About Us

Black and brown leaders, and those who have been directly impacted by gun violence have relentlessly advocated for laws and policies that support community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts. While there has been systemic change on all levels of government, Black and brown communities continue to bear the brunt of the gun violence epidemic with little to no representation at the legal system. However, 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. Black and brown leaders in places like New York have harnessed the power of the systems and network change approach, and more of this kind of building needs to be replicated in communities across the country. There is a large legal services gap in the field of gun violence prevention and community violence prevention (CVI). We are aiming to close it.

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 and create a first of its kind legal network to support the field of violence prevention advocates.

The Community Violence Law Project consists of three core pillars: Know Your Rights trainings, legal resource assistance including CVI Legal Clinics, and eventually- strategic impact legal work.