Community Safety

Decreasing crime and mitigating the perception of crime leads to increased prosperity, allowing people to come together in public spaces, patronize local businesses, and engage with civic institutions. For more than 25 years, LISC has supported investments that strengthen the ability of local cross-sector partnerships to collectively address crime and violence. Through our core place-based model, we support community leaders, residents, law enforcement, and other stakeholders in designing and implementing strategies that create healthier and safer environments, reduce and prevent violence, promote alternatives to arrest and incarceration, and support people re-entering communities after incarceration. Federal investments are an essential component of efforts to create safe communities in urban and rural areas. LISC supports the following solutions that improve safety in communities around the nation.

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Creating Safe Communities

Policy Asks

Fund the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative

Rural communities often face unique challenges that complicate their ability to effectively address violent crime. The Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative (RVCRI) is an effort, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account, to provide funding and assistance to rural law enforcement agencies seeking to reduce violent crime and address problems associated with violent crime. Law enforcement agencies and community partners funded through this program receive support to implement violent crime reduction strategies, improve investigations, improve services to victims, and enhance collaboration among local stakeholders. LISC supports robust funding of the RVCRI.

Fund STOP School Violence Act Programs

The Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act established critical funding for school districts, states, and Indian Tribes to implement evidence-informed, early-intervention school programs to prevent violence before a weapon ever enters a school environment. LISC supports robust funding for STOP School Violence programs and approaches, including the Enhancing School Capacity To Address Youth Violence program, which supports targeted efforts to address youth violence.

Fund Community Safety Coordinators

Cross-sector partnership teams are essential to the success of comprehensive efforts that address the interconnected challenges of high-crime, high-poverty neighborhoods. Oftentimes, these collaborations fumble due to a lack of dedicated staffing. Community safety coordinators fill this void by leading collaborative efforts to improve safety and quality of life in the neighborhoods and acting as liaisons among residents, community-based organizations, developers, and law enforcement. They integrate the resources of people and institutions that influence crime and perceptions in the neighborhood to uncover more strategic and effective remedies for safety problems. To maximize impact, resources should be provided for community-based organizations and law enforcement to fund community safety coordinators.

Fund Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Programs

Community violence intervention (CVI) approaches use evidence-informed strategies to reduce violence through tailored community-centered initiatives. These multidisciplinary strategies engage with individuals and groups to prevent and disrupt cycles of violence and retaliation and establish relationships with individuals and community assets to deliver services that save lives, address trauma, provide opportunity, and improve the physical, social, and economic conditions that drive violence. The federal government is uniquely positioned to support the adoption of CVI interventions that are evidence-informed and effective. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law on May 25, 2022, authorizes $250 million per fiscal year for community violence intervention and prevention initiative (CVIPI) programs. LISC supports full and robust funding for CVIPI.

Federal investments are an essential component of efforts to create safe communities in urban and rural areas.”

Fund Pre-Entry and Re-Entry Programming

People are much more likely to avoid or overcome involvement in crime and with the justice system when they have stable housing, gainful employment, and access to strong community-based treatment and service options. Federal support related to pre-entry and re-entry should include substantial funding for:

  1. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, Title V—Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs, the only federal program designed to engage law enforcement and community boards in delinquency prevention at the local level in coordination with a statewide plan;
  2. The Second Chance Act Grant Program (reauthorized as part of the First Step Act) that aims to reduce recidivism and provide support to people who are involved in the criminal justice system; and
  3. The Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) program authorized under Section 169 (“Evaluations and Research”) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which supports the development of strategies and partnerships that facilitate the implementation of successful programs at the state and local levels that will improve the workforce outcomes for justice-involved youth and young adults and adults who were formerly incarcerated.

Support Law Enforcement Training

Development of law enforcement training that includes a focus on effective engagement with local communities. This should include de-escalation training, trainings and resource materials to help community groups build and sustain partnerships and work with police, and education on the value of police partnerships with community developers. Fully funding the Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act, which passed Congress in December 2022, will allow law enforcement agencies, particularly in smaller communities, to access high-quality training at no additional cost to them. The bill authorized up to $50 million in FY26 for grants to law enforcement agencies.Implementing approaches like those outlined in the Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act, which passed Congress in December 2022, and the Bipartisan aw Enforcement Scenario-Based Training for Safety and De-escalation Act of 2025 can enhance public trust and make communities across the country safer.