Teens from the South and West Sides Pitch Ideas to Peers and a Panel of Judges with the Goal of Inspiring Young People to Decide Against Owning and Using Guns
CHICAGO – Nearly 50 teens from Chicago’s South and West Sides pitched anti-gun violence social media campaigns to influential Chicagoans and their peers on Thursday, with the winning campaign to be seen by hundreds of thousands of young people in Chicago and beyond. The event caps Project Unloaded’s fourth annual summer program, “Social Media for Safer Communities.”
During the six-week summer youth employment program, students worked in teams to learn the facts about why they’re safer without a gun and, with mentorship with creatives from Project Unloaded and feedback sessions with mentors from the ad agency Havas Chicago, they created their own social media campaigns to send the message to their peers that guns are the problem – not the solution – to gun violence in Chicago. Three partner sites hosted the teens: Lifeline to Hope, Breakthrough Urban Ministries (with support from After School Matters) and The Ark of St. Sabina.
The winning campaign, T.R.A.P., urged teens not to fall for the trap of believing that they’d be safer with a gun while highlighting statistics to demonstrate the risks posed by carrying and owning a gun. Several campaign pitches leveraged teens’ love of the reality show Love Island to talk about why young people are safer unarmed. Another group focused on the dangers of so-called “Teen Takeovers” and challenged their peers to make safe decisions around these events. The winning campaign, T.R.A.P., will be integrated into an upcoming Project Unloaded campaign reaching hundreds of thousands of young people in Chicago and nationally.
“This competition demonstrates the power of treating teens as the heroes – and not the villains – in the story of gun violence in Chicago,” said Nina Vinik, founder of Project Unloaded. “Teens want to grow up in safe communities. When we share with them the facts on why carrying and owning guns makes them less safe, they grow less interested in future gun ownership and more confident in talking to their peers about the risks of having a gun. Young people have the power to change culture, drive change, and make our communities safer. It’s up to us to listen to them and amplify the great work we saw in our pitch competition today.”
Judges for the pitch competition include Emmanuel Andre, Deputy Mayor for Community Safety, Mary Dixon, host of Say More on WBEZ, former Chicago Public Schools Chief of Safety and Security Jadine Chou and Cherie Animashaun, founder of Her Rising Initiative and Project Unloaded Youth Council alumna.
Teens worked in teams to develop nine distinct and big ideas to engage their peers on the risks of using guns. The teams based at Breakthrough Urban Ministries, St. Sabina Church and Lifeline to Hope spent six weeks researching, scripting and filming content using humor, heart and their lived experience with gun violence to create compelling campaigns. Then they wrote and refined a pitch deck to explain their ideas.
As they learned about gun violence, they also learned from experts in advertising, graphic design, and influencer engagement to understand more about how to build powerful social media campaigns.
“It is inspiring to see youth who are the soul of Chicago participate in this competition, leading the innovation our city needs around ending gun violence,” said Chicago’s Deputy Mayor for Community Safety, Emmanuel Andre. “By taking ownership of the narrative around guns and engaging their peers directly through social media channels, these teens are building and defining the true sense of belonging and community care that will help make Chicago safer.”
This year alone, Project Unloaded will reach more than 12 million teens and young adults (including more than 25% of the 13-17-year-old population in the U.S.) through its social media campaigns. Research demonstrating the effectiveness of these campaigns and strategy is available here.
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