Light Up the Night

In order to address the national public health crisis, the federal government recently enacted the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) with significant portions allocated for city, county, and state support. Without reducing Detroit’s increase in gun violence, those of us in the most impacted communities cannot begin to fully recover from the negative fiscal and public safety impact of COVID-19.

Although the ARP has no specific designations for funding services to reduce gun violence, its allocation of over 800 million from Section 9901 “The Coronavirus State and Local Recovery Funds” gives Detroit the power to support proven, evidence-based public health solutions to reduce gun violence. To effectively reduce the violence in our most impacted communities, we are asking that just 2% or 16M of these recovery funds be invested in targeted programs to address gun violence. Funding these programs at the community level will not only decrease violent crime, but will also provide jobs and economic development to areas that have suffered from high rates of unemployment during the pandemic

Some effective programs in our city include Ceasefire Detroit, DLIVE, and Detroit 300 which have reduced gun violence and supported transformation in our recent history. Yet this is far from the city-wide infrastructure necessary to sustain reductions in gun violence. Other programs and organizations that contribute to the safety of our city have yet to receive public support include the Live In Peace Program, New Era Detroit, Church of the Messiah, The Peoples Action, the Nation of Islam, Dignity for Detroit, The Moorish Science Temple, Flip The Script and more. We recommend targeting resources to organizations like these. Since ARP funds can be used over the course of the next three years (until 2024), we believe that investments can be made in strategic ways to ensure multiple years of funding for life-saving programs that can make a significant impact on the health of communities that have been most seriously hit by both the pandemic and the interrelated public health crisis of gun violence.