Wordnet Productions in collaboration with the Office of Restorative Justice and Office of Communications, San Bernardino Diocese has produced a program called VIP – Violence Intervention Program. The headlines of news papers and news channels are clear. Violence strikes anyone, anywhere and anytime. In San Bernardino, murder is taking the lives of our loved ones and leaving families in grief and trauma. Our communities have been impacted for years. A recent study shows that there have been over 1,400 murders in San Bernardino since 1985. It has cost us lives, and it has cost our city more than a quarter of a billion dollars. If the current murder rates continue we will see over 450 homicides in the City of San Bernardino in the next 10 years.
People of faith have an important role in making sure that this doesn’t happen. The faith communities of San Bernardino are part of a city-wide effort to build a safer community for our families and children. And this effort is called Violence Intervention Program or VIP. The program is an invitation to the public to arise and act to stop violence in our cities, to stop the gun culture. The program is intended to be released in all the religious institutions as it is an effort and initiative by all the faith and religious communities in San Bernardino and Riverside.