The Bullet Related Injury Clinic at the T St. Louis Awarded First-Time $50,000 Innovation Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund to Sustain Critical Gun Violence Prevention Work in St. Louis

Everytown Will Also Provide Strategic Support Including Peer Convening, Capacity-Building Training, Data and Research Access and Support from Everytown’s Volunteer Networks

ST. LOUIS— Today, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF), part of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, announced $50,000 in funding for The BRIC (Bullet Related Injury Clinic), to sustain their work and better position them to access federal funding. This grant is part of Everytown Community Safety Fund’s $2.35 million investment in funding to 335 community-based violence intervention organizations. The Everytown Community Safety Fund, a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, is the largest national initiative solely dedicated to fueling the life-saving work of community-based violence intervention organizations in cities nationwide.

The BRIC is a community-based clinic and a branch of the T St. Louis, a holistic harm reduction program in St. Louis, that specializes in helping people heal after they have been injured by a bullet. Through community engagement efforts, the BRIC provides responsive, trauma-informed, accessible, and culturally competent care. They are staffed by health professionals and volunteers working together to provide support to those who are recovering from the impact of trauma to prevent further gun violence. 

“We are excited to announce the Bullet Related Injury Clinic as a recipient of a 2023 Innovation Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund,” said Michael-Sean Spence, managing director of Community Safety Initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and creator of the Everytown Community Safety Fund. “BRIC’s dedication to providing trauma-informed care and support for survivors of gun violence in St. Louis is vital to our efforts to end gun violence nationwide. With this grant, the Everytown Community Safety Fund will support BRIC’s continued efforts to deliver holistic, trauma-informed care to survivors of  gun violence.”

“Congratulations to the T St. Louis, which runs the Bullet Related Injury Clinic and is a community violence intervention partner, for securing additional funding needed to support their continued mission of making our city a safer place for families by addressing root causes of crime,” said St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Co-Chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. “Being a 2023 Everytown Community Safety Fund Support Grantee will help BRIC do their critical work of ending cycles of violence and gun-related injuries. Together, we will continue to prioritize the health and safety of our communities – no matter their zip code.”

“Power4STL is a community of health working diligently to reduce the impact of trauma in the St. Louis region. It is the home of the Bullet Related Injury Clinic, known as The BRIC, which provides holistic care and support to patients and families that have been impacted by bullets,” said Dr. LJ Punch, executive director and founder of Power4STL. “The Everytown Community Safety Fund Innovation grant will allow us to expand our capacity for healing care and trauma recovery.” 

“BRIC takes a unique approach to gun violence prevention and their efforts are already proving effective in helping survivors heal and interrupting cycles of gun violence,” Marcus McAlister, a member of the Everytown Community Safety Fund advisory board and violence prevention consultant at McAllister Consultancy & Training LLC. “Dr. Punch is the perfect leader to add to the Community Safety Fund’s grantee cohort.”

As gun violence continues to devastate communities following an exponential increase in recent years, community-based violence intervention (CVI) programs like The BRIC at the T are working tirelessly to sustain their work, working with individuals at the highest risk of shooting or being shot and helping reduce violence through targeted interventions — including street outreach and hospital-based violence intervention — in the country’s most vulnerable communities. These programs are on the frontlines in the cities with the highest gun violence and communities experiencing the disproportionate impact of gun violence. While historic investments have been made at all levels of government, CVI organizations still struggle to access promised funding and when they do, funding is restricted to programmatic expenses, preventing them from increasing staff, building their capacity or scaling to more people and places in need. 

Since 2019, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF) has granted $10.6 million in support of 117 community-based violence intervention organizations implementing promising strategies, like street outreach, hospital-based violence interventions and youth development and counseling, in more than 67 American cities. 

This grant is part of the first round of Innovations Grants awarded as part of the Community Safety Fund’s largest grant offering. Innovation Grants are awarded to violence intervention organizations with an innovative gun violence prevention, intervention or healing strategy, and address an emerging or underserved demographic, drivers of gun violence, or adopt an evidence-based strategy to a new setting for one year. CSF provides grant recipients $50,000, over one year, as well as access to CSF’s quarterly calls, peer convenings, capacity-building trainers, national conferences, as well as support from Everytown, and its grassroots networks Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, and national partners. 

Grantee selection follows a rigorous process administered by Everytown Community Safety Fund staff, as well as Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers and an external review panel of experts from across the country, including the Everytown Community Safety Fund Advisory Board, made up of advocates, academics, survivors and city leaders from diverse backgrounds who recognize the critical role community-based violence intervention organizations serve as a component of a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence.

The full list of community-based violence intervention organizations currently supported by the Everytown Community Safety Fund and more information about the fund can be found here.