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.

This month, as many young people get ready to go back to school, we are highlighting school-based and school-related strategies to promote safety and health and prevent violence.

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.

• September is Suicide Prevention Month
• Learn more about suicide prevention in schools here.

• Read: Funds for student safety foreshadow fierce debate on Seattle budget
• The Seattle City Council ultimately landed on a compromise for the amount of funding for mental health services and gun violence prevention programs in Seattle schools.
• Read: Safety Planning Update and Progress for a System of Well-Resourced Schools
• Seattle Public School (SPS) states that they are committed to creating safer and more supportive environments for students, especially in response to recent tragedies. Superintendent Jones has detailed a plan that includes enhanced mental health support and gun violence prevention initiatives.
• Listen: Gun violence is getting worse. Can a shift in perspective be the solution?
• The surgeon general's office has declared gun violence a national public health crisis. It's the first time the body has ever issued a public health advisory about firearms, and for Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, it's a step in reframing the conversation about death by gunfire.

• Read: Preventing School Violence and Promoting School Safety: Contemporary Scholarship Advancing Science, Practice, and Policy, Mayer and colleagues (2021)
• This paper synthesizes and integrates findings from various articles into five key areas: (a) conceptual foundations, (b) centering race and ethnicity in school safety, (d) school resource officers’ training and roles, (d) discipline and school climate, and (e) bullying and peer victimization.
• Read: Methods for Reducing Violence in Schools: A Systematic Review, Kelly (2017)
• This systematic review examines programs designed to reduce school violence. Programs associated with a decrease victimization included all partner systems such as administration, faculty, students, parents, and the community in a culture of care philosophy.
• Read: Community-Based Strategies To Reduce Gun Violence in Schools, Pearce and Alleyne (2023)
• This article highlights the significance of schools as deeply integrated with their communities. Therefore, for school safety to be improved in an equitable and sustainable manner, community involvement in developing solutions is essential. Strategies suggested include utilizing community violence intervention programs to identify needs.

• Back to School Bash
• Event for students and families hosted by Rainer Beach Action Coalition on August 24th, 2024 from 12-6pm

• Apply: CVI Leadership Academy
• The CVI Leadership Academy is now accepting applications for their December 2024 and July 2025 cohorts. Applications due by Friday, August 30.
• Read insights from Lynniah Grayson, a member of the second CVILA cohort, here.
• Apply: Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative Community Safety Councils
• The Washington Department of Commerce is soliciting proposals from entities interested in building regional capacity to reduce gun violence, directly impacting the safety and well-being of their communities. The selected proposers will assemble a Community Safety Council to steer local violence reduction efforts, including conducting a landscape analysis and designing a violence reduction plan. Applications due by Sunday, October 6.
• 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.
• Secure Funding: Getting Grant Ready
• Struggling to secure funding is a common challenge for grassroots community leaders. When it comes to grants, Black and Brown-led organizations have historically received less funding. Getting Grant Ready is an online resource that empowers organizations to craft compelling grant proposals aligned with their missions and secure the funding needed to sustain their programs.

• 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.
• Listen: Therapy for Black Girls Podcasts
• The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a Licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all thing's mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible version of ourselves.
• Check out these healing-centered episodes: Healing through sound meditation and breathwork, Healing intergenerational trauma
• 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.
• Connect: BIPOC ED Coalition of Washington State
• Comprised of 240+ BIPOC-led nonprofits who work in collaboration to restore resources and promote collective well-being in communities across Washington State.
• Event: Sound Baths with the Black Spiritualist
• Join us for Sound Baths w/ Crystal Singing Bowls infused with Reiki Healing, lead by the sound healer and Reiki Master Teacher Sierra Jones