Local Governments, Pandemic Aid, and Community Violence Intervention

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2025

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Source Publication

Urban Affairs Review

Source ISSN

1078-0874

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1177/10780874241241305

Abstract

Expenditures on police departments account for significant portions of local government budgets in the United States. Yet activism on police reform and changing views on the causes of violence have called into question law enforcement’s role in public safety. While intergovernmental transfers have historically supported traditional policing, the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF) affords cities the opportunity to disrupt the status quo by providing them with the federal funds and flexibility to reshape their public safety policies around Community Violence Interventions (CVIs). This article examines how 13 cities that participated in a White House convened collaborative used CSLFRF aid to support CVIs. Our analysis reveals significant variation in how these cities in allocated CSLFRF dollars to CVI programs, suggesting that the combination of federal aid and White House encouragement has thus far led to incremental policy changes, whose durability remains an open question.

Comments

Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 61, No. 1 (January 2025): 94-124. DOI.

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