Baton Rouge Community Street Team Awarded $100,000 Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund to Sustain Critical Gun Violence Prevention Work in Baton Rouge

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

BATON ROUGE, La. — Today, the Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF), part of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, announced $100,000 in funding for Baton Rouge Community Street Team to sustain their work and better position them to access federal funding. The grant is part of Everytown Community Safety Fund’s $2.35 million investment in funding to 35 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 Baton Rouge Community Street Team (BRCST) is a neighborhood-centered program assisting in the reduction of violence and crime in Baton Rouge. BRCST hires, trains and deploys credible messengers or people who have influence in their communities as high-risk interventionists or community navigators. Some of the organization’s work includes providing casework to those at greatest risk of becoming a victim or a perpetrator of violence, and engaging in disputes that may result in violence, using conflict resolution skills and meditation tactics. 

“We are proud to announce the Baton Rouge Community Street Team has been awarded a 2023 Support Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund — their commitment to evidence-based, trauma-informed care exemplify the power of community-driven solutions to tackle gun violence,” 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. “With this grant, the Baton Rouge Community Street Team will sustain staffing for their High Risk Violence Intervention, a core component of Baton Rouge’s efforts to prevent gun violence and build safer communities.” 

“I am thrilled to congratulate the Baton Rouge Community Street Team for their exceptional work fostering safety and unity within our neighborhoods,” said Baton Rouge Mayor Weston Broome. “As a 2023 Everytown Community Safety Fund Support Grantee, they continue to shine as a beacon of guidance and hope for those affected by gun violence, building bridges and forging connections that make Baton Rouge stronger and safer for all.”

“A.G.I.L.E. Planning Solutions, Inc. launched the Baton Rouge Community Street Team in partnership with Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome’s Safe, Hopeful Healthy Initiative in 2021 because the need for community-led solutions in Baton Rouge was evident. Our team leads a neighborhood-centered program that is showing real promise in our city,” said Sateria Tate Alexander, executive director of A.G.I.L.E. Planning Solutions, Inc. “With this grant from the Everytown Community Safety fund, we will expand our outreach in Baton Rouge and enhance the services we provide to our community.” 

“Baton Rouge Community Street Team is implementing a violence intervention strategy that is neighborhood-centric and has been proven effective at reducing gun violence in cities nationwide,” said Erica Atwood, a member of the Everytown Community Safety Fund advisory board and senior director of Philadelphia’s Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Criminal Justice and Public Safety. “Organizations like Street Team are instrumental in helping survivors heal and interrupting cycles of gun violence.”

As gun violence continues to devastate communities following an exponential increase in recent years, community-based violence intervention (CVI) programs like Baton Rouge Community Street Team 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 latest round of first-time support Gsants, currently CSF’s largest grant offering, will provide grant recipients $100,000, in two disbursements over two years, as well as access to CSF’s quarterly calls, peer convenings, capacity-building trainers, national conferences, as well as support from Everytown, and it’s 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.