BALTIMORE, MD. (Tuesday, April 25, 2023) - Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott was joined by the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), Safe Streets Baltimore, Challenge2Change, community-based partners, Baltimore-area hospital systems, Baltimore City Public Schools, and city leaders to provide a comprehensive public update on his strategy to expand Baltimore's Community Violence Intervention (CVI) ecosystem. This update follows the release of Scott's vision and commitment to CVI in Baltimore one year ago.

"Building a CVI ecosystem is about understanding that an act of violence does not start or end when someone pulls a trigger," said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. "By bringing together and supporting public safety partners across our city, we can step in and address the root causes to prevent violence from occurring in the first place."

In the April 2022 report, Mayor Scott outlined his charge to cultivate the ecosystem. MONSE was tasked with the implementation of hospital-violence intervention programming across major medical systems that treat gunshot victims, piloting school-based violence intervention programming, and investing in existing community-based organizations to grow the number of service providers, wraparound supports, and referral partners integrated into Baltimore's CVI ecosystem. MONSE also committed to establishing a CVI Advisory Board, and strengthening the City's flagship violence intervention program, Safe Streets Baltimore. One year after announcing this vision, Baltimore has made significant progress laying this new foundation and coordinating CVI ecosystem partners as one key component of Baltimore's Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan.

"Over the last year, this administration has demonstrated its commitment to cultivating a CVI network that is intentional about establishing support for those experiencing violence, and for those working on the ground to prevent it from occurring," said MONSE Executive Director Shantay Jackson. "The diversity of resources represented by our ecosystem truly reflects the residents that it serves and we look forward to the continued partnership and shared commitment to supporting Baltimoreans across the city."

A detailed release and one-pager highlighting Baltimore's CVI commitments and the progress being made to meet them can be found on MONSE's website.