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Everytown Community Safety Fund Awards $1.5 Million to 15 Community-Based Violence Intervention Organizations to Sustain Critical Gun Violence Prevention Work Nationwide

8.8.2022

Everytown Will Also Provide Strategic Support Including Peer Convening, Capacity-Building Training, Data & Research Access and Support from Everytown’s Volunteer Networks

NEW YORK — Today, the Everytown Community Safety Fund announced it will be awarding $1.5 million in funding to 15 community-based violence intervention organizations working in cities across the country. The Everytown Community Safety Fund, a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (“Everytown”), is the largest national initiative solely dedicated to fueling the life-saving work of community-based violence intervention organizations in cities nationwide.

Since 2019, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (The Fund) has granted $7.15 million in support of 72 community-based violence intervention organizations implementing promising strategies, like street outreach, hospital-based violence interventions and youth development and counseling, in more than 57 American cities. This latest round of Support Grants, currently the Fund’s largest grant offering, will provide grant recipients $100,000, in two disbursements over two years, as well as access to the Fund’s quarterly calls, peer convenings, capacity-building trainers, national conferences, as well as support from Everytown, Moms Demand Action volunteers and national partners. 

“Our cities are in the midst of a public health crisis driven by persistent gun violence. Fortunately, community-based violence intervention organizations are on the frontlines every day. Although additional resources are on the horizon, there is an immediate need for support and capacity building to respond to the urgency of now,” said Michael-Sean Spence, senior director of Community Safety Initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and creator of the Everytown Community Safety Fund. “With this investment, the Everytown Community Safety Fund will provide a critical lifeline to programs working in cities across the nation, to help them sustain their life-saving efforts and unlock additional government, philanthropic and corporate support.”

“One thing I have learned in my time working directly with community stakeholders, is that the need for proven, community-based violence interventions is greater now than ever before,” said Everytown Community Safety Fund Advisory Board member Anthony Smith, executive director of Cities United. “These investments will provide crucial capacity to groups working to interrupt gun violence and create peace inside communities hit hardest — and they could hardly come at a better time.”

“This support is critical to helping community-based violence intervention programs continue their work during these challenging times,” said Everytown Community Safety Fund Advisory Board member Marcus McAllister, chief executive officer of McAllister Consultancy & Training. “This investment will help frontline practitioners continue to save lives while we work to build their capacity and secure historic investments at all levels of government.” 

This year, the Everytown Community Safety Fund will award first-time Support Grants to nine community-based violence intervention organizations. Representing the Fund’s first investments in Brooklyn, North Charleston, Denver, Las Vegas, Madison, Miami and San Antonio:

  1. Big Mama’s Safe House, San Antonio, TX
  2. The Build Program, Los Angeles, CA
  3. Circle of Brotherhood, Miami, FL
  4. Focused Interruption, Madison, WI
  5. GRASP, Denver, CO
  6. Nevada Partners, Las Vegas, NV
  7. Not Another Child, Brooklyn, NY
  8. Turning the Tide, North Charleston, SC
  9. Yaay Me Inc., Washington, DC

The Everytown Community Safety Fund will also award new Support Grants to six prior  recipients. Sustained support will allow each organization to scale their work to more communities in need:

  1. CHRIS 180, Atlanta, GA
  2. Faith in Action Alabama, Birmingham, AL
  3. Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, Chicago, IL
  4. The TraRon Center, Washington, DC
  5. YouthAlive!, Oakland, CA
  6. YouTurn Omaha, Omaha, NE

In the midst of a striking increase in gun violence over the last two years, we have seen historic investment in community-based violence intervention (CVI) programs at the federal, state, and local levels. The Fund’s investment will allow community-based violence intervention organizations to build their capacity to sustain and scale their programs long-term, enhancing their ability to successfully access additional government, philanthropic and corporate support.

Recently, the Biden-Harris Administration passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first federal action on gun safety in almost 30 years. This historic law takes a multifaceted approach to address the different types of gun violence impacting our communities and is underscored by its historic commitment to support community violence intervention strategies and provide access to federal funds. Everytown Community Safety Fund’s grants provide an immediate and flexible lifeline to programs that may qualify for federal support, helping groups build capacity and sustain their efforts while they prepare to unlock federal funding at a time when many of these programs have been stretched far past capacity.

The Everytown Community Safety Fund currently supports multiple grant opportunities:

  • Support Grants provide community-based 501(c)3 violence intervention organizations with funding, peer engagement, and capacity building over two years.
  • Sustainer Grants provide prior Support Grant recipients with a lifeline to help them sustain a continuing gun violence prevention effort for one year.
  • Wear Orange Grants provide community-based 501(c)3 violence intervention organizations funding and technical assistance, to start or complete a local Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) project in partnership with a Moms Demand Action volunteer chapter, in celebration of Wear Orange weekend.

Grantee selection follows a rigorous process administered by Everytown Community Safety Fund staff, as well as Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers and an external review panel of experts from across the country, including the Everytown Community Safety Fund Advisory Board, made up of advocates, academics, survivors and city leaders from diverse backgrounds who recognize the critical role community-based violence intervention organizations serve as a component of a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence.

Below is the full list of community-based violence intervention organizations currently supported by the Everytown Community Safety Fund: