News

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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