As gun violence in the city remained at record high levels last year for the third consecutive year, several local non-profit organizations have been awarded more than $9.5 million in state funding to help develop or sustain violence intervention and prevention programs. Among them are Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and YEAH Philly. The announcement was made by State Rep. Rick Krajewski’s office on January 19.

Here’s the full list of the grant recipient organizations and some details on their violence prevention/intervention programs.

• Anti-Drug & Alcohol Crusaders Inc. was awarded $169,000 to provide evidence-based violence prevention education and positive alternative activities for students participating in their Safe Haven Out-of-School Time (OST) program located at Hardy Williams Elementary Mastery Charter School. The school is located in Southwest Philadelphia where violence/gun violence has increased. Funds will support salaries and benefits for personnel; program curricula, supplies, and materials; training on the evidence-based curricula; incentives and alternative activities such as dance, music, art therapy, drama, martial arts, and sports; field trips; celebrations; and indirect/administrative costs.

• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was awarded $1.93 million to continue the hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP). CHOP provides trauma-informed intensive case management for youth in the community, trauma-focused mental health therapy, and BRAVE (Building Resilience after Violent Experiences), a peer-led psycho-educational group. Grant funds will be used to support personnel required to perform direct case management, provide comprehensive mental health services, perform appropriate supervision of frontline staff, and collect/ review data for reporting and evaluation purposes. Grant funding will also allow CHOP to continue to take referrals for youth and families impacted by violence and trauma by the CHOP primary care network and provide a continuum of services (e.g., intensive case management, trauma therapy, psychiatry).

• Drexel University was awarded $1.2 million to engage youth who experience trauma into behavioral health services by enhancing/diversifying its outreach/engagement strategies. Grant funds will expand the Community Outreach Team (COT) pilot program to more community partners, such as New Foundations Charter School, Mural Arts Restorative Justice Program, Youth Sentencing and Reentry Program, Esperanza, CBC Ministries, Mount Vernon Manor Community Development Corporation, and more. COT programming will provide a presence at each site to facilitate relationship building and facilitate warm hand-offs from program staff.

University of Pennsylvania – Center on Treatment & Study of Anxiety was awarded $1.52 million to expand the scope and reach of the Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy Initiative, a program that supports the implementation of Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy for PTSD in community mental health centers in Philadelphia, by creating the Philadelphia Prolonged Exposure to Address Community Violence (PEACE) Project, which will be a coalition of 60 providers who are trained to respond to the mental health needs of individuals who experience community violence.

University of Pennsylvania – Injury Science Center was awarded $2.33 million to to expand and enhance the School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) Safe Path to School program . The program will expand to 6-8 schools and have enhanced features such as training, access to referral programs, and regular meetings with local violence intervention programs.

University of Pennsylvania – Penn Trauma was awarded $1.91 million to support the expansion of the Violence Recovery Program. The Penn Trauma Violence Recovery Program (PTVRP) provides individualized psychosocial support, goal setting, and service connection to Philadelphia residents treated for violent injury at Penn Trauma to promote holistic recovery and prevent recurrent violent injury.

YEAH Philly was awarded $500,000 to expand the Violent Crime Initiative that provides holistic and culturally relevant support and case management services to young people ages 15 to 24 who have violence charges against them in the juvenile or adult legal system. The young people in this initiative are often not eligible for diversion programs based on their offense not being a ‘low level crime’.