Gun violence prevention advocates are heralding the proposed funding, saying it would be a historic investment in urban communities.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Four people, including a child, were killed in a shooting at an office building in Southern California last night. The suspect and two others were injured. The violence in the city of Orange is the nation's third mass shooting in just over two weeks. The Biden administration is under growing pressure to address gun violence. His $2 trillion infrastructure plan includes new funding to support community violence prevention programs in cities across the country. NPR's Juana Summers reports.

JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE: The American Jobs Plan includes a total of $5 billion for evidence-based community violence intervention programs over eight years. As a candidate, Biden described gun violence as a public health epidemic and said he'd devote $900 million to these efforts. But gun violence prevention advocates pushed him to do more.

GREG JACKSON: This could truly be transformative to the neighborhoods and the communities where these dollars are invested in.

SUMMERS: That's Greg Jackson of the Community Justice Action Fund.

JACKSON: We feel really confident that once these dollars are applied in these programs, many of which who have been working for decades, are properly resourced, they'll be able to turn the tide on this cycle of violence.

SUMMERS: While it's not yet fully clear how the money would be allocated, and the package still must move through Congress, Susan Rice, the director of Biden's Domestic Policy Council, says there could be a variety of funding streams.

SUSAN RICE: For the most part, investments in community violence ought to go to local organizations with proven track records for success, whether it's hospital-based interventions, whether it's community services, support for victims, support for the formerly incarcerated. All of these different types of programs with what they call wraparound services have proved beneficial.

SUMMERS: Gun violence prevention groups have been frustrated when Biden seemed to want to focus on other priorities instead of guns after two high-profile mass shootings. Rice said the administration included this funding in the infrastructure plan because gun violence not only costs lives, it is also a major impediment to economic activity and growth. Juana Summers, NPR News.

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