trained, developed, and certified CVI workforce pipeline
- Incorporate CVI into public safety and health public system infrastructure (strategic plan and budget)
Cities like Richmond (CA), Oakland (CA), Stockton (CA), and Rochester (NY) offer strong models—where local governments have built CVI into the DNA of how public safety is defined and delivered.
Secure Recurring Public Funding
No CVI strategy can be sustained without committed and reliable funding. Policymakers must allocate recurring general fund dollars to support CVI efforts, just as they do for police, fire, and EMS. That includes:
- Line-item budgeting for local CVI offices, government housed peacemaking teams, and community partnerships
- Dedicated CVI grant programs at the local and state level
- Advocacy for federal appropriations that go directly to community-based organizations and local governments
Budgets reflect values. If we value a society where gun violence is rare and nonrecurring, we must fund the people and infrastructure who can make this possible within impacted cities.
Protect and Professionalize the CVI Workforce
Policymakers must ensure that CVI workers—violence interrupters, outreach staff, and mentors—are treated as vital public servants. That means supporting legislation and administrative policies that guarantee:
- Full-Time employment, living wages and benefits for frontline staff
- Workforce development and certification pathways
- Occupational safety protections, including trauma care, paid leave, and field protocols
As the CVI field matures, policy must protect both its integrity and the people who carry it.
Invest in Evaluation and Learning
To grow public trust in CVI, policymakers must invest in the systems that allow us to measure impact and improve practice. This includes:
- Funding independent community-driven evaluation efforts
- Requiring process and outcome metrics that center on transformation, not just reduction
- Supporting data infrastructure that respects privacy while enabling learning
When evaluation is valued—and adequately resourced—CVI programs can become more transparent, more accountable, and more effective.
Elevate National Leadership for CVI
At the federal level, we need:
- A dedicated CVI office or team housed within DOJ, HHS, or the White House (much like the former White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention)
- Continued investment in the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI)
- Streamlined federal funding access for grassroots organizations
- A national CVI policy framework that states and cities can use as a roadmap
With a coordinated national vision, local innovation can flourish—and CVI can scale responsibly and equitably.
Protect the Distinction of CVI
Finally, policymakers must ensure that CVI remains community-rooted and distinct, even where governments like Richmond California house and employ violence interrupters (“Neighborhood Change Agents”). CVI should never be co-opted, diluted, or confused with enforcement or surveillance strategies.
Policies must protect:
- The independence of CVI workers from law enforcement
- The credibility of relationships that make CVI effective
- The community-first lens that drives this work
CVI works because it is different. Let’s protect that difference.
The Road Ahead
Policy is how we turn belief into infrastructure. It’s how we transform a compelling idea into a permanent system. And in the case of CVI, policy is how we move from saving lives one intervention at a time—to saving lives across generations. We must infuse love into public policy!
To every policymaker reading this: the time is now.
Don’t wait for another shooting. Don’t wait for another funding cliff. Don’t wait for another community to cry out for help.
Legislate it. Fund it. Scale it. Protect it.
In a city like Richmond California that held the distinction as the 3rd most dangerous city in the country in the early 2000’s to come to a place in 2025 where its first homicide of the year occurred just last month in July is not accidental. It is a product of public will and a decision in 2006 to make CVI a publicly housed and funded public safety necessity. Let’s make CVI the policy of the future—today.
A Call to Make Peace Permanent
We’ve reached the end of this five-part journey—but the work to make Community Violence Intervention (CVI) a permanent part of public safety is only just beginning.
CVI is not a pilot. It is a profession. It’s not an alternative. It’s an advancement. And it is not a temporary fix—it is a foundational shift in how we think about safety, justice, and community care.
To every city leader, policymaker, funder, and community member reading this: the future of public safety is in your hands. Let’s make it one where healing is prioritized, trust is rebuilt, and every life is treated like it matters—because it does.
Let’s make the peace and safety that CVI produces permanent.