For the various types of work found in a public safety ecosystem to have an impact — but especially community-led and -centered strategies — we must ensure that they receive robust funding. Cities and states need to play a major role in that.

Newark and New Jersey are fitting examples in which grassroots leaders are making a strong case for the power of the work. Institutions are responding responding with investments.

In 2018, local leaders and organizations formed a statewide community-centered violence intervention and prevention coalition to advocate for the creation of the New Jersey Violence Intervention and Prevention (NJVIP) fund. The statewide coalition helped secure a $10 million investment in NJVIP fund in two successive budgets: 2021-22 and 2022-23. The same coalition sprang into action in the summer of 2022 when a preliminary budget didn’t have that funding. The governor and attorney general corrected the error immediately.

And Newark Mayor Baraka made history after the 2020 Uprisings by establishing the city’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, moving 5% of the public safety budget in support of the community-driven initiative.

“I think those efforts are irrefutable proof that New Jersey is serious about building safety and preventing violence,” said Will Simpson of EJUSA. “New Jersey’s budget affirms that the most powerful achievements in public safety occur when the community is empowered and police aren’t the single point of contact for safety.”

Yet nationally, we fund policing well in excess of $100 billion. This despite no evidence that increased investment in policing has a proven effect on violence. While funding for ecosystem-type work is on the rise, it remains a sliver of the funding for policing that continues to grow.

This active community coalition continues to collaborate, share best practices, and work to sustain fiscal investments in programs across the state.