ManUp PHL To Receive $100,000 Support Grant From Everytown Community Safety Fund
10.4.2024
Historic Investment in Community Violence Intervention Initiatives Will Support Street Outreach and Community Healing Initiatives to Combat Gun Violence in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Today, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF), part of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, has announced $100,000 in funding for .ManUpPHL to advance its work of ending gun violence in Philadelphia and better position the organization to access federal funding. This grant is part of Everytown Community Safety Fund’s more than $2 million investment in 20 gun violence intervention organizations nationwide announced today. The Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF), a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, is the largest national initiative solely dedicated to fueling the life-saving work of community-based violence intervention organizations in cities nationwide.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General, a public health approach to gun related injury and violence prevention requires immediate “investments in community‑based interventions and educational programs.” Philadelphia, which has a robust community violence intervention (CVI) network, has recently seen an over 40% decrease in gun violence rates. ManUpPHL, a community violence prevention organization based in Philadelphia, is addressing gun violence by strategically focusing on the men and boys at the highest risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of gun violence. ManUpPHL’s mission is to step into the lives of those who are statistically most likely to be impacted by gun violence in Philadelphia, and to provide them with the mentoring, accountability, resources and consistency needed to change their lives and make our communities better.
“We are proud to announce ManUpPHL has been awarded a 2024 grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund,” said Michael-Sean Spence, managing director of Community Safety Initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and creator of the Everytown Community Safety Fund. “ManUpPHL’s crucial work to address the root causes of gun violence have had a transformative impact on Philadelphia’s youth and young adults, amplifying their experience with gun violence and empowering them to co-design safer communities. With this grant ManUpPHL will have the resources needed to sustain their work and support even more youth in need.”
“ManUpPHL addresses gun violence by mentoring the very men and boys who are most likely to be victims or perpetrators,” said Solomon Jones, executive director of ManUp PHL. “Support from the Everytown Community Safety Fund will allow us to deepen these services at an urgent time in Philadelphia, including staffing costs. As ManUpPhl faces growing demand for our lifesaving services, including our school program doubling in size since it began, this grant will give us the resources needed to support program growth to meet that need.”
Since 2019, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF) has granted over $13 million in support of 136 community-based violence intervention organizations implementing promising strategies, like street outreach, hospital-based violence interventions and youth development and counseling, in more than 69 American cities. This latest round of support grants, currently CSF’s largest grant offering, will provide grant recipients $100,000, in two disbursements over two years, as well as access to CSF’s quarterly calls, peer convenings, capacity-building trainers, national conferences, as well as support from Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots networks Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, and national partners.
The full list of community-based violence intervention organizations currently supported by the Everytown Community Safety Fund and more information about the fund can be found here.
Gun homicide has significantly declined in cities across the nation from a post-pandemic spike — due in part to the scaling and city coordination efforts with community based violence intervention organizations working on the frontlines of the gun violence epidemic in cities across the country. And though local communities have seen a reduction in gun violence, data shows that gun homicide rates in the U.S. are still 26 times higher than in other developed countries. In the United States, every day, more than 120 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded.
About the Everytown Community Safety Fund
Everytown Community Safety Fund, a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, 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 has granted over $13 million in support of 136 community-based violence intervention organizations implementing promising strategies, like street outreach, hospital-based violence interventions and youth development and counseling, in more than 69 American cities.
About the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund
Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with nearly 10 million supporters. The Everytown Support Fund seeks to improve our understanding of the causes of gun violence and help to reduce it by conducting groundbreaking original research, developing evidence-based policies, communicating this knowledge to the American public, and advancing gun safety and gun violence prevention in communities. Learn more at www.everytownsupportfund.org.