The City Commission voted to increase the city’s funding for the Urban League’s Cure Violence program in its FY2027 budget, passed last month.
The Commission voted to appropriate $750,000 for Cure Violence Grand Rapids, a program implemented by the Grand Rapids Urban League and the Urban League of West Michigan.
The allocation includes an additional $125,000 for Cure Violence Global—for technical support—and $35,000 for a related summer youth violence prevention effort called It Takes a Village.
The program’s funding comes from a larger $2 million grant from the Justice Department, which also funds one staff position and other violence prevention efforts.
In FY2026, the budget allocation for the Urban League was $50,000, with other contributions from separate line items summing up to approximately $225,000.
The appropriation continues multi-year city support for the program. The Urban League has implemented the Cure Violence Global public-health model, which treats violence as a contagious epidemic. The city has been involved since 2021, starting with pilot payments around $75,000 annually in partnership with private funding before scaling up.
Cure Violence focuses on training “street-level interrupters” who work explicitly separate from law enforcement, running outreach to “high-risk individuals,” and hosting community events.
According to its own documentation, Cure Violence is based on the World Health Organization’s approach to reversing the epidemic spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and cholera.
“The model,” it stated, “applies these same three proven strategies to stop violence. Trained, culturally appropriate workers interrupt the transmission of violence, prevent its future spread, and transform community norms.”
According to Raynard Ross, Cure Violence site supervisor, Violence Interrupters undergo 40 hours of training, including techniques related to de-escalation and mediation. The Interrupters are unarmed.
“The only weapons that our team use are their hearts, minds, and verbal skills when showing up at a scene of any potentially tense situation,” Ross said, via a city spokesperson.
Ross added that Violence Interrupters know where potentially violent situations might arise based on community canvassing, social media, or direct outreach.
The programs are overseen by the city’s Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA), which holds weekly work sessions with Cure Violence Global and helps determine the level of funding needed for the program.
“The program budget is determined by the Urban League,” a city spokesperson told the Grand RapidsHerald. “The City’s contribution is based on evaluating the UL’s budget and considering available funds.”
According to a Cure Violence report, the organization’s interrupters performed 127 interruptions and held 63 community events in Grand Rapids in 2025.
Homicides and thefts are down from a 2023 peak in the city. Cure Violence’s data shows aggravated assault rates have increased nearly 15% from the time of the program’s launch through June of 2025.
Write to jacob@grherald.com.