Four additional organizations to receive more than $1.6 million in funding; additional grant awards to be announced in the coming weeks

PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia today announced the third round of the Anti-Violence Community Expansion Grant Program awardees. This third round of awardees includes four additional organizations that will collectively receive more than $1.6 million in funding, bringing the total amount distributed through this program to more than $6.4 million. The third round of awardees are: African Family Health Organization, Central Division Victim Services, Mothers in Charge, and Philadelphia OIC.

In July 2021, Mayor Jim Kenney and City Council announced a $22 million investment in Anti-Violence Community Partnership Grants. This is a major piece of the historic $155.7 million investment in a wide array of violence prevention programming and services that contribute to the City’s violence prevention and reduction goals.

To achieve and sustain a reduction in gun violence and improve the quality of life in communities most affected by gun violence, the City is investing in organizations with proven track records of delivering quality anti-violence interventions to help them expand and strengthen their efforts. A key step in this effort is the Anti-Violence Community Expansion Grants. The first round of awards from this program were announced earlier in October.

“With this latest round of Anti-Violence Community Expansion Grant Program Awardees, we’ve now distributed funding to 13 community organizations doing anti-violence work on the ground in our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Jim Kenney. “We’ve acted swiftly to distribute this funding as quickly as possible as we work to address the city’s immediate crisis while tackling the systemic, root causes of violence. I’m proud that—through our partnership with City Council—we’re investing directly in organizations that can help make our communities safer and save lives. We look forward to making additional awards in the coming weeks.

“It’s important that the community-focused violence prevention grant process is continuing and ongoing,” said Council President Darrell L. Clarke (5th District). “The focus in today’s announced grants—on victims, families, trauma and counseling—is compelling and important, if we hope to engage with and reduce the endless cycle of violence and retribution plaguing too many of our neighborhoods. Groups like Mothers in Charge and others announced today understand the importance of counseling families who’ve experienced the terrible trauma of gun violence claiming a member of their families—both as victims and as the accused.”

“It is good news to see more organizations receive Anti-Violence Community Partnership Grants (Anti-Violence Grants),” said Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson (2nd District), Chairman of Council’s Special Committee on Gun Violence Prevention. “Our goal in City Council was to work with the Kenney Administration to get this money out to boots-on-the-ground organizations fighting gun violence as fast as possible. At this moment, the City is on pace to reach and surpass the all-time record of 500 homicides in one year set in 1990. The  Anti-Violence Grants will continue to be a part of a major shift in how City government fights gun violence and fund community groups dealing with the issue for years to come.”

Awardees

Below is a list of new awardees, and more awards will be announced in the coming weeks:

NEW AWARDEES:

• African Family Health Organization — Grant Award: $267,628
  • The African Family Health Organization (AFAHO) is a community-based organization that provides health, human, and educational services to African and Caribbean immigrants and refugees in the greater Philadelphia area. AFAHO works to strengthen community health culture and facilitate social integration through a unique peer support model that uses shared language, cultural expertise, advocacy, and system navigation knowledge to help individuals and families overcome social determinants, build community connections, and gain information and resources needed to thrive, improve health and educational outcomes, and support self-sufficiency.
  • The African Youth Empowerment Program (AYEP) empowers African and Caribbean immigrants and refugee youth to improve their educational, social, health, and life outcomes. Through the CEG grant award, AFAHO will expand its AYEP program, specifically targeting boys and young men between the ages of 15 – 21. AFAHO will offer a safe haven at their Southwest Philadelphia location where participants will engage in academic tutoring and mentoring; counseling to build trust and understanding; life skills training; developing conflict resolution and de-escalation skills; professional foundational skills development and vocational training with tradesmen from our community who will serve as both mentors and teachers for their apprentices.
• Central Division Victim Services — Grant Award: $832,188
  • Central Division Victim Services is a leader that advocates for victims and witnesses of crimes in North and Central Divisions within Philadelphia. Central Division Victim Services builds bridges that create safer communities and connects crime victims to resources.
  • Through the CEG grant award, Central Division Victim Services North Philly Crisis Response Program will increase support for victims and surviving family members focused on decreasing retaliation and increasing availability of trauma-informed counseling focused on resilience and recovery. The CEG grant award will support hospital-based emotional support for 100 percent of victims of gun violence and their families through 24-hour in-house crisis response advocates who will provide immediate emotional support aiding in their post-trauma recovery and assisting with linkages to community resources to promote community reintegration and engagement in their healing process. This grant-funded programming is in partnership with Congreso de Latinos Unidos, East Division Crime Victims Program; Northwest Victim Services; and Temple University Hospital’s Trauma Program.

• Mothers in Charge — Grant Award: $305,712
  • Mothers in Charge (MIC) is a violence prevention, education, and intervention-based organization. MIC advocates and supports youth, young adults, families, and communities affected by violence. MIC’s Creative Healing Spaces Program mission is to aid in the reduction of violence, both verbally and physically, by acknowledging that young people live in persistent traumatic conditions that needs to be addressed through creating safe spaces that will allow them to develop the tools to manage the traumas and their responses and reactions and to heal the pain.
  • Through the CEG grant award, Mothers in Charge will match young men of color who have experienced trauma and/or have been justice-involved with adult coaches with similar life experiences who will participate, together, in the 12-week Creative Healing Spaces Program. Additionally, Mothers in Charge will engage their parents/caregivers in an integrated cognitive behavioral change program.
• Philadelphia OIC — Grant Award: $250,000
  • Philadelphia OIC’s Young Adult Reentry Program serves 18 to 24-year-olds who have had criminal justice involvement. Participants receive access to free educational and vocational training through the Community College of Philadelphia.
  • Through the CEG grant award, Philadelphia OIC’s Reentry Program will serve the needs of additional justice-involved participants. These participants will receive emergency support services, GED, High School Equivalency Test, and workforce credentialing, as well as access to a licensed therapist to provide mental health counseling and support.

Total Grant Awards (as of November 10, 2021): $6,494,290. This includes awards made in the first and second rounds from this program, announced recently. A full list of awardees is available online.

About the Anti-Violence Community Expansion Grant Program

The Anti-Violence Community Expansion Grant Program directly funds and supports community-based organizations that are focused on reducing violence through trauma-informed healing and restorative practices and safe havens and mentorship.

The City provides grants ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000 to community-based organizations that have annual operating budgets below $15,000,000 and a proven track record working in neighborhoods vulnerable to gun violence. By targeting funding towards proven community-based organizations, the City is putting this money in the hands of organizations with a proven track record of delivering quality, culturally relevant services while making sure those applying already have the infrastructure in place to be successful.

The focus of the Community Expansion Grants is to provide direct trauma-informed healing and restorative practices or safe havens and mentorship programs. Funded projects supporting those focus areas must take place between fall 2021 and summer 2022.

The deadline for applications closed on September 17, 2021. Applications for the Anti-Violence Community Expansion Grants are now being considered and awarded on a rolling basis. Additional awards will be announced in the coming weeks.