California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program - CalVIP


The State Legislature established the CalVIP Grant Program in 2017 to replace the California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention grant program that began in 2007. CalVIP provides funding for cities and community-based organizations with the goal of reducing violence in the city and adjacent areas.

In October 2019 Governor Newsom signed the Break the Cycle of Violence Act (AB 1603). AB 1603 codified the establishment of CalVIP and defined its purpose: to improve public health and safety by supporting effective violence reduction initiatives in communities that are disproportionately impacted by violence, particularly group-member involved homicides, shootings, and aggravated assaults.

The Break the Cycle of Violence act specifies that CalVIP grants shall be used to support, expand and replicate evidence-based violence reduction initiatives, including but not limited to:

  • Hospital-based violence intervention programs,
  • Evidence-based street outreach programs, and
  • Focused deterrence strategies.

These initiatives should seek to interrupt cycles of violence and retaliation in order to reduce the incidence of homicides, shootings, and aggravated assaults and shall be primarily focused on providing violence intervention services to the small segment of the population that is identified as having the highest risk of perpetrating or being victimized by violence in the near future.