Cory Long was once a troubled youth who faced inner-city struggles on the streets of Chester. But after having enough of seeing his community suffer, he founded the Making a Change Group, which runs a local gun violence intervention program.1
At this weekend’s Wear Orange event in Chester – one of almost a dozen we organized or participated in across PA to honor gun violence survivors and rally to action – Cory solemnly noted that the march took place in the very spot where he witnessed his best friend get fatally shot years ago. But this weekend, things had changed. Now, Cory was buoyed by a sense of hope and resilience as he stood next to a young man whom he’s now mentoring to avoid a life of violence (pictured in center below).
Programs like this are shown to work at stopping cycles of violence and preventing shootings2 – but only if they have the necessary funding. You have a chance to help make sure that happens. Contact your legislators today to ensure the funding Governor Shapiro proposed3 for community-based violence prevention and intervention is passed in the PA budget.
This past weekend, on the steps of courthouses in West Chester and Norristown, in a Philadelphia schoolyard and a Pittsburgh park, and in the streets of the City of Chester, hundreds of us wore orange to kick off National Gun Violence Awareness Month – because our communities have borne far too much trauma.
That’s why it’s critical that the General Assembly passes the state budget with at least $105 million in funding for these evidence-based programs. They work by interrupting the cycle of violence, focusing on trauma-informed care, and taking a public health approach to gun safety. Our communities are worth this investment.
