Second Call President and CEO Skipp Townsend is shown conducting a strategy meeting Sept. 24 for community intervention workers on his staff. Community intervention workers are credited with helping the city record one of the lowest homicide rates in years.

Courtesy photo

By Ray Richardson

Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES — When a $14 billion budget for the city of Los Angeles was submitted for the 2025-26 fiscal year, Mayor Karen Bass made sure the community violence intervention program was not among the cuts.

Bass went a step further by including a raise in the budget for the city’s approximately 110 community intervention workers, boosting their annual salary from $45,000 to $60,000.

“If there’s no CIW program, it would be us against (Los Angeles Police Department) LAPD all the ti

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