PRESS RELEASE
March 4, 2024
For Immediate Release
Media contact: Talia Rivera, talia@fundforasaferfuture.org
Research that Saves Lives: The Fund for a Safer Future Announces
$1.4 Million in Grants for Innovative Research on Gun Violence Prevention
Boston, MA (March 4, 2024) – The Fund for a Safer Future (FSF), a national network of funders working to stop the gun violence epidemic, announced $1.4 million in new research grants to better understand how to make violence prevention programs successful.
Through grants to six universities and one research institute, this funding will: explore motivations for participating in community violence intervention programs; explore public perceptions of Extreme Risk Prevention Orders (also known as red flag laws); research how hospital emergency departments can control firearm access among patients being evaluated for suicide risk; and deepen understanding of how to prevent homicides that occur as part of police activity (known as Legal Intervention Homicides).
“The better we understand gun violence, the more we can do to slow and ultimately prevent this uniquely American crisis,” said Talia Rivera, FSF’s Executive Director. “That’s why the Fund for a Safer Future continues to invest in research that informs community interventions and policymakers at every level of government.”
Previous FSF-funded research has demonstrated the effectiveness of state firearm removal policies; quantified the relationship between substance abuse and firearm violence; and developed new and important insights about illegal gun markets.
Details of the seven research grants are as follows:
Grant Recipient | Grant Purpose, Principal Investigator, Amount and Term |
Arizona State University |
To understand how direct-violence interruption reduces community-level violence and what factors increase or decrease the effectiveness of these efforts. Principal Investigators: Dr. Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill and Dr. Jason Szkola Grant Amount: $197,595 Grant Term: January 2024 — December 2026 |
Children’s National Research Institute at Children’s National Hospital Center |
To explore how to effectively use firearm screening and lethal-means access counseling for patients evaluated for suicide risk in hospital emergency departments, with a particular focus on Black youth and caregivers. Principal Investigator: Dr. Shilpa J. Patel Grant Amount: $245,464 Grant Term: January 2024 — December 2025 |
Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
|
To better understand how to prevent Legal Intervention Homicides by studying various factors in these cases from data found in the National Violent Death Reporting System, including the initial reason for police contact, victim’s race and ethnicity, neighborhood type, and characteristics of the responding police agency. Principal Investigator: Catherine Barber, MPA Grant Amount: $248,837 Grant Term: January 2024 — June 2025 |
Texas A&M University
|
To examine how trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms affect patterns of decision-making for firearm acquisition, carrying, and usage, with a particular focus on Black male adolescents. Principal Investigator: Dr. Noni Gaylord-Harden Grant Amount: $245,842 Grant Term: January 2024 — December 2025 |
University of California, Davis
|
To better understand public perception of Extreme Risk Prevention Orders (also known as red flag laws), with a particular focus on: communities with high incidence of gun violence; Black firearm owners; and residents of California. Principal Investigator: Veronica A. Pear, PhD, MPH Grant Amount: $249,831 Grant Term: January 2024 — December 2026 |
University of Michigan
|
To analyze the impact of vacant lot reuse projects on violent crime rates, and to examine variations in crime density based on social vulnerability scores. Principal Investigator: Dr. Jiyeon Song Grant Amount: $11,530 Grant Term: January 2024 — July 2024 |
Washington University in St. Louis
|
To understand the motivations for and barriers to participation in the Life Outside of Violence program in the St. Louis area. Principal Investigator: Kristen L. Mueller, MD Grant Amount: $248,832 Grant Term: January 2024 — December 2025 |
These grants were selected by a committee made up of Fund for a Safer Future members and key stakeholders in the field. The committee included: Tim Daly, The Joyce Foundation (Co-Chair); Sarah Burd-Sharps, Everytown for Gun Safety (Co-Chair); Tracy Costigan, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Colleen Creighton, Brady Campaign (End Family Fire); Zach Laris, American Academy of Pediatrics; Matt Miller, Northeastern University & Harvard University; Jesy Pizarro, Arizona State University; Ali Rohwani-Rahbar University of Washington; Jocelyn Smith Lee, University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and John Torres, Youth ALIVE!
Founded in 2011, the Fund for a Safer Future is a funder collaborative that works to reduce gun violence in the United States by supporting advocacy, research, education, and community-based organizing. Since 2014, the Fund has granted more than $7 million to support 36 different research projects. Overall, the Fund has made more than $25 million in grants and leveraged another $171 million in aligned grantmaking by its more than 30 members.
For more information, visit www.fundforasaferfuture.org or follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fund-for-a-safer-future/
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fund for safer future: in the news
- 2023 Grantee Announcement
- Announcement: Fund for a Safer Future Welcome’s Executive Director Talia Rivera
- What Made Congress Finally Do Something About Gun Violence? Philanthropy-Backed Evidence. (Chronicle of Philanthropy, July 20, 2022)
- Mass Shootings Intensify Gun-Control Efforts at Grassroots Level (Chronicle of Philanthropy, June 7, 2022)
- From Newtown to Uvalde: Growth in Gun-Violence Philanthropy and a New Mind-Set for a Movement Chronicle of Philanthropy, May 27, 2022)
- Why Philanthropy Has Made Little Progress on Gun Violence — and a Few Reasons for Hope (Inside Philanthropy, May 26, 2022)
- Giving for Violence Prevention: The State of American Philanthropy (Inside Philanthropy, March 2022)
- What Makes Funder Collaboratives Work? The Fund for a Safer Future Looks Back on Its First Decade (Inside Philanthropy, December 20, 2021)
- To Stop Gun Violence, Grant Makers Need to Follow the Covid-19 Collaborative Playbook (Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nov 17, 2021)