Gun-related homicides have dropped 40 percent in 2024 in the Philadelphia region, saving countless lives in the area – but the work is not close to done.
On Monday morning, the Eagles hosted A Safer America, an event dedicated to discussing gun violence prevention. Local, state, and federal government leaders, along with individuals working in the space of gun violence prevention, discussed the progress that has been made in anti-gun violence as communities began to take action around the area, and how the work will need to continue to bring the number of deaths by gun violence down more and more.
"The Eagles understand that our responsibility to our community extends far beyond the playing field," Eagles Vice President of Community Relations Julie Hirshey said to kick off the event. "We're happy to serve here today and bring together so many leaders who are driving real change here and to collaborate on solutions to end gun violence in Philadelphia."
Since 2018, the Eagles and their players have provided more than $2.3 million through the Social Justice Fund to organizations working to reduce barriers to opportunities, address the root causes of violence, uplift young people, and break the cycles of poverty and inequality.
The Eagles are still working in collaboration with their players to finalize the exact amount of the Social Justice grants for this year, but know they will exceed $275,000, putting the total since 2018 at over $2.6 million.
The Eagles announced this year's grant recipients at the event:
- 100 Black Men of Philadelphia
- After School Activities Partnership (ASAP)
- Center for Families & Relationships
- The Center for Violence Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- GreenLight Fund
- Horizons Greater Philadelphia
- Rock to the Future
- Shoot Basketballs NOT People
- Students Run Philly Style
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania Austin Davis spoke about the state's response to gun violence and how the problems have been addressed.
He explained that, in the summer, Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law a new bipartisan state budget in which additional funds will go toward violence intervention and prevention programs, school safety and mental health grants and after-school learning opportunities to create safer places for young people.
"With this budget, we'll continue to build on what's been happening here in Philadelphia and across our Commonwealth. Pennsylvania experienced the nation's second-biggest decline in gun homicides last year, and so far, this year, Philadelphia has seen a 40 percent decrease in firearm-related deaths and injuries. That's because of all the great work that you all are doing here," Davis said. "Let's be clear, there are still far too many incidents involving guns, but the trends show that the Commonwealth's comprehensive approach and investments in community-based programs are working. To use a football metaphor, we're in the red zone. Now is not the time to slow down. Now is the time to keep pushing forward, because every life lost to gun violence is a tragedy – every single life. We're talking about beloved sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, and they are missed every single day."
Rob Wilcox and Greg Jackson of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention shared what they do as part of the first-ever gun violence prevention program for the White House.
After President Biden declared gun violence as a public health crisis in 2020, the pair saw it as an opportunity to start investing resources to prevent violence, as well as look at the policies surrounding gun safety measures in the country.
"As activists, at first, we challenged the White House and said, 'Alright, if you're talking about a public health crisis, you need a public health approach. When you named opioids a public health crisis, you invested billions of dollars. When you named automobile accidents as a public health crisis, you invested billions of dollars, not just for cars, but in behavior, shift and training and education and resources for individuals who are at risk.' And so, we demanded, really the same approach with this issue," Jackson said.
In April of 2021, the President rolled out executive actions that led with more funding for community violence intervention programs, funding for at-risk youth mentorship programs and reentry programs for people coming back after being involved with the criminal justice system.
Jackson explained how they want to invest in people more and build out their public health approach.
"A public health approach means identifying those who are most at risk, whether it's a person that's in crisis to harm themselves or others, and that can look very different, whether that's a school shooting, interpersonal conflict, suicide, domestic violence. But how do we identify those who are most at risk and most vulnerable and invest in preventing that moment of crisis from happening? We can do that through intervention," Jackson said.
"We can also do that by preventing it from happening in the first place, but then also how do we protect those who are most at risk and most vulnerable from the tools they can use to cause harm, and that's where the upstream accountability work happens."
The second half of the event included a panel of anti-gun violence group leaders, including Dr. Joel Fein from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Violence Prevention, Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department John Stanford, Chantay Love from EMIR (Every Murder is Real Healing Center), and Dr. Dorothy Johnson-Speight from Mothers in Charge.
"I think that's a continuous theme, is that we have to continue to work alongside each other. We may have differences of opinions, that's fine, that's OK. We may disagree on some things, but let's figure out the things that we agree on, and let's really hone in on that area, and let's really hit it hard. I think that's where we're starting to see some of that success," Stanford said.
"There's still so much vital work that needs to be done, because the biggest part of having a reduction in the violent crime, shootings, and homicides is for people to start feeling safe again. We're not there yet."
Stanford stated that although the numbers in shootings and homicides are down, it doesn't feel like it. Philadelphia had 600 fewer shooting victims in 2023 from 2022 and is on the path to be 600 fewer in 2024 than 2023.
"One of the things that I have relayed to our command staff is that the hard work starts now, the numbers coming down, we all kind of feel good. You still say, 'Hey, this is success, but the real success starts now to sustain that and continue to drive that down even lower,'" Stanford said.
Philadelphia has 193 homicides this year compared to 329 at this time last year, but the 193 aren't forgotten.
"It's not lost on us that we still have a lot of work to do," Stanford said. "The real work really starts now, because we don't want people to rest and say, 'Oh, well it's working. They don't need me as much anymore.' And I would say my seeing this room being packed and giving you a sense of hope and a renewed new sense of how much more work we have to do, but how much the commitment is from all of the people that are here to get that moving forward."
– Written by Liam Wichser
