MIAMI-DADE MAYOR DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA’S STATEMENT ON WHITE HOUSE GUN VIOLENCE ROUNDTABLE
Today, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava participated in a violence prevention roundtable at the White House with President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Other leaders from across the country who participated include Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, and community leaders from Chicago, IL and Richmond, CA.
Following today’s meeting, Miami-Dade County is joining the President’s Community Violence Intervention Collaborative as one of sixteen jurisdictions nationwide that are allocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) or other public funding to community violence intervention programs.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava released the following statement:
“I’m honored to have joined President Biden and leaders from across the country today for a critical and timely conversation about tackling gun violence in Miami-Dade and nationwide.
Miami-Dade has responded with urgency to multiple recent shootings in our community by aggressively stepping up enforcement – Operation Summer Heat has already resulted in nearly 500 felony arrests and over 200 firearms recovered. We also passed the Peace and Prosperity Plan to invest in prevention, intervention, re-entry, enforcement, and neighborhood revitalization programs to help us build safer communities.
Gun violence is a deepseated, complex problem that requires local and national solutions. Today, President Biden announced a robust violence prevention strategy that focuses on strengthening federal gun law enforcement, and broadening eligible use of pandemic relief funds for local violence prevention efforts including hiring more police officers, paying officers overtime, and funding enforcement efforts and equipment.
I am especially encouraged to learn about the President’s commitment to tougher background check enforcement policies, and to prevention with a focus on creating opportunities for at-risk youth – a key focus of our Peace and Prosperity program. As the President said today, ‘We know that summer jobs, training and recreation for young people work. They help make sure young people pick up a paycheck instead of a pistol.’ That’s what we are working so hard to do – by placing at-risk young people into the successful, evidence-based Fit2Lead summer program that is proven to create better outcomes for youth.
We’re very proud that Miami-Dade is one of sixteen communities nationwide to join the President’s Community Violence Intervention Collaborative, recognizing our commitment to funding solutions to prevent crime at the root and investing in underserved neighborhoods.
Today was a major step forward in our fight to end gun violence and protect our communities. I’m grateful to the President, his staff, and my colleagues who joined the discussion from across America. The challenges we face are great, but I know that working together we can and will bring new solutions to gun violence and expand peace and prosperity to families in all corners of our community.”
