HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania officials brought together teams from 14 counties and cities Tuesday, October 13, to develop local gun violence prevention plans, extending a statewide public safety initiative that has distributed more than $183 million to community violence intervention projects since 2023.
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis convened the state’s first Gun Violence Prevention Symposium, bringing local government officials, law enforcement, health care professionals and community organizations together with national experts to examine crime trends and develop coordinated responses.
The initiative comes as Pennsylvania reports a 16% decline in violent crime since 2023, including a 39% reduction in homicides, a 45% decrease in robberies involving firearms and a 25% decline in firearm assaults, according to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
The Shapiro administration has directed more than $1 billion through approximately 6,700 grants toward violence prevention and public safety initiatives since taking office. That includes more than 440 projects funded through the Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program.
The state’s 2026-27 budget provides more than $50 million for the violence intervention program and $11.5 million for Building Opportunities through Out-of-School Time, an initiative supporting after-school and summer programming for children.
Funding applications for both programs are expected to open soon.
“Funding alone isn’t enough,” Davis said. “We need local leaders, law enforcement, health care professionals, and community organizations working together to understand what’s happening in their communities and develop strategies that save lives.”
The symposium’s central component was a local government planning workshop in which participating teams reviewed community-specific crime data, identified priorities, and developed short-term action plans.
Experts from WestEd’s Justice and Prevention Research Center and The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention worked with the teams to identify approaches that could be implemented through local partnerships.
The discussions also included Rob Wilcox, former deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and current president and chief executive officer of the Fund for a Safer Future.
Wilcox joined Davis for a discussion of Pennsylvania’s violence prevention efforts and the role of coordinated government and community responses.
“No single organization or strategy can address gun violence alone,” said Lori Toscano, director of Justice Technical Assistance, Justice and Prevention at WestEd.
The symposium followed several incidents of gun violence across Pennsylvania during the preceding week, underscoring the continued demand for intervention and victim assistance despite the reported decline in violent crime.
The commission’s Office of Victims’ Services provides assistance through the Victims Compensation Assistance Program, Lethality Assessment Program and Keystone Crisis Intervention Team.
The agency is also supporting development of the Philadelphia Hope and Healing Center, which is intended to provide coordinated services for victims, survivors, community members, first responders, and others affected by violence.
Pennsylvania re-established its Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the commission under a 2024 executive order signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The office coordinates state efforts to reduce firearm violence, while the commission administers grants supporting community intervention, victim services, and related public safety programs.
The local action plans developed during Tuesday’s symposium are intended to guide participating communities as they coordinate prevention strategies and assess their effectiveness.
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