Community Justice Action Fund Applauds Critical Step for Supporting Community-Led Violence Prevention Efforts in Texas
Community Justice Action Fund issued the following statement:
For Immediate Release
February 4, 2021
Contact
Andrea L. Pino-Silva
Communications Director
andrea@cjactionfund.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2020
CONTACTS
Andrea L. Pino-Silva
Communications Director
Community Justice Action Fund Applauds Critical Step for Supporting Community-Led Violence Prevention Efforts in Texas
AUSTIN, TX— Today Community Justice Action Fund (CJAF), a violence prevention organization led by people of color, applauds the filing of HB1580, the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Act (CVIP) filed by Texas State Representative Jon Rosenthal. This historic bill intends to establish the Office of Violence Prevention to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts to reduce preventable injuries and deaths from all forms of physical violence.
The office will establish violence prevention as a public health issue and develop a statewide violence prevention strategy, and will facilitate grants for community organizations to support, expand, and replicate evidence-based violence reduction initiatives, including hospital-based violence intervention programs, evidence-based street outreach programs, and focused deterrence strategies, that seek to interrupt the cycles of violence, victimization, and retaliation in order to reduce the incidence of firearm violence.
The Texas legislature has an opportunity to invest in effective programs to address violence and promote public health solutions. CVIP works with intervention strategies led by research, evidence, and case studies that show holistic approaches can help end gun violence.
Statement from Texas Representative Jon E. Rosenthal
“Texas is facing an increasing epidemic of gun violence. Creating the Office of Community Violence Intervention and Prevention can help us get in front of the problem by working to prevent violence before it happens. This proactive approach has already proven effective to tackle the public health crisis of violence. We have a responsibility to meet the needs of all Texans and this effort will work to address and mitigate the root causes of interpersonal violence in Texas.”
Statement from Amber Goodwin, Executive Director of CJAF
“Representative Rosenthal’s legislation signals his commitment to making the state of Texas safer for all of our families. I applaud him for his efforts to create safe and healthy communities in Houston and across the state. This legislation is a historic effort to address the crisis of gun violence in our state by focusing on systemic solutions that center the needs of communities of color. The CVIP Act would create a centralized, state-wide Office of Violence prevention that would promote robust solutions to directly support the needs of people closest to the pain of violence.”
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