This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Virginia legislators are considering a $36 million budget amendment to expand a gun violence prevention program that researchers say has been a good investment.
Right now, it funds local programs in four cities: Richmond, Portsmouth, Norfolk and Roanoke. The budget amendment would expand the program to Newport News, Hopewell and Hampton.
Del. Shelly Simonds, a Newport News Democrat who made the budget request, said community members approached her to carry the legislation.
"I really think the only way to stop the cycle of violence is to have targeted help and intervention from credible messengers who are actually based in the community, who are living their lives in the community and know the impact that this kind of gun violence has," she said.
The General Assembly first created the Safer Communities Program in 2023, in hopes of addressing the causes and conditions that lead to gun violence.
That year, firearms were the leading cause of death of children in Virginia, according to Johns Hopkins University. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated the medical cost and lost economic impact of the violence to be $14 billion.
"What they've tried over the years is trying to arrest their way out of some of these problems," said Eugene Swinson, director of Big H.O.M.I.E.S., a gun violence prevention organization in Portsmouth that receives funding from the Safer Communities Program. "And what you're seeing is just the problem keeps repeating itself. The police are there to enforce the law. They're not there to be social workers."
Through Big H.O.M.I.E.S, Swinson runs a recreation center and job programs, primarily for young men, among other services.
Local programs that receive the funding focus on after-school activities, case management and what's called "credible messengers and violence interrupters," which is the bedrock of Big H.O.M.I.E.S.
"We have a pretty good idea of what it takes to solve the problems, and now it's just a question of doing it and continuing to do it, even when it feels like the problem's getting resolved," said Andy Block, a researcher and director of the University of Virginia State and Local Government Policy Clinic. "We shouldn't stop."
Block co-authored "In Their Own Voices", a report from UVA's Gun Violence Solutions Project. The report used qualitative measures — in-depth interviews with youth and adults from communities most impacted.
It found that in hotspot communities, youth and adults carry guns out of fear for their own safety, or for the safety of those they love. Family stress, trauma cycles and a lack of supportive services also contribute to gun violence, and it's exacerbated by social media. To lower rates of gun violence, researchers in the report point to "holistic and comprehensive community responses" that they say "effectively and creatively lower[ed] the rates of gun violence that spiked during and immediately after the pandemic."
Block said that includes social support systems and even improved public infrastructure.
"Better lighting, cleaning up vacant lots, getting rid of abandoned houses, or restoring abandoned houses," he said. "All those things matter."
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's December 2025 report to former Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the General Assembly on the effects of community gun violence additionally called for unspent Safer Communities grant funding to revert to the state at the end of the biennium for which it was appropriated, as opposed to annually.
It also recommended that the state Department of Criminal Justice Services periodically evaluate if changes are needed to see how Safer Communities funds are being distributed, with potential changes to the formula.
Youngkin, a Republican, previously vetoed funding for the Safer Communities Program, citing a lack of data to support its success.
A Virginia Commonwealth University study evaluating the program will be finalized in June.
Lucy Guarnera, a researcher and assistant psychology professor at UVA, said there are still a lot of misconceptions about the causes of community gun violence.
"I think there's sometimes an idea among some people that if someone fires a gun or a young person kills another person with a gun, it's because they're sort of a homicidal maniac, to put it mildly. And a lot of previous research has shown, well, a lot of this has to do with fear,'" said Guarnera.
James "Trae" Watkins conducted the interviews for the UVA study. He's director of Good Gangs, a Lynchburg mentoring program. Watkins said he noticed patterns in his conversations.
"The biggest thing I learned is that, not only are guns too accessible, but the answer, or the problem, isn't guns, it's fear and safety," he said. "These kids simply do not feel safe. Not only do they not feel safe — they don't really possess the language and the vocabulary to really express how they feel."
Researchers emphasized that the problem was solvable and offered a list of policy recommendations.
"I feel like we're at a moment — and this is just my observation from having a bunch of conversations — where law enforcement, especially in these hot spot communities, deeply believes that it can't solve these problems by itself, and law enforcement is seeing the benefit of partnering with communities and trying to build trust in communities that haven't always trusted law enforcement," said Block.
He said this proposed budget amendment would continue funding the kind of work that is responsive to local needs and creates opportunities for those partnerships.
The question remains, though, whether lawmakers will expand it in a tight budget year. Cuts to federal funding and the rising cost of health and education programs are set to eat into a one-time surplus leftover from the last budget cycle.
The General Assembly presents its budget on Feb. 22.
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