Stoney defends Richmond’s violence prevention efforts after recent criticism
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is defending the city’s approach to tackling gun violence.
At a press event on Thursday, Stoney pushed back against the idea that the city is not investing enough resources into addressing gun violence.
“We have heavily invested and leaned into programs like the Positive Youth Development Fund, in which we’ve invested $3.5 million since 2022. We created We Matter RVA, which we’ve invested $1.4 million in since 2021. We created the Trauma Response Network, which we’ve invested… $1.3 million invested since 2022,” said Stoney during Thursday’s event. We created the Richmond Community Mediators program, which is ‘Violence Interrupters.’ We created Operation Safe Summer, which we implemented earlier this year in 2024, and we also launched Richmond’s Real-Time Crime Center as well.”
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