The Campus Alliance to Prevent Gun Violence is one of the David Bohnett Foundation's many success stories. A key to the success of the Campus Alliance to End Gun Violence has been the Campus Alliance's ability to remain flexible in how they achieved their goals without loosing site of their organization's mission. When first approached by the Campus Alliance to End Gun Violence, a youthful organization with laudable and lofty goals, the David Bohnett Foundation was asked to support their efforts toward establishing an independent office for the Campus Alliance in Washington D.C. However, after discussing possible funding options with the staff of the Bohnett Foundation it became clear that the goals of the Campus Alliance were closely aligned with those of The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence (CPHV), a larger and more established agency that is also based in Washington D.C.

Through conversations with Bohnett Foundation staff, Campus Alliance was able to identify common interests with CPHV and form a synergistic relationship with them. The staff of the David Bohnett Foundation is pleased to have played a role in establishing the connection between these like-minded organizations. And the Bohnett Foundation remains a strong supporter of both organizations as well as their ongoing relationship — a relationship that we feel helps advance both organizations in their missions. In the fall of 2000, CPHV agreed to host the Campus Alliance and provide them with office space, access equipment and technology, and invaluable mentoring resources. The Campus Alliance's openness to this arrangement laid the foundation for their ongoing success story and has allowed them to reallocate foundation grant funds away from “overhead expenses” toward more direct services and training. With the support of the CPHV and the David Bohnett Foundation, the Campus Alliance has been able to advance their work with campus-based student activists and local grass roots organizations to curb gun violence in their local communities.

The David Bohnett Foundation is pleased to acknowledge the Campus Alliance for their successful efforts to bring together civic-minded college students. The Campus Alliance has been tremendously successful in connecting and informing students across the nation through a broad-based “in-house” summer intensive and an ongoing “distance learning” Internet training initiative. Through their efforts, Campus Alliance is teaching college students to be stronger and successful activists around the issue of gun control in their campus and local communities.

The Campus Alliance's efforts were aided by a Bohnett Foundation grant that funded two David Bohnett Interns, both of whom have subsequently played instrumental roles in charting the course of the Campus Alliance. Through their own activism, their work on developing the Campus Alliance's web site, and their participation in training other campus leaders, the David Bohnett Interns at the Campus Alliance made significant strides towards realizing the goals of the Bohnett Foundation grant and the Campus Alliance as a whole.

This summer (2000) Campus Alliance's summer interns, Chris Pelham and Shelby Meyerhoff, worked closely with the CPHV to promote and conduct the Alliance's touchstone event, Activism 101. Activism 101 is a day-long training for students that equips them with both a working knowledge of gun issues and the necessary campus organizing skills to end gun violence in their local and campus communities. Through their “train the trainer” model, and the development of their online resources (www.caegv.org), Campus Alliance has been able to reach an ever-expanding audience of college students, a group of people who will no doubt influence the future of gun control in this country.

The staff of the David Bohnett Foundation considers the Campus Alliance to End Gun Violence to be one of our many success stories. We feel one of the reasons that Campus Alliance was able to make such significant strides so early on, and with a relatively small budget, was their willingness to partner with and be mentored by CPHV as they worked toward their common goal of ending gun violence. The staff at the David Bohnett Foundation is pleased to have played an active role in the development of this young and influential organization. We commend their efforts, are pleased to have had the opportunity to be a part of their success, and wish them continued prosperity in their future endeavors. To learn more about the Campus Alliance to End Gun Violence and to follow their successes, you can visit their virtual activist's classroom online at http://www.bradycenter.org.