We invite communities impacted by gun violence to partake in research actively and ensure communities are the primary beneficiaries of our research findings. Our conception of 'community' extends beyond residents and includes practitioners and stakeholders working to understand, prevent, and reduce violence. We acknowledge that previous research practices have been detrimental or inadequate for understanding and addressing community violence that disproportionately impacts Black and Brown communities.
We conduct rigorous, culturally-responsive, equitable, and community-engaged research and evaluation to understand the causes, consequences, experiences, and potential solutions to community violence. We are committed to advancing research that is responsive and accountable to community, is interdisciplinary, and uses critical, intersectional, and anti-oppressive theoretical frameworks. We acknowledge and seek to dismantle the pervasiveness of anti-Black racism in historical and contemporary research, policy, and practice, particularly as it relates to understanding and addressing gun violence in America.
We provide mentorship and collaboration opportunities for early and mid-career researchers engaged in gun violence studies to facilitate and create pathways for new Black, Brown, and other historically under-represented scholars. Expanding and developing the field of researchers committed to using an equity lens to build more scholarship on community violence is critical to producing more knowledge that can inform impactful policy and practice responses.
We advocate for increased support for community-based and community-engaged approaches to gun violence and other solutions based on equitable research and evaluation findings. We also advocate for increased support for equitable and community-engaged research and evaluation. Policymakers across all levels must be aware not only of the research results but also of the critical role community engagement plays in devising effective solutions
We shape narratives used by the media and the public by enhancing the communication of causes, consequences, experiences, and potential solutions for community violence. Broader understanding of violence and trauma exposure in the most impacted communities and shifting societal perceptions of community violence, is core to advancing solutions.
