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Minnesota Now with Nina Moini
Cathy Wurzer and Alex Cheng

How a health equity activist is fighting gun violence against women

A woman speaks.
Pastor Jalilia Abdul-Brown was motivated when her sister Haneefah King was hit by random gunfire in 2016 to establish Change Starts With Community, an organization for violence prevention and to assist girls and women who have experienced violence and trauma. "Victims need financial help. Mental help. Help with their kids," says Abdul-Brown. "Violence can be cured. You are not what happened to you."
Judy Griesedieck for MPR News

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As 2021 came to a close, shootings in Minneapolis were up by every measurement, and the city came close to breaking the homicide record set in 1995. But the homicide rate is only part of the gun violence story.

According to figures from the Minneapolis Police Department, last year police and paramedics responded to nearly 500 shootings, and more than 600 people were treated for gunshot wounds in Minneapolis hospitals.

One of the groups that’s been increasingly affected by gun violence over the past few years? Women. MPR News reporter Nina Moini is covering the situation, and we shared her story that aired Friday on All Things Considered.

Then, host Cathy Wurzer talked with Pastor Jalilia Abdul-Brown, who is helping other women heal both physically and psychologically from gun violence.

Abdul-Brown and her sister, Haneefah King, spoke to Moini for her story. King was shot in 2016 while walking to her mother’s home, and she suffered physically, psychologically, socially and financially.

The incident led Abdul-Brown to found the nonprofit Change Starts With Community, which runs programs centered on women and gun violence. Abdul-Brown also works as a violence prevention specialist and case manager for Hennepin Healthcare’s Next Step program. In 2021, she was named a Health Care Hero by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal and a Hometown Hero by the Minnesota Vikings.

Abdul-Brown told Wurzer about her own experiences with gun violence, the impacts of gun violence on women, the factors driving the cycle violence in the Twin Cities, and how violence prevention can serve as a solution.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Women and girls seeking community resources, violence and trauma support, and help with preventing violence can call the Change Starts With Community hotline at 651-440-8113. In an emergency, call 911.