4-CT Awarded $50,000 Innovation Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund to Sustain Critical Gun Violence Prevention Work in New Haven

Everytown Will Also Provide Strategic Support Including Peer Convening, Capacity-Building Training, Data and Research Access and Support from Everytown’s Volunteer Networks

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Today, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF), part of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, announced $50,000 in funding for 4-CT to sustain their work and better position them to access federal funding. This grant is part of Everytown Community Safety Fund’s $2.35 million investment in funding to 335 community-based violence intervention organizations. The Everytown Community Safety Fund, a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, is the largest national initiative solely dedicated to fueling the life-saving work of community-based violence intervention organizations in cities nationwide.

4-CT was created in the height of the pandemic to help with the emergent need to align philanthropic efforts and look for new ways to tackle the health and economic disparities of Connecticut’s most vulnerable populations. 4-CT’s programing includes 4-CT Cards, which are prepaid debit cards aimed at relieving economic pressures and providing residents in need with the resources to improve their lives and the flexibility to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. 4-CT is partnering with the Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) and the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) to determine the effectiveness of direct cash assistance to promote positive outcomes for victims of violence, particularly in their post-injury recovery, or to assist families of victims of homicide. The Innovation Grant will directly support this cash assistance, which is managed by 4-CT, following referrals by the hospital.

“We are excited to announce that 4-CT has been awarded a 2023 Innovation Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund. Through 4-CT’s partnership with Yale New Haven Hospital, they are employing a hospital-based violence intervention approach to help combat the root causes that cause marginalized communities to bear the brunt of gun violence,” said Michael-Sean Spence, managing director of Community Safety Initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and creator of the Everytown Community Safety Fund. “This grant will help 4-CT continue to deliver direct support to survivors of gun violence and their families and fill a critical gap by ensuring continued access to care after survivors have left the hospital.”

“4-CT along with Yale New Haven Hospital is engaging in an innovative approach to help curb gun violence in the New Haven area,” said Connecticut Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney. “I am proud to stand with this amazing community-focused organization and am thrilled they are being supported by the Everytown Community Safety Fund.” 

“4-CT exists to address economic and health disparities experienced by vulnerable populations residing in Connecticut,” said Sarah Blanton, CEO of 4-CT. “4-CT will utilize this Everytown grant to continue providing no-strings-attached direct cash assistance to victims of gun violence in the New Haven area and ensure they  have immediate access to crucial resources.”

“BRIC takes a unique approach to gun violence prevention and their efforts are already proving effective in helping survivors heal and interrupting cycles of gun violence,” Marcus McAlister, a member of the Everytown Community Safety Fund advisory board and violence prevention consultant at McAllister Consultancy & Training LLC. “Dr. Punch is the perfect leader to add to the Community Safety Fund’s grantee cohort.”

As gun violence continues to devastate communities following an exponential increase in recent years, community-based violence intervention (CVI) programs like 4-CT are working tirelessly to sustain their work, working with individuals at the highest risk of shooting or being shot and helping reduce violence through targeted interventions — including street outreach and hospital-based violence intervention — in the country’s most vulnerable communities. These programs are on the frontlines in the cities with the highest gun violence and communities experiencing the disproportionate impact of gun violence. While historic investments have been made at all levels of government, CVI organizations still struggle to access promised funding and when they do, funding is restricted to programmatic expenses, preventing them from increasing staff, building their capacity or scaling to more people and places in need. 

Since 2019, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF) has granted $10.6 million in support of 117 community-based violence intervention organizations implementing promising strategies, like street outreach, hospital-based violence interventions and youth development and counseling, in more than 67 American cities. 

This grant is part of the first round of Innovations Grants awarded as part of the Community Safety Fund’s largest grant offering. Innovation Grants are awarded to violence intervention organizations with an innovative gun violence prevention, intervention or healing strategy, and address an emerging or underserved demographic, drivers of gun violence, or adopt an evidence-based strategy to a new setting for one year. CSF provides grant recipients $50,000, over one year, as well as access to CSF’s quarterly calls, peer convenings, capacity-building trainers, national conferences, as well as support from Everytown, and its grassroots networks Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, and national partners. 

Grantee selection follows a rigorous process administered by Everytown Community Safety Fund staff, as well as Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers and an external review panel of experts from across the country, including the Everytown Community Safety Fund Advisory Board, made up of advocates, academics, survivors and city leaders from diverse backgrounds who recognize the critical role community-based violence intervention organizations serve as a component of a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence.

The full list of community-based violence intervention organizations currently supported by the Everytown Community Safety Fund and more information about the fund can be found here.