Model and Strategy
The purpose of the Community Justice Speakers Bureau is to build a network of grassroots leaders shaping public policy and organizing locally around gun violence prevention. The project aims to close the gap which has left people of color on the outside of gun violence prevention leadership, even as their communities are hardest affected. They will strengthen the organizational capacity and elevate the voices among proven experts working at the intersection of this country’s most critical issues in violence prevention, including mass incarceration, public health, and domestic violence. By fostering community, building internal strength, and uplifting diverse voices, the project will amplify the agents of change calling attention to gun violence as a public health and community crisis. The project will save lives by using a multi-prong policy platform to guide its work, and engaging an intergenerational cohort of leaders who have been directly impacted by gun violence.
Impact
CJRC believes that the gun safety movement must specifically tackle gun violence as it impacts urban communities of color and center the voices of color to reduce such violence. The organization’s theory of change is that these are mutually reinforcing strategies that are both essential to seriously combating our country’s gun violence crisis and saving thousands of lives. To do so, the organization believes that building and supporting a network of dedicated leaders across the country, strengthening their leadership and organizational capacity, and bringing new voices and faces to the current movement are key. And here’s the hard truth: We cannot continue to have a movement that is not led by people who are impacted every day by gun violence. A 2016 survey of the National Gun Violence Prevention Groups Equity and Inclusion Task Force found that 98% of the national gun violence prevention groups were led by people who identified as white, or non-people of color. That same survey found that less than 5% of the groups had programs that were specifically geared towards funding, or programs, for people of color, or survivors of color, who were and are directly impacted by gun violence.
Leadership
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Amber Goodwin
Executive Director
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Jamira Burley
Project Lead