MAY 2026
A Message from David Brown
After nearly two years of deeply meaningful work, I will be transitioning my role of the executive director of the Coalition this summer to take on a new role at Temple University, where I have been appointed executive director of Community Impact and Civic Engagement.
Leaving is not easy. Not because transitions ever are, but because the urgent, necessary work of reducing gun violence in Philadelphia genuinely matters. Every meeting, every conversation, every data point was a reminder that behind the numbers are real people, real families, and real communities that deserve better.
I came to this role believing that Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis is not beyond our reach. With the right intervention, it can be driven down. I leave more convinced of that than ever.
When I arrived, the Coalition’s foundation was already strong. My hope was to build on it, to deepen relationships, sharpen our focus, and help move this work from awareness to action. I am proud of what we accomplished together, and I am confident that the momentum we have built will carry forward.
The Coalition is working to determine what it might need in its next chapter and I have every confidence that our work will be taken to the next level. The mission is too important and the community of partners behind it too committed, for anything less.
I am not walking away from this calling. I will continue to serve on the Gun Violence Intervention Coordination Center Board, and through my work at Temple, I look forward to finding new ways to support the systems and strategies that make communities safer. Philadelphia is my home. This cause remains part of my lifework.
Thank you for your leadership, your advocacy, and your belief that change is possible. It has been an honor.
Sincerely,
David W. Brown
Executive Director
Housing as Intervention: Building Stability to Open Doors to the Future
PHA, GVICC, P3 and community partners celebrate a pilot program helping Philadelphian at highest risk of gun violence
The Philadelphia Housing Authority recently joined partners from the Gun Violence Intervention Coordination Center (GVICC), the City of Philadelphia, and Pushing Progress Philly (P3) to celebrate 30 participants who successfully completed a groundbreaking pilot initiative designed to provide stable housing and long-term support for individuals at high risk of gun violence.
For the Civic Coalition to Save Lives, the celebration reinforced a core belief: evidence-based intervention strategies that combine housing, workforce opportunity, mentorship, and coordinated support can help interrupt cycles of violence and create meaningful pathways forward for individuals, families, and communities across Philadelphia.
The ceremony highlighted not only the success of the program, but the deeply personal journeys behind it. Participants shared stories of rebuilding their lives through secure housing, mentorship, and sustained support. Some returned to school. Others completed workforce training programs, including commercial driving licensure, and secured steady employment. Two participants were able to regain custody of their children after securing consistent housing, a milestone speakers described as a powerful reminder that intervention strategies can help restore not only safety and stability, but families and futures. Participants also spoke emotionally about reconnecting with loved ones and creating homes where their families could finally gather safely and consistently.
The initiative was especially significant because public housing opportunities often remain difficult to access for individuals with prior justice involvement, despite the critical role reliable housing plays in successful reentry and violence intervention efforts. Leaders throughout the event emphasized that safe, consistent housing creates the foundation necessary for individuals to focus on employment, education, mental health, and long-term personal growth. Research from John Jay College of Criminal Justice has shown that coordinated community violence intervention strategies can significantly reduce gun violence, with one long-term evaluation finding a 51 percent decline in gun-related crime incidents and a 53 percent decline in gun injuries.
Leaders at the ceremony emphasized that sustained housing is a critical component of those intervention efforts.
“Housing is not simply shelter. It is stability. It is dignity. And it is the foundation upon which healthy lives and stronger communities are built,” said PHA President and CEO Kelvin A. Jeremiah during the celebration. He noted that the program’s 100 percent housing retention rate demonstrates “what is possible with determination, opportunity, and support coming together.”
Speakers throughout the event emphasized that stable housing is a critical intervention strategy that allows participants to focus on employment, education, and family stability. Estelle Richman, the founding executive director of the Civic Coalition to Save Lives and a longtime Philadelphia public health and human services leader who helped champion the partnership, reflected on the importance of addressing core needs first. “Until you have stable housing and stable food, you can’t make everything else in your life yield,” she said. “Once those things are there, then we can get through the rest of the day.”
GVICC Program Director Sara Autori, and director of the GVICC housing initiative, emphasized the importance of creating long-term stability and opportunity for participants rebuilding their lives. “People are hosting housewarmings,” she said. “That is what this program is about. It’s about having a space to go home to and enjoy the life that you’re building for yourself.”
Participants also shared firsthand accounts of how the program changed their lives. Rashid Robinson, who returned home after serving 13 years in federal prison, described the impact of finally having stability. “Just having somewhere to call home, good night’s sleep, stability,” he said, explaining how the opportunity helped him begin rebuilding his future. Another participant, Calvin Davis, spoke about how housing gave him “peace and stability,” allowing him to focus on becoming a better father and surrounding himself with people who encouraged growth and accountability.
Chief Public Safety Director Adam Geer connected the program’s success directly to Philadelphia’s broader violence reduction efforts, noting that recent declines in homicides and shootings are evidence “that the work is working.” He emphasized that partnerships like this one between PHA, P3, and the City are essential to sustaining that momentum.
