Traci Manza Murphy has dedicated her career to the safety and well-being of children in Delaware and beyond
By Mary Ellen Mitchell
Traci Manza Murphy ascribes to a philosophy acquired from bestselling author and activist Glennon Doyle: “There’s no such thing as other peoples’ children.”
“When my kids were little, I’d tell them, ‘If ever you can’t find me, look for a mommy. A mommy will help you,’” Murphy recalls.
Her willingness to look out for other peoples’ kids has been a guiding force throughout her career.
As a student at University of Delaware (UD), she was on the staff at The Review and later worked at UD in annual giving, raising money for scholarships, campus improvements, athletic programs and resources for other students.
After graduating from UD as an English major with a journalism concentration, Murphy went on to serve as director of membership at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, managing fund development and member marketing and communications for more than a decade.
She and her husband Colin Murphy, who works in digital marketing for JPMorgan Chase, have raised three children in the Wilmington area: a daughter, Mallory, now a freshman in college, and twin sons, Brian and Finn, currently in high school.
“I worked at Winterthur at an interesting time, when marketing platforms were transitioning from print to digital,” Murphy says. It was during this transition that she met Patrick Callahan, whose internet marketing agency, The Archer Group, was hired to assist with implementation.
Murphy and Callahan became fast friends. Through a mutual interest in parenting youngsters, they collaborated in 2008 to cofound The Brandywine Buzz, an innovative online platform featuring a parenting blog, social media presence and weekly email newsletter highlighting Brandywine Valley happenings for children.
“I believed there was a need for a targeted, timely approach to presenting kid-friendly activities and events, but I wasn’t a writer,” Callahan says. “Traci took my idea and brought it to life with her writing skills — creating content that was relevant, witty and fun to read.”
Murphy also took on a two-year consultancy for Delaware Children’s Museum (DCM) in 2008, collaborating with a diverse team to write grant and funding appeals, create a donor recognition and membership program, and launch DCM.
Volunteering for the PTO at her children’s elementary school led to one of Murphy’s proudest accomplishments: “Our small group of moms, many of whom held demanding full-time jobs, was able to raise tens of thousands of dollars a year for the school and push referenda over the line,” she says.
A Pivotal Day
“On the afternoon of Dec. 12th, 2012, I went to pick up my daughter at the bus stop,” Murphy says. “When she stepped off, I asked how her day was, and she replied, ‘Boring.’” The contrast was stark: “My daughter had a ‘boring’ day, while 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary weren’t so lucky,” she says.
“The fact children could be shot in their classroom was, and always will be, intolerable to me,” Murphy says. Within a few months of that unforgettable day, she co-founded the Delaware chapter of Moms Demand Action, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about how our state responds to gun violence.
Through this impassioned advocacy work, Murphy grew familiar and joined forces with Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence Education Fund (DECAGV), formed in 2013 by volunteers who were equally as outraged and motivated by the Sandy Hook tragedy. Soon DECAGV registered as a non-profit, and she became its first executive director in 2016.
Although Murphy cherished the experience of writing for The Brandywine Buzz, she decided to move on in 2023 to devote more time and energy to DECAGV. Callahan’s family (wife, Jennifer, and kids Maddie and Connor) picked up where Murphy left off, and today the platform has more than 5000 subscribers.
Stronger Together
Since inception, DECAGV has been operating as two organizations: The legislative team enacts, protects, and implements gun safety laws in Delaware, while the education team provides gun violence prevention education and partners with local and national alliances. In 2023, to clarify the two separate and distinct missions, Murphy and her associates rebranded the education organization as Coalition for a Safer Delaware (CSD), while DECAGV became the legislative organization, with Murphy continuing to serve as executive director of both.
Murphy and her CSD team have engaged partners from across multiple disciplines, including all types of anti-violence activism, education, government and healthcare.
Last November, Murphy convened The CSD Fall Forum, which was hosted by ChristianaCare and sponsored by Delaware Children’s Department (Department of Services for Children, Youth & Their Families), Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords, Gun Violence Prevention and Advocacy, Nemours and Wilmington City Council.
With more than 450 attendees, the forum provided thought leadership from Johns Hopkins and Rutgers universities. Local and national public health experts shared the latest research and success stories and led discussions on best practices for gun violence prevention.
The event also received support from Delaware Racial Justice Collaborative, Wilmington Community Advisory Council and United Way of Delaware.
“Having diverse voices coalesce around shared goals is powerful,” says attendee Lauren Footman, executive director of End Community Violence Now, an organization focused on addressing community violence in Delaware.
“Traci has been able to develop relationships that speak to her strategic ability,” Footman says. “She can set the table and bring people together to create prevention programs and achieve historic policy change — 23 laws have been passed in just eight years as a result of her tenacity.”
As a gun violence expert, Murphy has served as guest speaker at local and national conferences, authored research papers and written opinion pieces for news outlets. She has testified at legislative hearings and worked with state government leaders to enact gun safety laws with bipartisan approval.
“Preventing gun violence isn’t a left or right issue,” Murphy says. “It’s a life-or-death issue.”
Last summer, DECAGV hired its first intern, UD senior Jeet Heslin, a political science and global politics major and journalism minor, who is also interning for Delaware Department of State. Heslin was interested in working for DECAGV because gun violence has affected him personally.
According to Heslin, “Traci is a mom first and foremost, and it shows in her unyielding determination to make our state a safer place for children.”
Family, Friends & The Future
Like all moms, Murphy’s kids keep her busy, but she believes in taking time to rest and recharge. She enjoys going out for happy hour or a meal with friends, taking weekend trips with her former college roommates, getting lost in a good read, playing tennis and relaxing at the Delaware beaches with her husband.
Local mom Kira McDonnell recalls when she first encountered Murphy in the parking lot of their childrens’ preschool. “Whenever it rained, we’d make eye contact, which was akin to a silent agreement to watch each other’s older children as we alternated walking our younger ones into the building while holding an umbrella, among other things.”
Later the two recognized each other at the grand opening gala of Delaware Children’s Museum, where they finally conversed and got to know each other.
“A few months later, Traci invited me for coffee, except that it turned out to be a fundraiser,” McDonnell chuckles. “I had to admire her strategy though — we’ve been friends since.
“The passion Traci brings to her advocacy work represents who she is as a person. She’s altruistically driven to make our community stronger and safer.”
Murphy’s term as a board member of the child and family advocacy organization Kids Count in Delaware will soon expire, but she’s looking forward to serving on the board of Delaware Theatre Company.
“I believe in the transformative power of our vibrant arts community,” she says.
Regarding her future plans, Murphy says she’ll continue advocating for gun safety, “until Delaware becomes the safest state in the nation.”
Above: Traci Manza Murphy at Brandywine Springs Elementary, a school her children attended and where she volunteered for many years. Photo by Justin Heyes.