The managing director of community safety initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety will deliver the opening keynote address on Monday, December 9, the first day of the conference. His topic: Tackling gun violence disparities in Black neighborhoods with a public health approach. Ahead of the conference, he spoke with RISE about the ripple effect of gun violence across the country and how community-driven initiatives can make communities safer and save lives.
With teams spanning across government affairs, litigation, communications, and more, Everytown for Gun Safety is the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country, striving to reduce gun violence and save lives.
Spence’s community safety initiatives team works directly with communities, particularly those disproportionately impacted by gun violence, by providing grants for community-based violence intervention programs, building their capacity with training technical assistance, and advocating on their behalf to unlock additional resources. Since its start in 2019, the community safety initiatives team has supported 136 programs across 69 cities.
So how do they do it? By addressing the drivers behind gun violence— longstanding inequities and social determinants of health (SDoH).
“Violence is not only concentrated in cities; it's concentrated in pockets of inequity,” said Spence. “Pockets of inequity, where primarily Black and Brown individuals live, where there have been deliberate policy decisions that have created environments where violence can thrive. It's created environments where inequities and social determinants of health drive lesser health outcomes. Hospitals have a unique opportunity to address those and have a population health effect.”
SDoH, such as social mobility, income, equality, segregation, substance abuse, emotional abuse, and violence in the home drive much of the gun violence happening at the hyperlocal level in cities across the nation, explained Spence.
“Many of the communities where we're seeing gun violence most concentrated, we're also seeing a concentration of inequities in these social determinants of health,” he said. “We're seeing a concentration of these inequities in the same communities where we're seeing the highest levels of gun violence.”
Community-based intervention programs, specifically hospital-based violence intervention programs, have a unique opportunity in identifying and engaging the individuals with the highest risk of shooting or being shot.
“Individuals who have recently experienced a traumatic injury and are now self-presenting in the trauma bay during, what we call, that golden hour,” said Spence. “It’s a unique moment when an individual is seeking assistance, and they are willing to share those underlying factors that are increasing their exposure or their reliance on violence.”
The hospital-based programs are breaking the cycle of violence in more ways than one, said Spence. Not only are the programs working with individuals at the bedside to identify and address key SDoH driving their exposure to violence, but the programs have also led to the employment of individuals who were once a part of the gun violence, now joining the hospital program to make a difference in the community.
“In my conversations with these hospital-based violence intervention programs, one thing that has been glaringly clear is that many of these individuals would not have a job at these hospitals if not for these programs,” he said. “So, when we talk about addressing social determinants of health and breaking the cycle of violence, they're doing it in a multitude of ways.”
During his keynote address, Spence will share more about the unique opportunity and leadership role that hospitals can take to address SDoH and longstanding inequities driving gun violence across the nation.
Spence will present his keynote address, Healing Communities: Tackling Gun Violence Disparities in Black Neighborhoods with a Public Health Approach, at The RISE Population Health Summit on Monday, December 9, at 9:10 a.m. Click here for more information, including the agenda, list of speakers, and registration information.