SAVIR in February: Building Communication Skills and Advancing Firearm Violence Prevention

February was a busy and rewarding month for SAVIR, with our team out in the field doing what we do best — building capacity, strengthening partnerships, and advancing the science of injury and violence prevention.

Wrapping Up Communications Workshops in Philadelphia

Executive Director Christen Rexing completed a series of communications workshops for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health Community Violence Interruption (CVI) Coalition. Spanning three sessions between October 2025 and February 2026, the workshops brought together a team of dedicated CVI partners to craft elevator pitches and practice storytelling — equipping participants with the skills to communicate the effectiveness of their programs across a range of audiences.

The final session was co-led with Jalil Meekins, Outreach Program Administrator for Philly Pushing Progress (P3), making it a true collaborative effort rooted in community partnership. These sessions were a meaningful opportunity to invest in the communication skills of workers doing critical violence prevention work on the ground every day.

SAVIR is proud to support this kind of capacity building, and we welcome opportunities to partner with other organizations and coalitions in similar ways. If you’re interested in working with us, we’d love to hear from you.

Joining the Community Firearm Violence Prevention Network

Also in February, Christen joined the Community Firearm Violence Prevention Network for their annual meeting, where she contributed to discussions on communication and dissemination strategies for research outcomes.

The network is a National Institutes of Health-supported community-academic research collaboration dedicated to preventing firearm injury across the United States. Its work focuses on developing, implementing, and rigorously evaluating innovative community- and hospital-based interventions. The network is managed by Drs. Patrick Carter and Marc Zimmerman at the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention — one of SAVIR’s member centers — and includes researchers and community partners from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Texas Health Sciences Center-Houston, George Washington University, University of Chicago, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

To learn more about the network and its work, visit endfirearmviolence.org.