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Each Wednesday morning we share news, research, data, opinions and community responses related to gun violence and prevention in Philadelphia. Click the image above to read the latest edition. Just leave your email address to subscribe for free.

Credible Messenger Reporting Project productions

PPM Fest presents “The Path Forward” in its entirety each Friday at noon during October

A new short documentary called “The Path Forward” shares a conversation among four mothers who lost sons to gun violence in Philadelphia, recalling intimate experiences from first getting the news to learning how to survive.

Produced by Mothers in Charge with support from The Credible Messenger Reporting Project, “The Path Forward” will be available in its entirely each Friday at noon during October as part of the People Powered Media Fest, a month-long celebration of community media from PhillyCam.

You can watch on Xfinity 66/966HD, Fios 29/30 or online at phillycam.org/watch.

More Credible Messenger documentaries

This documentary features a series of interviews addressing the emotional rollercoaster of life-changing events following the murder of a family member and discussing possible solutions to gun violence in Philadelphia. More info: Never Ending Emotions

The first production from the Credible Messenger Reporting Project focuses on three co-victims of gun violence who worked together to show the long-lasting effects it can have on friends, family and community members. More info: The Lasting Impact

Meet the Credible Messenger teams

Watch it Now: “The Lasting Impact”

June 15, 2021

Meet the team behind this first production from the Credible Messenger Reporting Project; three co-victims of gun violence who worked together to show the long-lasting effects it can have on friends, family and community members. Read More

Mothers discuss life after losing their sons to gun violence

July 17, 2021

A new short documentary called “The Path Forward” shares a conversation among four mothers who lost sons to gun violence in Philadelphia, sharing intimate experiences from first getting the news to learning how to survive. This is the second production made possible with support from the Credible Messenger Reporting Project and debuts in a time when gun violence has been rising steeply in the city for the second year in a row. Read More

Community gathers for screening of “The Lasting Impact”

July 20, 2021

A crowd of community members gathered Sunday to watch the in-person premier of the short documentary “The Lasting Impact: The Emotional Scars Gun Violence Leaves Behind,” which centers around the stories of three co-victims of gun violence who worked together to show the long-lasting effects loss can have on friends, family and community members. Read More

Special announcement

New grant ensures next round of Credible Messenger Reporting Project

August 13, 2021

This week, the Independence Public Media Foundation announced $4 million in grants supporting community media-makers, journalism, film and digital equity projects, including $100,000 from its Community Voices Fund to refine and expand our Credible Messenger Reporting Project.

The Credible Messenger Reporting Project trains, compensates and empowers people impacted by gun violence in Philadelphia to produce and distribute news reports addressing its root causes, their lived experience and possible solutions from the community perspective, with guidance from professional journalists.

Project design and planning will commence with stakeholder calls next month and applications will open later this year for new work to be produced and distributed next spring.

Read More

Research at the Center

Dr. Jessica H. Beard, a trauma surgeon who treats gunshot patients at Temple University Hospital and public health researcher at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM), has joined the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting as our Director of Research, supported by three-year Stoneleigh Foundation Fellowship. (Read the press release.)

Discussion: Preventing harmful gun violence reporting

Improving news coverage of gun violence was the topic of this discussion on Flashpoint from KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia. Panelists included Young Chances Foundation founder Tyrique Glasgow, KYW Brand Manager and Program Director Alex Silverman and Dr. Jessica Beard, Director of Research here at the Center. KYW’s Antionette Lee moderated.

Podcast: Changing the Narrative on Gun Violence

Dr. Beard was recently interviewed for the Narratives of North Broad Podcast and discussed her path to medicine, her passion for public health and some of the causes and solutions to gun violence in our cities. Listen:

More insights and research

Critical conversation: Gun violence and community trauma in the Covid-19 pandemic

Dr. Beard also took part in a recent discussion of gun violence and public health on WHYY’s Radio Times. Listen:

Listening to people with lived experience

During our Community Conversations event at Temple University Hospital in late 2019, Lehigh University Journalism Professor Jennifer Midberry led a focus group research team that listened to dozens of Philadelphia residents who had been significantly affected by gun violence. They discussed how they perceive local media coverage of the issue and how they think such reporting can be improved. reporting can be improved. Listen:

Resources for better gun violence reporting

We launched our efforts to support journalists reporting on gun violence by organizing The Better Gun Violence Reporting Summit in Philadelphia, shortly before the pandemic. At this time we are exploring the possibility of organizing virtual summits beginning in 2022. Meanwhile, please explore this site for more reporting resources and let us know what else we can do to help.

