Oregon AG Rosenblum thanks lawmakers for funding community violence prevention programs

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon Attorney General Rosenblum thanked the Oregon Legislature Monday for making a significant investment in community violence prevention work throughout the state.

The legislation, HB 5202, directs $15 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Oregon Department of Justice’s Crime Victim and Survivor Services Division (CVSSD) to make and administer grants to community-based organizations specializing in community violence prevention and reduction.

The grants will focus on communities that are disproportionately impacted by violence, including homicides, domestic violence, and suicide.

According to the FBI, from 2010 to 2020, the violent crime rate in Oregon rose 16%. In Marion County alone, suicides using firearms nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020, according to the CDC.

“Violence is up exponentially in our state. To tackle this problem, we require bigger investments in community-based programs,” said Rosenblum. “Our Crime Victims and Survivor Services Division is uniquely equipped to help address this serious public health problem by administering these grants. I am grateful to the many advocacy and legislative partners who have made this possible.”

President Biden has made investing in supporting community violence prevention programs a central plank of his strategy to reduce gun violence, and the U.S. Treasury Department has released guidance that authorizes state and local ARPA funds to be used to support these programs. Specifically, the community-based violence intervention program models that ARPA funds can support in Oregon may include, but are not limited to:

• Violence Interruption Programs
• Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs)
• Survivor and Victim Support Services and Programs
• Suicide Prevention Programs
• Targeted Wraparound Services for individuals impacted by community violence
• Community Healing or Restorative Justice Programs
• Activating Community Spaces via cleaning and greening or hosting communal events
• Job training and apprenticeship programs for youth most impacted by community violence

With this investment, Oregon will join many other states that have invested in evidence-informed programs that serve victims and survivors and that work within communities with the goal of breaking the cycle of violence.

More information on DOJ’s Crime Victims and Survivors Services Division can be found here: https://www.doj.state.or.us/crime-victims/.