Peace Orlando

In November 2022, FRRC launched a Community Violence Intervention (CVI) initiative called Peace Orlando. CVI is a proven community-based gun violence reduction approach that is
backed by extensive research and is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Justice (under both
Republican and Democratic administrations) as one of the most effective means of reducing
violence.

How Does It Work?

Community violence intervention (CVI) strategies are based on the principle that in any given city, it is a small fraction of the population—often just 0.1%—that is responsible for the majority of shootings. Using a public health approach, we employ trained interventionists—usually individuals with deep ties to the community and personal experience with violence—who build relationships with high-risk individuals in order to mediate conflicts, prevent retaliation, and help program participants adopt nonviolent lifestyles. This typically includes referrals to mental health services, job training and placement, victim and family services, emergency housing support, and a range of other tailored services. CVI does not take the place of law enforcement agencies which continue to investigate violent crimes—but instead works to prevent shootings from happening in the first place.

In Orlando, FRRC partners with the City of Orlando and various local, state, and national organizations to make this happen.

In addition to helping create more peaceful communities, CVI programs like Peace Orlando help reduce the tax burden on cities, counties, and the state as a whole. The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform has conducted dozens of studies of the cost of violence in cities throughout the country and found that a single shooting in Orlando costs taxpayers between $839,000 and $1,600,000 in policing, court, hospital, incarceration, and other expenses. This means that these programs pay for themselves many times over.

What’s Next?

We launched Peace Orlando because we saw an urgent need to bring peace to our streets; however, now that other community-based organizations have joined this work, we feel ready to turn over its implementation to our local partners. This will also allow us to double-down on our core advocacy work throughout Florida.

As part of that work, FRRC will continue to advocate for the expansion of CVI initiatives throughout our city, county, and state. With the right investments, we believe that Florida can become a national leader in violence reduction and, to that end, we are advocating for the following:

• Currently, the City spends approximately $2 million per year on CVI. To achieve full impact, however, national experts have determined that a city the size of Orlando should be spending much more in order to build out a full violence intervention ecosystem. Minimally, we recommend a $6 million annual investment in order to increase the number of street interventionists, build out hospital and school-based intervention programs, and increase services and case management for survivors of violence.
• A considerable amount of violence extends across city and county lines, but Peace Orlando is currently only funded within city limits. We recommend that Orange County match the city’s funding to allow this work to extend into Pine Hills, Apopka, and other high-need areas. While the County currently funds a variety of prevention initiatives geared toward individuals who may be at risk for violence in future years, CVI is defined by its narrow focus on the very highest-risk individuals who are likely to be involved in violence in the immediate future. Despite repeated recommendations from Orange County’s Citizens Safety Task Force over the span of several years, county officials have yet to launch such a program.
• In addition to the success in Orlando, Miami has achieved impressive reductions using similar strategies. A number of states throughout the country have allocated significant funds that local governments and nonprofits can apply for in order to implement similar work. Florida should do the same. These strategies do not require changing gun laws and can be promoted as part of a practical, bipartisan approach to improving public safety throughout our state.