The Pew Charitable Trusts has announced grants totaling $4.25 million in support of efforts to close opportunity gaps for and address the growing impact of violence on Philadelphia residents.

The funding includes a Pew Fund for Health and Human Services growth grant of $3.5 million over five years to University City District’s West Philadelphia Skills Initiative to expand its workforce training program to new neighborhoods and employment sectors. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Violence Intervention Program, Drexel University’s Healing Hurt People program, and Temple University Hospital’s Trauma Victim Support Advocates program will receive Pew Fund venture grants of $250,000 each over two years in support of their violence intervention programs while increasing coordination and opportunities to share practices among providers and with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

According to Pew, gun violence survivors and their families, particularly those with limited financial resources, often face significant barriers to accessing treatments and supports necessary for a full social, emotional, and psychological recovery—including high costs, limited availability, challenges in navigating the healthcare and social services systems, a lack of secure housing, and logistics such as transportation. Hospital-based programs are a promising approach to help violence survivors and their families access the care and services they need—and merit further research to determine their long-term success.

“Our growth grant to University City District recognizes that, as a large city with big opportunities and challenges, we need effective programs like the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative operating on a larger scale,” said Kristin Romens, project director of the Pew Fund for Health and Human Services. “And with our venture grant support to three exceptional hospital-based violence intervention programs, we hope to see further evidence that these programs not only help victims recover physically and emotionally from the trauma of violence but also have long-term, positive impacts on the overall well-being of individuals and families.”

(Photo credit: Ben Bowens/University City District)