Grant Awardees
Strengthening gun violence research and interventions
2024 Awardees
In May 2024, the Center awarded $2.25 million to strengthen gun violence research and interventions. This round of funding employed a rigorous and inclusive grantmaking framework designed to encourage applications from organizations and research projects representative of communities most affected by gun violence. As a result, of the 10 projects selected for grants from more than 260 applications:
100% of funded projects focus on populations that are disproportionately affected by gun violence (i.e., Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, or Alaska Native)
90% of projects either employ community-based participatory research methods or meaningfully engage those most impacted by violence in the development of interventions
80% of projects are led or implemented by community-based organizations
70% of project teams are led by people of color
100% of projects focused on community gun violence have at least one team member with lived experience with gun violence
Category 1
Build the capacity of organizations and individuals involved in gun violence prevention to engage in research activities.
Destination Innovation (Wichita, KS)
To empower communities to move toward healing by expanding restorative justice models in interpersonal and institutional spaces, and to use community-based participatory research to investigate systemic health inequities that impact two neighborhoods that are suffering from high rates of gun violence.
Mind, Body & Soul, Inc (Charlotte, NC)
To engage historically marginalized youth in participatory action research, leading to transformative civic leadership and youth-led action to reduce youth gun violence.
University of Texas Health Science Center (Houston, TX)
To establish a hospital-based violence intervention program at one of the busiest Level 1 trauma centers in the largest medical center in the world. This project will build a coalition of local leaders engaged in gun violence prevention to collaboratively understand the local landscape of firearm violence, reflect on research gaps and barriers, and identify resources needed to reduce gun violence.
University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine (Salt Lake City, UT)
To improve the facilitation and future representation of Hispanic/Latino community members in firearm suicide research and the dissemination of firearm suicide prevention research and interventions within Hispanic/Latino communities.
Category 2
Expand evidence-based interventions, clinical care models, educational initiatives, or communications projects alongside enhanced research capabilities.
Cook County Health (Chicago, IL)
To design and conduct a research study using a Participatory Action Research approach that will center African American and Latina women who have been harmed and impacted by violence; help to shift the narrative about female survivorship by placing African American and Latina women at the center of their own research; and generate new ideas for effective violence prevention in Chicago and throughout the US.
Maniilaq Association (Kotzebue, Alaska)
To pilot the Family Safety Net (FSN) initiative, which was developed in partnership with a local community steering committee and remote Alaskan Native participants, to create a culturally-affirming brief intervention to reduce quick access to firearms for youth, give community members gun storage materials, and offer other resources to keep loved ones safe. Tailored to be culturally responsive and respectful, the FSN universally screens to identify adults who are worried that someone in their household is at risk of suicide.
Wayne State University (Detroit, MI)
To evaluate FORCE Detroit’s Keepers Program, a community-based violence intervention program, to determine its feasibility, its ability to be implemented with fidelity, and its effectiveness to reduce gun violence in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
National Compadres Network (NCN) (San Jose, CA)
To pilot, evaluate, and finalize NCN’s CVI Fellowship Program to expand understanding of how to prepare and support Community Violence Interventionists, many being people of color, formerly gang-affiliated and victims/perpetrators of gun violence.
Category 3
Advance publishable research that will shift and inform how the field understands and approaches gun violence prevention and intervention.
To study Uncornered: Mapping a Path to Peace (MAPP) as a model for evidence-based interventions in gun violence prevention. MAPP is a groundbreaking approach that uses community-driven mapping and social network analysis to address community gun violence, particularly focusing on youth with gang affiliations.
Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, SC)
To perform an outcomes evaluation of the Turning the Tide Violence Intervention Program (TTVIP), to further understand the perceived benefits and opportunities for improvement – both for the TTVIP and for other HVIPs - from the perspectives of participants, family members, and healthcare team members.