WATCH: Giffords Center for Violence Intervention Hosts Webinar with CORNERS, Breakthrough Urban Ministries, and the Urban Peace Institute

The Giffords Center for Violence Intervention recently hosted a webinar on Thursday, March 20, 2025, where top practitioners and leaders in the field of community violence intervention (CVI) in Chicago and Los Angeles shared crucial insights to strengthening and sustaining CVI efforts across the nation for years to come.

The webinar was moderated by Dallas Wright, Assistant Director of Communications at the Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research & Science (CORNERS), and joined by Yolanda Fields, Executive Director at Breakthrough Urban Ministries; Dr. Andrew Papachristos, Faculty Director at CORNERS and Director at Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research; Dr. Jordan Costa, Senior Project Manager at the Giffords Center; and Fernando Rejón, Executive Director of Urban Peace Institute in Los Angeles, California.

As CVI reaches a crossroads in terms of public opinion, political support, and funding considerations, the leaders on the panel emphasized the need for continued innovation, stronger coalition building, and hyperlocal, community-driven strategies for addressing both community violence and poverty. Most importantly, defining CVI as an integral public safety strategy for cities across the nation — similar to the police department and the fire department — will become critical to ensuring these life-saving programs do not fall by the wayside.

“If we want CVI to scale, and if we want it to really last, we have to stop treating it like a passion project […] and start treating it like an essential life-saving profession, which it is,” shared Dr. Costa.

Watch the entire webinar below.

Video courtesy of Giffords Center for Violence Intervention.