The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) awarded $100 million in grants to reduce gun and group violence across Pennsylvania. Together, the grants will support 127 projects implementing local and regional strategies to reduce violence in Pennsylvania.
PCCD awarded $88.6 million in Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) grants to 122 projects throughout the state, and approximately $12 million in Coordinated Community Violence Intervention (CCVI) Strategies Pilot grants to 5 projects to support targeted anti-violence efforts in Philadelphia, Allegheny County, Chester City and York.
“Reducing gun violence and making our communities safer has always been my top priority,” said Gov. Wolf. “Every Pennsylvanian deserves to be safe in their home and their community. These grants will help give our communities – and the on-the-ground organizations making a difference across Pennsylvania every day – the tools they need to be even more effective when it comes to reducing violence.”
Gov. Wolf and the General Assembly made these grants possible by allocating $105 million for violence reduction funding in this year’s budget. The remaining $4.5 million will be used to support technical assistance to VIP and CCVI project sites, as well as research and evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of the projects being funded.
VIP grants support a wide range of program types and models focused on reducing community violence, including street outreach and violence interruption programs utilizing credible messengers; Safe Corridors/Safe Passages programs, which prevent incidents to/from school and other community centers; providing referrals to partner agencies focused on meeting basic needs of participants, including education, employment, health, and other services; comprehensive pre-release and reentry programs for returning citizens; trauma-informed approaches to support victims and survivors of gun violence; and youth activities and mentorship, among other approaches.
The CCVI Strategies Pilot grants are targeted to increase local coordination and collaboration to more effectively prevent, intervene, and respond to gun and group violence. The pilot project solicitation was designed to provide intensive investments and support for collaborative community violence prevention and response strategies within a focused service area (i.e., a contiguous geographic area).
