Black and brown leaders have relentlessly advocated for laws and policies that support community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts — especially in Black and brown communities that bear the brunt of the gun violence epidemic.Through organizations like Community Justice’s national programmatic and advocacy work in support of a public health approach to violence prevention, like its first-of-its-kind Violence Prevention Index and Policymakers for Peace program, we’ve significantly increased public awareness and secured major legislative victories.

But the reality remains that despite this progress, much more needs to be done to tackle the enormity of this public health crisis and the lasting devastation it wreaks on communities.

This is why a group of gun violence prevention lawyers have launched the Community Violence Law Project - a project to support survivors of gun violence, violence prevention workers, and advocates. In addition to empowering and providing legal resources to people affected by gun violence, the Community Violence Law Project will open up new avenues of high-impact policy change. The Community Violence Law Project consists of three core pillars: Know Your Rights trainings, legal resource assistance, and eventually- strategic impact legal work.