#Status report: The Gun Crisis Reporting Project at 15 months

• Status report: The Gun Crisis Reporting Project at 15 months
• 
  
• Gunfire kills one man and wounds a second early Thursday

Status report: The Gun Crisis Reporting Project at 15 months Posted: 14 Jun 2013 06:33 AM PDT Police cover the body of a teenage boy who was shot to death in Frankford on May 31st. Photograph for the Gun Crisis Reporting projectby Joseph Kaczmarek. Forty people were shot in the first ten days of June in Philadelphia — and the rates in May were even worse — but gun violence has plummeted across the city this week, with only three new victims reported since then, although one has died. At the Gun Crisis Reporting Project, we have taken advantage of this overdue break from constant reporting to catch up on internal business, including a moment to reflect on new honors for our reporting staff. Next, we have been working on our latest grant application as we continue to seek seed funding to build an economically sustainable organization — and we wanted to share our responses as an update for the community: Gun Crisis Reporting Project: Seeking Solutions to the Epidemic of Gun Violence in Philadelphia A bloody gun marks the scene afterpolice opened fire on a man who officials say was shooting at other men during an incident last month in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Photograph for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project by Joseph Kaczmarek. The Need: Philadelphia has suffered the highest rate of homicide per capita among America’s largest 15 cities since 2006 and the number of murders has risen each year since 2009. In 2012, 85 percent of the people killed in our city were shot to death. In recent years, innovations in public health and criminology have led to double-digit reductions in gun violence in several other cities and corners of our own. But we are not doing enough. Leaders say that everybody has to come together to end this epidemic, but there is no place to meet. We are building that community at GunCrisis.org. A child looks on as police investigate a double shooting that left one man dead last month in North Philadelphia. Photograph for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project by Joseph Kaczmarek. The Program: The Gun Crisis Reporting Project — launched in March, 2012 — is an award-winning, independent, nonprofit journalism organization, designed to illuminate the epidemic of homicide by gunfire in Philadelphia — and to present solutions. First, we meet the needs of citizens by providing original reporting on uncovered or under-covered gun violence incidents across Philadelphia, including the impact of gun violence for all stakeholders, in context and in a chronology that begins with root causes. Next, we report on the groups and individuals pursuing possible solutions to end the epidemic of homicide by gunfire, and look for evidence of successful intervention in our city and beyond. We avoid polarizing political debates on gun access, striving instead to support solutions that everyone can support. While others quarrel over the supply of guns, we hope to reduce the demand. We engage community leaders, public officials, students and scholars in public forums, and engage online readers to participate in a conversation on solutions. We support other violence prevention groups and events with publicity, social media and communications, a directory of service providers, event promotion and a public calendar. We collaborate with local, national and international media to redirect gun violence reporting  narratives to focus on solutions and the path to peace. The catalyst behind our project was a conference on best practices for youth violence reporting, organized by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and convened at WHYY in Philadelphia in 2011. In addition, the core staff of the Gun Crisis Reporting Project is made up of four award-winning journalists with more than 50 combined years of reporting experience in Philadelphia. We are further informed by our daily reporting process, meeting residents at crime scenes, participating in community events, reading about criminology, walking the streets with public health practitioners, meeting political leaders, scouring the media — and more. Shell casings litter the scene as police investigate a fatal shooting last month in North Philadelphia. Photographs for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project by Joseph Kaczmarek. Innovation: We combine the best practices in peace journalism, trauma-informed journalism and social media journalism to create a solutions-driven approach to gun violence reporting. Rather than simply reporting on each incident without context, we focus on the roots of violence, the chronology of the conflict, the path to peace and possibilities for community engagement. Instead of simply telling stories, we strive to maintain open conversations across social media and help people in our community tell their own stories. Employing digital technologies, we are building a network for peace as well as a body of knowledge. Our first 1,000 blog posts covered 252 crime scenes, included 184 community reports and 101 reports on solutions. More than 92,000 site visitors have consumed almost 600,000 pages — and our social media community numbers in the thousands. We lead discussions on gun violence solutions at Philadelphia City Council, Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania and more. Our work has been featured by local, national and international media and earned numerous journalism awards. Most importantly, year-to-date homicides are down by 40 percent in Philadelphia. We hope we made a difference. Loved ones came together last month to remember a young couple shot to death last year in Olney. Photographs for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project by Joseph Kaczmarek. Next year: We won’t celebrate before we can point to sustained reductions in gun violence, but we continue to quantify our impact step-by-step. Attention is currency in digital media, and we are working to continue growing our online audience exponentially — to increase awareness of the epidemic of gun violence and to support and illuminate programs and organizations demonstrating success. We hope to organize and participate in more public events and bring our communities together with elected officials. We hope to see informed civic engagement eventually lead to changes in funding, policy and practice that will contain and eliminate this epidemic. Funding: The Gun Crisis Reporting Project is a member of the New Beginnings Nonprofit Incubator at Resources for Human Development, Inc. (RHD). While RHD has provided very generous administrative, development and other professional support, the Gun Crisis Reporting Project receives no direct funding for news gathering operations. To date, all professional services have been provided free of charge by our volunteer staff of award-winning journalists, most of whom have incurred enormous direct and indirect costs. Recently, we enabled crowd-funding tools on our site and we have been humbled by the generosity of a small number of supporters, but those contributions have not come close to meeting our costs. We also have high hopes for a couple of small grants in the coming months. Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges have provided us with interns at their expense, and a Swarthmore class helped with strategic planning. (Come back to hear more about our 2013 interns and summer staff in the near future.) Next, we have several grant applications in the works, as well as plans for more aggressive crowd-funding, and we are presently developing a strategic plan for economic sustainability. Bottom line: We need your help. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to support the Gun Crisis Reporting Project right now. Help us lead the way to ending gun violence.   Thank you for your attention and concern for this critical issue. It doesn’t have to be this way, it won’t go on forever — and the harder we work, the sooner we will see the the end of  this epidemic. Send to Kindle Related posts: New honors mark first anniversary for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project NBC10 checks in on the Gun Crisis Reporting Project One year later: On the street with the Gun Crisis Reporting Project

Photojournalism honors continue for Kaczmarek, Gun Crisis team Posted: 13 Jun 2013 02:37 PM PDT Police come to the aid of a woman who was shot in North Philadlephia in April. This photograph byJoseph Kaczmarek of the Gun Crisis Reporting Project is among those honored in 2013 by the National Press Photographers Association. At the Gun Crisis Reporting Project, we strive to illuminate the epidemic of gun violence, examine the groups and individuals working to find solutions and facilitate a conversation to reduce violence. In the first step, we employ photojournalism as a tool to take you there, to see what we see everyday — and what too many of our fellow Philadelphians live with day after day, and year after year. For work done so far in 2013, the National Press Photographers Association has recognized the Gun Crisis Reporting Project every month, with more combined spot news photography honors than every other news organization in our region, which includes six states and Washington, DC. Joe Kaczmarek holds six of the 2013 awards, beginning with his coverage of a shooting just a few hours into the new year. We won’t celebrate before we can point to a sustained reduction in gun violence, but we strive to honor every victim through our work, believe that these accolades amplify our call to action, and plan to continue until we can bring about change. Slideshow: Gun Crisis photojournalism honored in 2013: 50847_SPN_313052_519504_684_c14f 50847_SPN_316197_524375_684_6bec 50847_SPN_310197_514860_684_6693 51155_SPN_313213_519758_684_8ba6 50847_SPN_307922_511439_684_1310 50847_SPN_310195_514858_684_1178 Veronica Jackson is overcome with grief at the scene after her brother Gregory Scott was shot and killed in front of his West Philadelphia home in February. Joseph Kaczmarekcovered the scene for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project. NPPA 2013 awards to date: April, 1st Place, Joseph Kaczmarek April, 2nd Place, Kaczmarek March, 1st Place, Kaczmarek March, 2nd Place, Tom Kelly IV February, 2nd Place, Kaczmarek February, 3rd Place, Kaczmarek January, 3rd Place, Kaczmarek Send to Kindle Related posts: New honors follow the Gun Crisis reporting team More reporting honors follow the #GunCrisis team New honors mark first anniversary for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project

Gunfire kills one man and wounds a second early Thursday Posted: 13 Jun 2013 01:18 PM PDT A 27-year-old man was found shot to death near Roosevelt Boulevard and North Broad Street in Philadelphia’s Hunting Park section at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the victim was shot in the head and has yet to be identified. Another man was reported in stable condition at Einstein Medical Center after he was shot overnight on Ogontz Avenue near Limekiln Pike, in the Ogontz section of the city. Early Thursday morning, a 28-year-old man was shot on South 55th Street in Southwest Philadelphia. He was reported in stable condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Gunshot victim reports have dropped significantly this week after 40 victims were reported across Philadelphia through the first ten days of June. Updated map: Philadelphia shooting victim reports for June, 2013 If you want to get involved in gun violence reduction in Philadelphia, please consider volunteering your time or making a donation to one of the organizations listed under our Network tab at the top of this site. If you would like us to add your group to our list, please email us at info@guncrisis.org. The Gun Crisis Reporting Project is an award-winning, independent, nonprofit journalism community striving to illuminate the epidemic of homicide by gunfire in Philadelphia — and to find solutions.