Included in President Joe Biden's strategy for tackling the surge in gun violence sweeping through Chicago and other major American cities is a proven remedy. As Biden told the nation Wednesday, community violence intervention programs have led to a drop in violence of up to 60% in some communities. To hammer home his point, he cited the work of street outreach workers such as Chicago's Eddie Bocanegra and DeVone Boggan of Richmond, California. "Eddie was formerly incarcerated for gun homicide, and DeVone lost his brother to gun violence," said Biden, who added he had talked with both men about their work. "And Eddie worked as a violence interrupter. Now he runs a program that provides high-risk men with cognitive behavioral therapy to help them react to the impulses by slowing down rather than following through on the violence. (He) puts them in paid jobs to change their trajectory. The program has reduced shootings by 40%." Boggan, Biden added, runs a program in California and six other states that enrolls men in "peace fellowships" that provide intensive mentoring and other social services. In Sacramento, the program resulted in "91% of participants staying away from gun violence," the president said. We're familiar with Bocanegra and the impact he's had on Chicago streets. A year ago, we spoke with him and other street outreach leaders whose engagement with young men in crime-wracked neighborhoods has led to drops in violence from those who can access his program. The participants in READI Chicago, the outreach program Bocanegra runs, each cost $20,000 annually — less than the $38,000 it costs to keep an inmate in an Illinois prison. "It's not a cheap program," he told us. "But when you compare it to prison? What we pay as taxpayers … for police, for the cost of detention? We're not educating the public about that comparison." Street outreach isn't the only fix for gun violence, but it's a big part of it. We're pleased Biden has recognized that, and pleased that his strategy to combat gun crime includes ensuring that the American Rescue Plan's $350 billion in state and local funding can be used to pay for community violence intervention programs such as the ones Bocanegra and Boggan lead. Until now they've been underfunded.