The Biden Administration’s Community Violence Intervention Collaborative
CVIC was an 18-month initiative to scale evidence-based and community-led strategies to reduce gun violence and enhance public safety in communities across the country. President Biden announced CVIC on June 23, 2021 as part of his comprehensive strategy to address gun violence and the initiative was successfully implemented July 1, 2021 through December 2022 with support from 13 prominent philanthropies via Hyphen, a nonprofit intermediary maximizing the impact of federal policies through multi-sector partnerships. CVIC provided training, technical assistance, and peer learning to support grassroots CVI organizations in expanding their efforts and impact, and the Biden Administration brought together mayors, community experts, philanthropic leaders, and other prominent stakeholders to learn from each other and exchange best practices and innovations in cultivating true public safety. As Senior Vice President at Slingshot, which Hyphen brought on to run communications, Sara was instrumental in bringing the communications strategy for CVIC to fruition.
As SVP of Communications at Slingshot, Sara presented to then White House Domestic Policy Advisor, Susan Rice (L) Hyphen and CVIC’s communications strategy, and worked with then Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Julie Chavez Rodriguez (R) to further Hyphen and CVIC’s work in equitably distributing funds to cultivate safer communities nationwide with CVI.
Centering leading voices
In all endeavors around racial equity, the voices we elevate are of the utmost importance. Sara worked with the leaders of the CVI movement in order to best hone their voices in op-eds and other materials for outlets all over the country.
Getting the message out
From local to national press, Sara intimately understands the importance of honing the message and getting it out to its intended audiences. Through personal relationships with reporters nationwide, she worked closely with all involved to place meaningful stories where it mattered most.
Keeping it unified
Sara worked closely with Hyphen and the Biden Administration to keep a collaborative of multiple leading organizations on brand with visual assets and messaging guidelines to ensure nationwide unity in all external communications from / on behalf of CVIC.