Philadelphia gun violence data

Inside the Center

Welcome to the Center

Reporting on gun violence comes with exceptional challenges, responsibilities and opportunities. The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting wants to help.

Helping those affected by gun violence

Hosting organization

The Center resides within the Institute for Community Engagement and Civic Leadership at Community College of Philadelphia.

Announcing new partnership

Beginning this fall, The Vanguard and our Center will be collaborating to focus on best reporting practices and solutions to gun violence in Philadelphia.

Powered by partnerships

Action Tank provided strategic planning and staff support for our Better Gun Violence Reporting Summit.

AH Datalytics generously produced our Philadelphia Shooting Victims Dashboard.

Our Weekly Briefing on Gun Violence and Prevetnion in Philadelphia appears in the Billy Penn newsletter every Wednesday.

We’re grateful for guidance from the leaders of the Coalition of Trauma Centers for Firearm Injury Prevention.

The Dart Center provided guidance and support for our Better Gun Violence Reporting Summit.

Thanks to the Fels Lab at the University of Pennsylvania for providing a Masters of Public Administration student to work on a new project we will introduce later this year.

We are grateful to the Columbia Journalism Review for inviting us to participate in their Gun Violence News Summit.

The Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting is helping us get organized.

We are grateful to the community at Mothers in Charge for partnering on our first few events and latest projects.

Our Community Conversation event was made possible with support from the Philadelphia Office of Violence Prevention.

Leaders and members from The Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists have been critical advisors and partners from our earliest events and programming.

We’re now collaborating with the Philadelphia Obituary Project on how we can serve communities better together.

We’re grateful to our friends at Resolve Philly for helping us get organized.

We are grateful to the Scattergood Foundation for inviting us to participate in their RISE Partnership, a three-year learning program that helps non-profit organizations strengthen their impact.

We are honored to collaborate with Seeking Solutions: Gun Violence in Missouri, from the Kansas City Star and Report for America.

WHYY hosted our Better Gun Violence Reporting Summit and provided critical support.

Stay informed

Subscribe for free email updates from the Center for Gun Violence Reporting.

News from the Center

• Temple Now reports on our Director of Research
• Watch it now: Virtual premiere of “The Lasting Impact” and behind-the-scenes conversation
• New grant ensures next round of Credible Messenger Reporting Project
• Community gathers for screening of “The Lasting Impact”
• Watch the recording: “Enough is Enough” teach-in on “Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis in Philadelphia”
• Mothers discuss life after losing their sons to gun violence
• Philadelphia shooting victim totals for first six months of each year, 2015-2020
• Refining and Replicating The Credible Messenger Reporting Project
• Progress report: The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting is one year old today
• Credible Messenger Reporting Project update: June 2020
• Press release: Dr. Jessica H. Beard named Stoneleigh Fellow and Center’s Director or Research
• PCGVR: Our first six months, July through December, 2020
• The Credible Messenger Reporting Project is now underway
• Special announcement: Credible Messenger Reporting Project recruiting this fall
• Press Release: Creating a new Center for Gun Violence Reporting in Philadelphia
• The Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting: Our first year
• Better Gun Violence Reporting Summit: Outcomes and Impact Survey
• Better Gun Violence Reporting Summit: Report to funders
• Work in progress: Latest developments from The Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting

The Center is grateful for support from the following organizations:

the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting is a project of the The Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting. This Initiative is co-managed with fiscal sponsorship by CultureTrust Greater Philadelphia and is a member of CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia. Visit IBGVR.org for more information. Except where otherwise noted, the content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Photographs, logos and embedded content may not be covered by this license. ©2021 - The Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting and The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting.