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Uptick in Gun Violence in Minneapolis Highlights Need for Increased Funding for Violence Intervention Programs

6.24.2020

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, last weekend’s shooting in Minneapolis that killed one person, Cody Pollard, the father of two small children, and wounded 11 others was just one among several other shootings across the city over the weekend, with at least 111 people shot in Minneapolis in recent weeks.

On Monday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a multi-agency effort, made up of several law enforcement agencies, to quell the recent uptick in gun violence.

The uptick in violence comes amid continued protests calling for action to end police violence and to address the systemic racism that has subjected Black people in the U.S. to higher rates of gun violence.

As agency heads and local leaders weigh solutions to the uptick in gun violence, they should consider the value and vital work of violence intervention groups in Minneapolis, like Project Life which use evidence-informed approaches tailored to their communities to put a stop to violence and save lives. City leaders should promote and fund non-law enforcement, community-based strategies that have seen success in interrupting the cycle of violence, and are saving lives.

As a whole, gun violence takes a disproportionate toll on Black communities. Black people also represent the majority of homicide and nonfatal shooting victims in the U.S. and are far more likely than white people to be victimized by and exposed to assaultive gun violence. In Minnesota, Black people are 12 times as likely as white people to die by gun homicide. Research indicates that gun homicides and assaults are disproportionately concentrated in cities like Minneapolis.