New Resource Available: Everytown Launches New Spanish Language Media Guide in Partnership with Hope and Heal Fund

NEW YORK — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, in partnership with Hope and Heal Fund, launched a Spanish Language Media Guide, a first-of-its-kind resource for Spanish language press and Spanish-speaking communities to inform coverage and conversations on gun violence. The guide provides Spanish language translations for commonly used terms in the gun violence prevention movement and serves as a tool to help standardize, normalize, and de-stigmatize language and conversations about gun violence prevention efforts.

“As we work to end gun violence, it’s critical that members of Latinx communities have the language to advocate for the solutions they need,” said Jose Alfaro, Director of Latinx Leadership and Community Engagement at Everytown for Gun Safety. “This guide will be a game-changer in our movement, and we are proud to partner with Hope and Heal to launch this vital resource.”

“As a race equity fund focused on reducing gun violence, identifying and improving systems where inequities exist is a critical component of our work,” said Refujio “Cuco” Rodriguez, Chief Strategist and Equity Officer at Hope and Heal Fund. “Ensuring linguistic equity is one of those areas that must be addressed and this resource is a good first step. While this resource addresses the needs of Chicano and Latino/x communities we also must expand resources beyond Spanish-speaking populations.” 

Gun violence continues to impact Latinx communities in disproportionate ways. At the same time, members of these communities face unique challenges when confronting this public health crisis, including language barriers. In the wake of shootings, members of these communities are often left to try to interpret complex ideas or policies that don’t directly translate into Spanish without access to key resources, an additional hurdle that compounds already difficult circumstances. As we work to end gun violence in communities across the country, this guide will serve as an example of the critical need to support those most impacted by this crisis with the resources they need to continue to advocate on behalf of their communities. 

Each year, gun violence kills more than 4,700 Latinx people in the United States, also deeply impacting Latinx youth and creating cycles of generational trauma in these communities where conversations about mental health may still be stigmatized. This year, Everytown, in partnership with Hispanics in Philanthropy, launched a year-long listening tour — Pueblo a Pueblo — to better understand the way gun violence in all its forms impacts Latinx communities and to continue the conversation about gun safety solutions. The listening tour meets with communities across the country to hear from gun violence survivors and local partner organizations to better understand the individualized solutions their communities need. 

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