PRESS RELEASE: Virginia Community Violence Coalition Delivers Recommendations to Shape New State Gun Violence Prevention Center
Coalition of practitioners, survivors, and local leaders calls for community-driven leadership, sustained funding, and stronger coordination across the Commonwealth
RICHMOND, Va. — August 14, 2026 — The Virginia Community Violence Coalition today submitted a set of recommendations to the work group charged with building the Virginia Gun Violence Prevention Center, urging state leaders to root the new Center in community leadership, sustained investment, and evidence-based practice.
The Coalition is a statewide network of practitioners, advocates, policymakers, researchers, activists, and survivors united around a shared goal: reducing shootings, stabbings, and other assaults in Virginia. Members say they want Virginia to become a national leader in community violence intervention, grounded in a public health approach and meaningful, sustained investment in strategies that work.
The coalition urges the work group to include community members with lived experience in both its decision-making process and the composition of the work group itself, ensuring those closest to the issue have a meaningful role in shaping the Center's direction.
"Virginia has a real chance to build a Gun Violence Prevention Center that is practical, trusted, and effective which will ultimately make all Virginians safer." the Coalition wrote in its memo to the work group. " To do that, the Center must stay focused, support community-based work, and be shaped by the people closest to the problem and the solutions."
Key recommendations include:
Make community voices part of leadership and decision-making.
Be clear on the problem the Center is addressing.
Place the Center where it has strong infrastructure and sustainability.
Make technical assistance and training core functions.
Create a shared home for tools, model policies, and best practices.
Use data to guide investment and action.
Support research and evaluation that helps local programs.
Strengthen coordination across agencies and with local partners.
Help community groups get ready for funding.
Build the Center to support the whole field.
The Coalition's full memo reflects input gathered from members across multiple regions and roles within the Commonwealth.
The Coalition welcomes the opportunity to continue working alongside the work group as planning for the Center moves forward.
Media Contact: Bobby Doyle, Virginia Community Violence Coalition (coalition@vc-vc.net)
About the Virginia Community Violence Coalition The Virginia Community Violence Coalition is a network of practitioners, advocates, policymakers, researchers, activists, and survivors working to reduce shootings, stabbings, and other assaults in Virginia's cities. The Coalition supports community-based solutions, a public health approach to violence prevention, and meaningful investment in evidence-based strategies statewide.