Baltimore's NFL team is putting serious cash behind the city’s gun violence fight. The Ravens on Tuesday announced a $1 million investment for six local and national groups focused on preventing shootings, responding to crises, and helping victims and young people heal. Part of the money will go toward expanding Baltimore’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy, according to city and team officials, with the announcement timed to the violence prevention summit at M&T Bank Stadium.
The pledge, reported by Fox Baltimore, will send the $1 million across six organizations, including a portion specifically set aside to grow Mayor Brandon Scott’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy through the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE).
"I want to thank the Ravens for their commitment to Baltimore," Mayor Brandon Scott said. "This investment will support the Group Violence Reduction Strategy and help us build on the progress we have seen reducing homicides and nonfatal shootings to historic lows." His remarks were included in the team’s announcement and cited by Fox Baltimore.
Who Will Get The Grants
The Ravens named six recipients: the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement to expand GVRS with technical help from the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab; MedStar Health’s Hospital Violence Responder program; Everytown for Gun Safety; Roca Maryland; the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center; and Johns Hopkins Medicine’s "This Is My Story" initiative and a youth fellowship.
The team said the funding is aimed at prevention, crisis response, and long-term recovery. According to Baltimore Ravens, the grants will support training, emergency help for victims, evidence-based intervention work and expanded research and convenings.
Why The City Is Betting On GVRS
Independent researchers and city officials say the Group Violence Reduction Strategy is showing results where it has been rolled out. An evaluation by the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab found that the strategy helped cut homicides and nonfatal shootings in the Western District by roughly a third, and city reports say MONSE is now scaling the program to other police districts. For more on the program’s evaluation and expansion, see Penn Today.
Leaders React
"Reducing gun violence is some of the most impactful work being done across our nation," Ravens president Sashi Brown said, praising the frontline groups that are in neighborhoods every day and the team’s role in backing prevention and healing. The announcement lined up with the Baltimore Together: A Violence Prevention Summit at M&T Bank Stadium. Team officials said they hope the investment not only shores up local services but also helps scale programs that are already showing promise. The full recipient list and program details are laid out in the team’s release from Baltimore Ravens.
City officials said tracking the grants and providing technical assistance will be key to making sure the dollars reach evidence-based work and produce measurable outcomes, with MONSE coordinating the continued GVRS rollout. Officials and the team indicated they plan to share follow-up from the Baltimore Together summit, along with future reports on program impact. For program documents and prior evaluations, see City of Baltimore/MONSE.
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