Government and Politics
August 30, 2022
From: Connecticut Governor Ned LamontHARTFORD, CT -– Governor Ned Lamont on Aug 30th, announced that the State of Connecticut’s newly established Commission on Community Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention will hold its inaugural meeting on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. in room 1D of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Established by legislation that the governor proposed and signed into law during the most recent legislative session, the commission is tasked with advising the Connecticut Department of Public Health on a new statewide community gun violence intervention and prevention program, which will provide state grants to community-based violence intervention organizations. The program is being administered by the Department of Public Health’s Office of Injury and Violence Prevention and was allocated $2.9 million in the fiscal year 2023 budget adjustment bill. The department will also begin a robust evaluation of best practices to assist organizations in spending these resources most effectively.
This investment builds on the Lamont administration’s comprehensive approach to public safety that strengthens community-based interventions, supports law enforcement-led strategies, and works to keep illegal guns off the street. In addition to the investment in this program, the Connecticut Department of Social Services has launched a Medicaid benefit that enables violence prevention professionals to bill Medicaid for specific Community Violence interventions.
“Gun violence has been endemic in some of our communities for too long,” Governor Lamont said. “Addressing this type of violence requires continual adaptation, diverse partnerships, and rigorous evaluation. That is why Connecticut is launching this anti-violence program and increasing its investment in proven practices to prevent and reduce community gun violence. While recent statistics show that Connecticut continues to be among the safest states in the country, one incident of violence is one too many. This program will save lives by bringing together law enforcement, hospitals, and communities to address the causes and effects of gun violence. I thank the Department of Public Health, my legislative colleagues, and the advisory committee for the collaborative work to get to this point, and I look forward to this program making a positive impact in our neighborhoods statewide.”
“I am glad that Governor Lamont and our legislature have invested resources that will allow the Department of Public Health to work with communities affected by gun violence,” Connecticut Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, MD, said. “This investment is an important first step that will set the Commission on Community Gun Violence on a trajectory to advise the department on sustainable strategies as we continue to address gun violence in Connecticut.”
As required by state statute, Governor Lamont has appointed two members to serve on the commission. His appointees include Janet Rice of Hartford and Dr. Kerri Raissian of Avon. Rice lost her only child to gun violence and is a longtime advocate in favor of a solution to address community-level gun violence. Dr. Raissian is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at UConn and the director of UConn’s Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship in Gun Injury Prevention. In this role, Dr. Raissian’s research analyzes the casual effects of policies and interventions, with a particular focus on gun violence.
The remainder of the commission’s members are appointed by the bipartisan legislative leaders; the co-chairs of the legislature’s Public Health Committee; the executive director of the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity; and the commissioner of the Department of Public Health. Its current membership includes: