When LIVE FREE leaders helped design the first Break the Cycle of Violence Act in 2019, federal investment in Community Violence Intervention was still treated as a marginal idea. The campaign helped move it toward the center of the national public-safety conversation.
The legislation was built around a straightforward principle: communities facing the highest levels of gun violence should receive sustained funding for evidence-informed, community-based intervention—including credible messengers, street outreach, hospital-based programs, life coaching, and trauma support.
LIVE FREE brought lessons from Oakland, Chicago, Detroit, Orlando, Indianapolis, and other cities into the policy process. When the bill was reintroduced in 2023, it proposed $6.5 billion for community-led violence reduction.
The goal has never been simply to pass a bill. It is to build durable public infrastructure that prevents violence, supports survivors, and expands opportunity without relying on mass incarceration.
Read LIVE FREE’s statement on the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, learn how the Fund Peace campaign connected local victories to national investment, explore research and organizing tools, or join the movement.
