Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland Department of Health announced $1.36 million in grants to 17 organizations statewide aimed at preventing and reducing gun violence, with the St. Mary’s County Health Department the only Southern Maryland recipient named so far.
The awards come through the state’s Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention, which funds community groups, local health departments and law enforcement agencies working on prevention efforts, firearm safety education, victim services and suicide-prevention awareness tied to firearms. Funded projects will focus on educating the public about safe firearm storage — including distributing gun locks to help prevent suicides and accidental shootings — expanding behavioral health support for gun violence victims, and strengthening the firearm surrender process tied to domestic violence protective orders.
Other named local health department recipients in this round include Baltimore City, and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Queen Anne’s and Wicomico counties. Statewide nonprofit and institutional grantees include the Battered Women’s Justice Project, Center for Hope, the Islamic Leadership Institute of America, the Maryland Crime Victim Resource Center, Living Classrooms Foundation, UM Capital Region Medical Center, and the Caroline County and Baltimore City sheriff’s offices. The Maryland Department of Health has not published individual award amounts for each grantee.
“My number one priority is the safety of all Marylanders, so we are committed to making investments in our community partners doing the necessary work to protect our communities from the gun violence epidemic,” Moore said. “By committing to an all-of-the-above approach to public safety and tackling gun violence head on, our administration is getting tough on crime and the root causes of crime, driving historic drops in violence and creating a model for the rest of America.”
Maryland Health Secretary Dr. Meena Seshamani called gun violence “a public health epidemic,” saying the grants “support partners in communities across the state to provide education, resources and support with the common goal of keeping Marylanders safe.”
The St. Mary’s County Health Department has built a track record with this state funding stream. The department previously received a grant to expand its violence prevention program in 2023, and its gun safety awareness campaign, produced with Full Sail Media, won a national Davey Award for its public messaging. The county’s Sheriff’s Office has also distributed free firearm safety kits as part of related local safe-storage efforts.
Neither Calvert nor Charles County was named among the 17 grantees identified in this round.
The Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention was established in 2024 under the Moore-Miller administration. In its first two years, the center awarded $1.71 million to local health departments, nonprofits and health care organizations for similar gun violence intervention, safe-storage and domestic-violence-victim protection work.
A full list of grantees is available on the center’s webpage.
