Coalition to Advance Public Safety Announces Hiring of Anne Marks as its Inaugural Managing Director
The Coalition to Advance Public Safety (CAPS) is a collaborative effort to reduce near-term violence by strengthening the capacity of local community violence intervention (CVI) ecosystems
For Immediate Release
September 3, 2024
Media Contact: Justin Reid, Director of Storytelling, Cities United, justin.reid@citiesunited.org, (502) 654.8149
Today, the Coalition to Advance Public Safety (CAPS) announced the hiring of its inaugural Managing Director, with Anne Marks, a nationally recognized expert in Community Violence Intervention, stepping into the role.
“Effective, coordinated community violence intervention strategies are critical to ending the public health crisis of gun violence ravaging Black and Brown communities,” said Anthony Smith of Cities United, Aqeela Sherrills of Community-Based Public Safety Collective, Fatimah Loren Dreier of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, and David Muhammad of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, the four national, Black-led technical assistance and capacity building provider organizations that lead CAPS. “With this hire, we are force multiplying our capacity to work collaboratively in communities to end gun violence.”
CAPS is a collaborative effort focused on reducing near-term violence by 20% over five years in 12 cities at the center of the country’s battle against gun violence. The coalition partners with cities, frontline direct service providers and other key stakeholders to increase the capacity of under-resourced CVI organizations and to support governments to build sustainable CVI infrastructure. Community Violence Intervention strategies establish relationships and systems of support that disrupt cycles of violence and retaliation in communities. They include street outreach, violence interruption, hospital-based violence intervention, life coaching, peace fellowships, and more.
“I am honored to support these leaders of the Community Violence Intervention movement,” said Anne Marks. She is the former Executive Director of Youth ALIVE!, Oakland's nationally recognized anchor community organization providing violence prevention, intervention and healing services to community members directly impacted by violence and incarceration. She is a founding board member and National Advisor for the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (The HAVI) and an Advisory Board Member for the Everytown Community Safety Fund. From 2004 to 2008, she administered CVI strategies for the City of Oakland. She has been invited by the White House to speak on Community Violence Intervention and received commendation from the cities of Oakland and Los Angeles for her work to help communities reduce violence. She received her B.A. from UC Berkeley and Master of Public Policy from Harvard University.
###