Credit: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
New Research Examines Social Media’s Expanding Role in Community Gun Violence
A white paper from the University of Maryland’s Violence Reduction Center (VRC) is drawing renewed attention to a reality community violence intervention workers have been confronting for years: gun violence increasingly unfolds both on the street and online.
Published on March 5, 2026, “Addressing the Role of Social Media in Catalyzing Community Gun Violence” grew out of a symposium the VRC convened on the University of Maryland, College Park campus on November 10, 2025. More than 60 experts from community-based organizations, law enforcement, government, philanthropy, and academia gathered for a day-long session on how to prevent online conflicts from escalating into real-world violence. A recording of the discussion from symposium is available online.
The paper was authored by eight researchers and practitioners, including Thomas Abt, founding director of the VRC and associate research professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland; Dr. Desmond Patton; and doctoral student Anthony Shaw, both of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. Shaw is a former public policy fellow with Philadelphia’s Gun Violence Intervention Coordination Center (GVICC).
Disputes that once remained hyperlocal can now spread rapidly through livestreams, tagging, music videos, and algorithm-driven amplification, heightening the risk of real-world violence among youth for whom reputation and perceived threats carry significant weight.
The paper argues that online spaces have become deeply intertwined with identity formation, grief, conflict, retaliation, and reputation in communities disproportionately impacted by gun violence — without being inherently violent themselves. Disputes that once remained hyperlocal can now spread rapidly through livestreams, tagging, music videos, and algorithm-driven amplification, heightening the risk of real-world violence among youth for whom reputation and perceived threats carry significant weight. At the November symposium, Patton described social media as “the new neighborhood,” arguing platforms should be approached “with care, thoughtfulness, and community engagement.”
The paper is equally careful to avoid overreach. Social media is also used to express grief, seek support, and maintain connection. Most online activity does not lead to violence, and understanding context, local relationships, and cultural norms is essential.
Among the report’s key recommendations is greater investment in “digitally native” intervention roles — younger practitioners with lived experience and cultural fluency who understand how conflicts develop online. “Young people are domain experts,” Patton said. “They understand online language, context, neighborhood dynamics, and nuance in ways outsiders often do not.” The report also highlights the potential of credible messengers, community figures, and artists to counter harmful narratives and redirect online influence toward de-escalation.
The authors are clear that digital strategies cannot stand alone. “Effective intervention requires context and pre-existing relationships,” said Abt. “Intervening blindly online can actually make conflicts worse.”
For Philadelphia, where conflicts move fluidly between online and offline spaces, the report underscores a pressing challenge: adapting violence prevention infrastructure to a digitally connected generation without losing the relationship-based, community-centered approach that remains at the core of the work.
Credit: Violence Reduction Center
Philadelphia Violence Intervention Leader Joins National Discussion on Those Most at Risk
Evidence-Based Intervention Strategies Take Center Stage in June 17 Webinar
A new practice brief from the Crime and Justice Policy Lab at the University of Pennsylvania and National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) reinforces a core principle behind Philadelphia’s violence intervention work: to reduce gun violence, cities must be able to identify the individuals at highest risk and connect them with the right support at the right time.
The brief, Identifying Very High Risk Populations for a Public Health Approach to Community Violence Intervention, focuses on how cities can use data, local intelligence, and coordinated partnerships to reach the small number of individuals most likely to be involved in gun violence, either as victims or perpetrators. That approach is central to the evidence-based intervention strategies championed by the Civic Coalition to Save Lives and reflected in Philadelphia’s continued investment in coordinated violence intervention infrastructure.
Deion Sumpter, deputy director of Violence Intervention for the City of Philadelphia, will join national experts for a webinar exploring the report’s findings and how cities are putting these strategies into practice. The discussion will also feature leaders from NICJR, the University of Pennsylvania Crime and Justice Policy Lab, and the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention.
Philadelphia’s participation in this national conversation underscores the importance of the city’s ongoing work through programs like GVI and the Gun Violence Intervention Coordination Center, which help strengthen coordination, focus resources, and support community-based intervention efforts. For the Coalition, the report and webinar offer another opportunity to elevate what research and local experience continue to show: intervention saves lives when it is targeted, coordinated, and grounded in evidence.
The webinar will take place on June 17 at noon.
National Gun Violence Awareness Month
June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month, a time for communities across the country to honor lives lost to gun violence and recommit to building safer futures. In Philadelphia, where gun violence victims have declined by 45% since 2021, Penn Live Arts will mark the occasion with its third annual Toll the Bell event on Friday, June 5.
At more than 45 locations across Philadelphia and the region, bells, drums, horns, and other sounds will ring out simultaneously in remembrance of victims and as a collective call for continued action. In a city deeply connected to the symbolism of the Liberty Bell — also reflected in the Civic Coalition to Save Lives logo — the event underscores the power of communities coming together to create change.
Learn more at the University of Pennsylvania Penn Live Arts Toll the Bell.
ICYMI
News Roundup: Spotlight on Intervention
Each month, we feature news stories from Philadelphia and beyond that highlight the power of intervention — showcasing programs, research, and community efforts working to prevent violence, support those at highest risk, and build safer neighborhoods through proven, people-centered strategies
