The Center for Structural Equity Awarded $100,000 Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund to Sustain Critical Gun Violence Prevention Work in Wilmington

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

WILMINGTON, Del. — Today, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF), part of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, announced $100,000 in funding for Center for Structural Equity in Wilmington to sustain their work and better position them to access federal funding. The grant is part of Everytown Community Safety Fund’s $2.35 million investment in funding to 35 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.

Community-based organizations, like the Center for Structural Equity, work to heal individuals and communities from the trauma of structural violence by promoting structural equity to address root causes of gun violence and social determinants of health. The Center for Structural Equity does this by focusing on violence reduction, positive youth development and community outreach. The center also employs credible messengers to lead efforts that promote health equity.

“We are proud to announce the Center for Structural Equity has been awarded a 2023 Support Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund,” 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. “The Center’s efforts to equip their community with the tools to dismantle cycles of violence is essential to a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence. With this grant, the Everytown Community Safety Fund will support the Center’s expanded delivery of violence interruption, conflict mediation and outreach programming to more at-risk youth and young adults across Wilmington.”

“Investing in community-based violence intervention programs is one of the most effective ways we can help break the cycle of gun violence that leaves communities traumatized and robs our youth of opportunity,” said Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.). “The Everytown Community Safety Fund Grant announced today for Delaware will be used to expand the important data-driven, evidence-based, and community-centered work of the Center for Structural Equity, diligently led by Darryl “Wolfie” Chambers, as it continues to be a leader in breaking that cycle while creating opportunity for our young people and helping our communities thrive.”

“This grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund will support community violence reduction and positive youth development efforts at the Center for Structural Equity,” said Darryl Chambers, executive director of the Center for Structural Equity. “Our services provide for those at the highest risk of gun violence in Wilmington, Delaware, including our young people. We are eager to use this grant to deepen our support to the program participants we work with.”

As gun violence continues to devastate communities following an exponential increase in recent years, community-based violence intervention programs (CVI) like Center for Structural Equity 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 latest round of Support Grants, currently CSF’s largest grant offering, will provide grant recipients $100,000, in two disbursements over two years, as well as access to CSF’s quarterly calls, peer convenings, capacity-building trainers, national conferences, as well as support from Everytown, and it’s 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.