Who Tells the Story Shapes What Gets Funded
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
There’s a growing conversation happening across the country about violence, safety, and what actually works.
For too long, community violence has been treated as inevitable, something to respond to after the fact, not something to prevent. Those closest to the work have always known something different. Violence is not random. It is shaped by conditions: housing instability, lack of access to care, economic pressure, and systems that fail to support people early enough.
That’s where organizations like BOSS and partners like the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) come in.
HAVI has been leading a national effort to shift how community violence is understood, not as an isolated issue, but as a public health challenge rooted in healing, care, and long-term support. Their work brings together practitioners, researchers, and community-based organizations to align around what actually reduces harm.
And the data is clear. When people are connected to sustained, community-based care, violent reinjury can be reduced by as much as 50 percent. At BOSS, that is not a statistic. It’s the work.
Every day, BOSS teams are supporting individuals navigating violence, trauma, and instability, not only responding in moments of crisis, but creating pathways that prevent those moments from repeating. Through housing, workforce development, reentry support, and trauma-informed care, the focus is on what happens after someone walks through the door.
Do they have somewhere stable to live?
Do they have access to employment?
Do they have support that continues beyond the immediate moment?
Those are the conditions that change outcomes. What HAVI is naming at a national level is
what BOSS is implementing locally: violence intervention works when it is consistent, community-based, and rooted in relationships. But there is another layer to this moment that matters just as much.
How we talk about this work determines whether it is sustained. As HAVI’s leadership puts it, if the field does not tell its own story, someone else will, and that story may miss what actually works. That has real consequences. It shapes policy decisions, funding priorities, and public understanding.
For organizations like BOSS, storytelling is not separate from service. It is part of how the work continues. When the focus stays only on the crisis, the solutions remain short-term. When the focus shifts to stability, prevention, and long-term outcomes, investment begins to follow. This is where partnerships matter. HAVI brings national alignment, research, and policy advancement. BOSS brings direct service, lived experience, and daily implementation.
Together, that connection strengthens the case for what works, not just in theory, but in practice.
And that model extends beyond a single partnership.
Across BOSS programs, collaboration with organizations like HAVI, CSSJ, and REPAC reflects a broader approach: breaking barriers between systems that have traditionally operated in silos. Housing, health, justice, and economic opportunity are often treated separately, even though they shape the same outcomes.
The question now is whether this moment will be fully realized. There is growing evidence. There is alignment across the field. There are communities already doing the work. What’s needed is sustained investment and continued partnership to carry it forward.
If you’re looking to support solutions that are grounded in community, backed by evidence, and built for long-term impact, we invite you to be part of it.
Support the work:🌐 www.self-sufficiency.org/donate
Because when the right story is told and supported, the outcomes don’t just change for individuals. They change for entire communities.