FIPRP Community Partnership Newsletter

Dear colleagues,

The University of Washington Firearm Injury and Policy Research Program (FIPRP) is committed to sharing timely, actionable information on gun violence prevention with our communities.

In this month’s newsletter, we focus on communal healing, showcasing how shared struggles and collective resilience and resistance form the cornerstone of our fight against gun violence. Through stories of perseverance, like those of the Garfield High community, and innovative healing models for Black male survivors in Baltimore, we highlight the diverse tapestry of recovery that binds us together. Join us in exploring these narratives, resources, and opportunities, as we champion the power of communal healing.

If you have comments, content contributions, or would like to suggest individuals or groups to feature, please share your thoughts by emailing fiprp@uw.edu.

Read: Parents protest outside Garfield High School calling for more safety, one week after shooting

• This article details how parents, students, and community members are rallying to demand change to address firearm violence in their community.

Watch: ROAR Center Peer Healing Circle: A new video shows how Black men are helping each other heal from the trauma of gun violence

• In 2022, Dr. Joseph Richardson and ROAR launched a new peer healing group of ten Black male survivors of violent firearm injuries in Baltimore. With the help of violence intervention specialist Che Bullock, the group sessions were designed to remove three factors that typically prevent Black men from engaging in mental health services: stigma, accessibility, and lack of culturally tailored and responsive healing models for Black men with a history of violent injury.

Find Support: BIPOC Mental Health Resources, NAMI Seattle

• NAMI Seattle offers free, drop-in, and peer-led support groups on a variety of communal healing and, more specifically, mental health topics.

Find Support: The Healing Center

• The Healing Center creates space for people experiencing loss to share memories, learnings, challenges, and even laughter. Their grief support options span all ages and stages in your grief process.
  

Find Support: Free Black Therapy

• A nonprofit organization dedicated to providing remote mental health services with Black Mental Health professionals for Black and African American individuals. Absolutely FREE.

Read: Key roles of community connectedness in healing from trauma, Schultz and colleagues (2016)

• This commentary highlights the importance of mechanisms such as accountability, community norming, and belonging and identity which are crucial in fostering community connectedness. It also outlines the necessity of integrating structural and historical trauma frameworks into initiatives aimed at understanding and addressing violence.

Read: Collective Healing: A Framework for Building Transformative Collaborations in Public Health, Cowan and colleagues (2021)

• This article emphasizes a collective healing framework that combines the collective impact model and radical healing framework to offer a blueprint for cross-sector collaboration that understands the practices of healing to be at the center of public health collaborations and public health practice at large.

Read: Volunteerism and community healing, Sanberg and colleagues (2023)

• The article explores the interplay between volunteerism and community healing while emphasizing the importance of renewal and resilience as components of community healing, demonstrating how volunteer orientation toward individual and collective healing changes over the course of the healing process, and reiterates the significance of making volunteering visible for healing the community.

Read: Neighborhood collective efficacy and environmental exposure to firearm homicide among a national sample of adolescents, Aubel and colleagues (2023)

• While it is important to recognize and respond to the structural and racist underpinnings of, and interrelationships between, concentrated disadvantage and firearm violence in marginalized and minoritized communities, it is also important to acknowledge the power and strengths within communities to inform strategies for reducing harm. This study finds that cohesive and trusting community relationships and the capacity for collective action may mitigate firearm violence risk.

Attend: Revolutionary Rest: A Series of Restorative Practices (Yoga, Qi, & Sound)

• In a system that assesses value based on productivity Rest is Revolutionary. Come learn to retune and restore your body and energy.
  
• Tuesday April 30, 6:30 - 8pm PDT; Tuesday May 28, 6:30 - 8pm PDT

Attend: Supporting Community-Informed Change with the Tools of Behavioral Science

• As governments continue to lean into commitments to equity and anti-racism, they grapple with the challenges of how to actionably update their policies and processes to better collaborate with and serve their constituent communities. This convening will bring together leaders in both the academic and practitioner communities to explore questions of how to provide guidance and evidence-based best practices for those working at the local level on these issues.
  
• Friday, April 5, 9am - 5pm PDT
  

Find Funding: End Community Violence 

• This resource gives advocates and community-based organizations a clear picture of funding cities and states have committed to community violence intervention programs, access to available funding for violence prevention organizations, and connections to offices of violence prevention and community organizations working to end violence.
  

• The Community Violence Intervention Conference is the largest convening exclusively dedicated to CVI in the country, attracting more than 800 experts—both national and international—to discuss the impact of this lifesaving work. The goal of the conference is to bring together leading experts, advocates, and practitioners to share insights, struggles, and opportunities in a communal space devoted to advancing the field of community violence intervention.
• The Conference is in Los Angeles, CA on June 24 & 25.