In June, The Community Foundation shared our continued commitment to building an ecosystem for community safety in the District of Columbia through ongoing investments in youth violence prevention and new strategic partnerships to develop long-term strategies for community safety.
As part of that commitment, we’re excited to introduce our new Senior Fellow of Community Safety & Harm Reduction, Kirby Gaherty, an experienced convener in the realm of community safety who will be spearheading The Community Foundation’s efforts around this important initiative. In this post, Kirby shares her insights and perspectives on how philanthropy can help build a stronger and safer community.
Q: Welcome to The Community Foundation, Kirby! We’re so excited to have you on the team. Can you share with us a bit about your background? Where are you coming from and what inspired you to join The Community Foundation?
Thank you, I am excited to join the team at The Community Foundation. While I am originally from Massachusetts (Go Celtics!), for over fifteen years, I have been working in the safety and justice space in a variety of capacities and in both local and national contexts. Most recently, I led the Justice Initiatives team at the National League of Cities, where I was lucky enough to work with city leaders from across the country in their efforts to reduce jail populations, interrupt violence, and reimagine community safety. Additionally, I built an incredible network of truly remarkable people doing the hard work to create safe communities nationwide.
Prior to that, I was involved in local efforts in both Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ in the reentry and young adult justice space. As a part of the team leading the reentry efforts under Mayor Michael Nutter, I was able to work alongside returning citizens and community partners to support those returning from jail and prison in their transition home. That work included supporting the replication of a successful AmeriCorps program for young adults (PowerCorpsPHL) in the City of Camden, NJ.
After spending almost five years working on national issues, I’m excited to dig deeper into the community safety space here in DC. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to accelerate the efforts in Washington, DC to build a collaborative table through the philanthropic lens. The Greater Washington Community Foundation’s commitment to a safer DC is inspiring and I’m excited for the challenge and opportunity ahead.
Q: What does it mean to you to reimagine community safety? What does a community-centered approach to safety look like?
In reimagining community safety and centering people -- particularly those most impacted by systemic harm and violence- we have an opportunity to create what Cities United calls ‘Safe, Healthy & Hopeful’ communities.
Traditionally, when we talk about safety and justice – nationally – the conversation focuses on policing, courts, and carceral systems. However, these narratives often overlook decades of work by Black and Brown community leaders – Black women in particular-- who have tirelessly been advancing community safety solutions without proper investment or support. The impact of the work of these incredible leaders is immeasurable and too often understated, under resourced, and undervalued.
However, over the last several years, increased awareness, investment, and support of alternatives to traditional safety efforts has allowed for a reimagined vision of the safety ecosystem to emerge – one that is truly community-led and community-focused—and emphasizes appropriate response models and community violence intervention initiatives. This approach is imperative to reimagining safety and building effective city safety ecosystems-- a collective effort to build, support, and sustain relationship-based prevention and intervention models that is led by trusted and credible professionals from the communities that they serve. This recent realization of the longstanding work of community leaders is promising as we look to the future of safety and justice.
Q: How does racial justice factor into a community-centered approach to community safety? How can a more conscientious approach address past obstacles/barriers, while capitalizing on future opportunities for growth?
Racial justice factors into just about everything. In this case, areas where gun violence is more prevalent, are also often areas of historical and systemic divestment, increased police violence, mass incarceration, and redlining. These areas are also disproportionately communities of color. As I mentioned, leaders in these communities have been working tirelessly to address safety in their neighborhoods, but with little support. By adopting a more community-centered approach to safety, the voices and work of these leaders becomes integral to a city’s approach.
Amplification of community-based prevention and intervention efforts is an important step towards a more equitable system of safety. The pervasive distrust of government – formed after years of ongoing harm and trauma -- requires repair and recovery to heal. As we collectively pursue an opportunity for forward movement, it is important to do so intentionally and with great care so we can right past wrongs and build a stronger, more racially equitable community.
Q: In your opinion/experience, what role can philanthropic organizations play in this work? How can this role be more effective and community-centered?
Philanthropy often steps in to support where public dollars fall short. Through investments in research, violence prevention, and more recently, violence intervention, philanthropy has provided the opportunity for community-based safety work to both exist and expand
That being said, the movement toward community safety requires buy-in and support from everyone. If philanthropy in the DC region comes together around a strategy that lives beyond political administrations and creates safer spaces for people to thrive, it will not only be more community centered, but also more sustainable and more effective in the long run.
Q: You’ve spent a lot of your career focusing on returning citizens and engaging justice-impacted young adults. Why do you feel it’s important that community safety initiatives make a concerted effort to invest in and empower these groups?
A big part of embracing new visions of safety requires the ability to know when to listen and uplift others as opposed to leading with your own voice and ideas.
Traditionally, we consider ‘expertise’ as something built by education or professional experiences. While that type of expertise is important, the real subject matter experts on safety and gun violence, are the people that have been directly impacted.
There is no way to advance safety without youth, young adults, returning citizens, and directly impacted people at the table. They need to be leading and driving the work to reimagine community safety. Investing in and empowering these leaders has the ability to shape a more inclusive and impactful ecosystem of safety.
Q: What excites you about the future of this work? What are you most looking forward to?
I am excited to be working on an initiative that is focused on the city I live in. Since moving to DC in 2019, I have wanted to be part of something that impacts my neighbors and community directly. I know that there are incredible local leaders that tirelessly work to reduce violence and uplift community that I cannot wait to see flourish with adequate support and investment.
Like many cities, DC has a very small percentage of people driving most of the gun violence. But, the impacts and trauma are felt by entire communities. By bringing together leaders from philanthropy, nonprofits, communities, businesses and city entities, we have an opportunity to impact the lives of those most likely to be on either side of a gun and beyond that, the entire city - and that gives me hope for community safety and harm reduction in the region.
