South, West Side Teens Pitch Social Media Campaigns To Stop Gun Violence: ‘It’s Not OK’

DOWNTOWN — While young concertgoers streamed into Lollapalooza on Thursday, another group of nearly 50 teens from the South and West sides gathered Downtown to pitch ideas for anti-gun violence social media campaigns.

Project Unloaded, a Chicago nonprofit that works to prevent gun violence through education and cultural campaigns, held its fourth annual summer program, Social Media for Safer Communities, with local ad agency Havas in the Loop this week. The pitch session capped a six-week summer youth employment program where students learned about gun violence and put together a social media campaign with input from Havas mentors. 

Gun violence has affected many of the students, including Kingston Tate, a 10th-grader at Butler College Preparatory High School whose father was killed in a 2022 shooting. Though Tate said he was initially closed off after he lost his father, he learned that if he opened up to others about his experiences, he could enlighten his community and fight against gun culture.

“It’s the reason why I got into gun violence prevention — because I don’t want people to have to deal with the same experiences as me,” Tate said. “I want them to have the freedom of going out and making sure they’re not at the wrong place at the wrong time, and just being able to have a safer community for everyone.”

Gun violence disproportionately affects the South and West sides, with young, Black males often representing the largest percentage of victims. In their presentations, students also warned against participating in “teen takeovers,” which have sometimes resulted in shootings and arrests. 

“I personally went to a couple teen takeovers, and it wasn’t good. I went there to have a good time, have a party with my friends, turn up, and almost every time it ends by somebody shooting somebody,” said Aria Hardy, a freshman at Malcolm X College, who participated in this year’s session. “I watched people get [taken] to the ambulance across from me with wounds on their neck. It’s just crazy, it’s not OK. People just want to go outside to have fun, and it’s always somebody outside ruining it.”

During Thursday’s presentations, students from Breakthrough Urban Ministries, St. Sabina Church and Lifeline to Hope pitched ideas for vertical videos, Instagram carousels and partnerships with influencers that would educate young people and encourage them to reject gun violence.

Four judges — including Emmanuel Andre, the deputy mayor for community safety — evaluated the pitches and awarded the winning team with the chance to work on Project Unloaded’s social media campaigns. Last year’s winning campaign, “Goofies Got Guns,” reached 250,000 teens in Chicago communities, according to Project Unloaded.

This year’s winning campaign, T.R.A.P. or Teens’ Risk Around (Gun) Presence, urged teens to break away from the trap of gun violence.

The students used bold visuals in their Instagram carousel, such as red, spray-painted text saying, “7X more likely to get shot by a partner if a gun is in the house.”

In addition to their short videos, the students proposed branded merchandise. Luis Delgado, a senior at North Side College Prep and a member of Cook County Latino Dems, proposed partnering with influencers and local politicians such as alderpeople.

“We wanted to make a campaign that was both relatable to teenagers but made an impact in person and online,” Delgado said.

Several other groups capitalized on TikTok trends and popular reality TV show “Love Island” in their pitches. Cherie Animashaun, founder of Her Rising Initiative and Project Unloaded Youth Council alumna, served as a judge this year and said those cultural touchstones resonate with today’s teens.

“Something I love about them is that it was so authentic. Their campaigns are something that would actually move 10-year-old me, 14-year-old me, 16-year-old me,” she said. “It goes back to cultural relevance.”