Philadelphia gun violence and prevention report: June 3, 2021

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: DR. JESSICA H. BEARD NAMED STONELEIGH FELLOW AND CENTER’S DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH

The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting and the Stoneleigh Foundation have named Dr. Jessica H. Beard, a trauma surgeon at Temple University Hospital and public health researcher at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, as a Stoneleigh Fellow and the Center’s director of research effective July 1, 2021.

Through her three-year fellowship, Beard will work with the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting to deepen the media narrative around gun violence, with the goal of increasing support for policies and programs to curb the epidemic and save lives.

The fellowship will focus on widening the lens of media reporting on gun violence in Philadelphia to provide context, solutions, and varying perspectives.

Read the complete press release on our home page at: PCGVR.org


Weekly update

Spending plans

• The Philadelphia City Controller and a group of City Council members have shared their strategies to optimize violence prevention funding. [WHYY/6ABC]

What bullets can do

• A Penn medical student and chaplain pens “A letter to a teenage gunshot victim.” [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

• Learn what life has been like for one shooting survivor. [NBC10]

Mentorship

• Collaborators are trying out an approach that worked in the Bronx to prevent violence in Philadelphia. [6ABC]

Join the conversation

• In person tonight: Learn about innovations to prevent gun violence and improve our city’s safety. [Venture Cafe via eventbrite]

Apply now

• Community-based organizations in Philadelphia are now invited to apply for the next round of Targeted Community Investment Grants for violence prevention programs and activities. [Philadelphia Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Criminal Justice and Public Safety via Google Docs]

By the numbers

• Police reported 215 homicides through the first five months of this year in Philadelphia, a 36 percent increase over last year’s pace and 120 more victims than were recorded in the city by the same date in 2014. [PhillyPolice.com]

• New city data: 183 people were shot in Philadelphia during May; 25 more more victims than were recorded during the previous month and eight more than were recorded during May of 2020. [Open Data Philly]

• Gun sales rose by 64 percent in the U.S during 2020 but the surge continues: During the first quarter of this year, sales were up by another 18 percent. [New York Times]

• Two mass shootings stood out since our update last week: Nine rail yard employees were shot and killed by their own co-worker in San Jose, and 22 people were shot leaving a concert in Northwest Miami. [ABC7News/The Miami Herald]

• Before the end of May, the U.S. surpassed 8,000 year-to-date gun deaths in with an approximate average of 53 each day. [@GunDeaths]

New research

• Domestic violence plays an important role in mass shootings in the United States. Domestic violence-related mass shootings were associated with fewer casualties but a higher fatality rates. [Injury Epidemiology]

Assessing trauma in Black communities

• Every 11 minutes, a Black American is shot and wounded. Young Black men are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than their white counterparts. [Everytown Research]

Trauma-informed

• Reporting on traumatic events such as gun violence can present special challenges and responsibilities related to the well-being of journalists, the people we engage with and the audiences and communities we serve. Please take advantage of these resources from the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. [PCGVR/Dart Center]

Gun Dealer inspections

• Are you a journalist or researcher interested in investigating gun shops in your area? The Trace has the database for you! [The Trace]

From the U.S. Attorney General

• New effort to reduce violent crime will engage communities as critical partners and provide support from violence interruption to reentry services. [U.S. Department of Justice]

Solution of the Week

• Parents can learn to keep their teens and children safer, while retaining access to weapons they may need for their job, or want for their hobby or protection. [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia]

Replicating the Credible Messenger Reporting Project

• Muskegon, Michigan is one of the cities where we hope to replicate our Credible Messenger Reporting Project and provide training and funding to community representatives to report on root causes of gun violence, lived experience & evidence-based solutions — if we can find support. You can make a difference. [mlive/WeDidIt]