“Until we all start to take responsibility, until we do all we can to improve the character of our communities, we’ll never break the cycle of violence and indifference.”

Most cities lack a coherent anti-violence vision. In many cities, certain anti-violence interventions succeed in isolation, yet citywide rates of violence remain stubbornly high. Why? Few interventions are strong enough to reduce violence across an entire city on their own, so cities must leverage multiple strategies, operating at the same time, to accumulate larger effects. To accomplish this, cities must first articulate a coherent anti-violence vision that can mobilize stakeholders toward a common goal: substantial reductions in violence. National League of Cities 2022