Readout of Assistant Attorney General Amy L. Solomon’s Participation in Northwell Health Gun Violence Prevention Forum

Assistant Attorney General Amy L. Solomon joined healthcare executives, researchers, clinicians, policymakers and advocates on Tuesday in New York City at the 5^th annual Gun Violence Prevention Forum. Hosted by Northwell Health, the forum focused on building and harnessing momentum to address gun violence as a public health emergency.

AAG Solomon participated in a panel session exploring the role of healthcare institutions in the implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, the landmark federal gun safety law that allocated $1.4 billion over five years to expand OJP’s investments in safer communities. She discussed the important role that healthcare leaders play in hospital-based violence intervention programs, a type of community violence intervention that pairs hospitals with community-based organizations to connect patients injured by violence with supportive services designed to break the cycle of victimization and harm. One-fifth of recent grantees under OJP’s Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, a historic federal grant program funded in part through BSCA, are implementing hospital-based violence interventions as part of their strategy. OJP’s Office for Victims of Crime also supports training and technical assistance, delivered by the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, to enhance services to victims by strengthening the infrastructure and quality of hospital-based programs. AAG Solomon noted the need to scale up HVIPs in hospitals across the nation, which see an estimated 50,000 emergency room visits for gun-related injuries each year.

Other panelists included Deputy Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Rob Wilcox; Arlington, Texas, Mayor Jim Ross; and Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Physician-in Chief of Northwell Health Jill Kalman, M.D. Former President Bill Clinton also joined the forum and spoke at a separate session.

Last year at this forum, AAG Solomon announced $4 million in training and technical assistance grants under the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program, funded through BSCA. These awards built on OJP’s investment of more than $230 million to states and subrecipients to support state crisis intervention court proceedings, extreme risk protection order programs and related gun violence reduction programs and initiatives. AAG Solomon shared an update on Byrne SCIP at this year’s forum, highlighting state-level progress and noting that an OJP-funded National ERPO Resource Center website will be launched this spring.

About the Office of Justice Programs

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, advance equity and fairness in the administration of justice, assist victims and uphold the rule of law. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

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