Rep. Summer Lee, Colleagues, Advocates Launch Congressional Community Safety Caucus
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 18, 2025 — Yesterday, Representatives Summer L. Lee (PA-12), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Gabe Amo (RI-01), Henry “Hank” Johnson (GA-04), Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), and LaMonica McIver (NJ-10) launched the first-ever Congressional Community Safety Caucus to uplift holistic investments into people and communities that break cycles of harm. The caucus comes after Rep. Lee, her colleagues, and a coalition of advocates launched the Community Safety Agenda in July, an evidence-informed approach to public safety that prioritizes care, connection, and prevention over punishment, control, and isolation. The Members of Congress will serve as co-chairs of the new caucus.
"We launched the first-ever Congressional Community Safety Caucus to fight for safe schools, affordable housing, quality health care, and a justice system that actually delivers justice,” said Rep. Lee. “Real community safety means making holistic invests in people to root out the systemic challenges that perpetuate cycles of harm. Our communities deserve more than poverty and trauma as the status quo. This caucus is about uplifting solutions rooted in care, prevention, and equity, and led by the people most impacted. I’m grateful to my colleagues and the coalition of advocates who made this caucus possible."
"Our country has too many examples of violence perpetrated against the many to fulfill the promise of safety and law and order for the few. The Trump Administration's weaponizing of the idea of safety to erode our constitutional boundaries and abuse military power in our cities makes us all less safe," said Rep. Ramirez. "That's why I am proud to join my colleague Congresswoman Lee as a co-chair of the new Community Safety Caucus. Together, we will continue to fight for the policies and funding necessary to protect and expand proven community safety initiatives."
"For too long, safety in America has been defined only by punishment and policing,” said Rep. Johnson. “That narrow view has left too many of our communities struggling with poverty, instability, and violence. The Community Safety Caucus is about changing that by pushing for policies that invest in prevention, lift up opportunity, and give people the tools to build healthy, thriving neighborhoods. I'm honored to stand with my colleagues in this effort to reimagine what true safety looks like."
“I am proud to be a co-chair of the Community Safety Caucus because I’ve seen firsthand what’s possible when we bring stakeholders to the table and create real, sustained partnerships. This caucus’s work is about lifting up those efforts and pushing for the federal resources and policy changes that can scale them nationally,” said Rep. McIver. “Working to keep our communities safe is at the heart of why I serve, and I know that together, we can make community safety a reality—for every family, on every block, in every city across this country.”
“Everyone deserves to live in a community that both is and feels safe, but we can’t incarcerate our way out of poverty, substance abuse, and mental health crises. If we want to truly keep people safe, we have to address the root causes of these issues and abandon the idea of a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Rep. McGarvey. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in leading this effort to push for the holistic public safety solutions our communities need.”
"Every American deserves to live in a safe community free of violence and full of opportunity," said Rep. Amo. "The Community Safety Caucus's push for commonsense policies that emphasize community violence intervention, getting guns off the street, enhancing public infrastructure, and investing in mental health care will ensure communities have the tools they need to succeed. Americans need real policy solutions, not political theater. I’m proud to work with my colleagues to provide a vision of what safe, thriving communities look like.”
To launch the caucus, Rep. Lee hosted a panel on Capitol Hill and was joined by Reps. Ramirez, Amo, and McIver and frontline workers and organizers. The discussion was moderated by Thea Sebastian of The Futures Institute and panelists included Benny Ivey of Strong Arms of Mississippi, Freedom Jones of LifeBridge Health's Center for Hope, and Kyleesha Wingfield-Hill of the Newark Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery. The panel discussed their work to interrupt violence and deescalate crises and ways policies and budgets can make communities safer every day.
“I do this work because I know what it’s like to be lost, and I know what it takes to find a way out. Sharing my story gives young people proof that change is possible, and Credible Messenger mentoring gives them the tools to write a different future than the one I almost chose for myself. Credible Messenger work is important for our country because it breaks cycles of violence and incarceration by replacing them with hope, healing, and opportunity. When people with lived experience guide the next generation, we strengthen families, reduce crime, and build safer, healthier communities for everyone,” said Benny Ivey, Strong Arms of Mississippi.
"I come from the kind of community that's too often ignored. I was raised by my grandmother while my father was in prison and my mother fought through addiction. We made it through on government assistance, but what really changed my life was love, resilience, and someone giving me a chance. Today, I lead violence prevention in New Jersey's largest city — and we've brought crime down by 60%. That didn't happen by locking more people up. It happened because we stopped criminalizing pain and started investing in people. Real safety doesn't come from punishment — it comes from real resources, real support, and real hope," said Kyleesha Wingfield-Hill, Director Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery.
“CVI work shows us that those once caught in cycles of harm can become the strongest builders of peace. This model does not blame communities—it uplifts them, proving that transformation is possible. Community violence intervention is an industry with a proven record of saving lives and serves as a roadmap for safety rooted in healing and prevention. It is not an alternative system—it is the work of communities themselves, coming together to stop harm and create lasting peace,” said Freedom Jones, LifeBridge Health’s Center for Hope and Founder & CEO, Street Pause Inc.
Footage from the panel can be found here and photos can be found here.
Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Accountability and the Committee on Education and Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.4 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs. Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 3,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.