THE ROCKET
FOUNDATION
Est. in 2022 to honor the life and legacy of Kirsnick Khari Ball a.k.a. Takeoff.
Est. in 2022 to honor the life and legacy of Kirsnick Khari Ball a.k.a. Takeoff.
The Rocket Foundation is committed to ending gun violence in America.
We uplift and invest in interventions that effectively reduce community violence so neighborhoods can thrive. Based in Georgia, our work will establish Atlanta as a national model for gun violence reduction that is replicable in other American cities.
We take a multi-faceted approach that spans targeted, evidence-based community violence interventions and powerful community care through:
Building
a platform for influential leaders to fight against daily violence in our cities and neighborhoods.
Investing
in proven community violence interventions and positive alternatives for young people.
Partnering
with high-impact organizations to elevate their message and expand their impact.
Gun violence kills 100+ people every day.
In 2021, more than 47,000 people died from gun violence, 57.5% homicides and 42.5% suicides. Added to that, another 70,000+ people receive ER treatment for gun violence each year, and the problem is only growing.
The burden of gun violence disproportionately falls on people of color, women, and children. Currently, guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens.
Black Americans make up 12.5% of the U.S. population …
…but are the victims in 61% of all gun homicides.
But we are more than our worst statistics.
We can solve the gun violence crisis one city at a time - starting with Atlanta. Here is what we need everyone to know:
Gun violence is not inevitable.
The United States is a global outlier in its prevalence of gun violence. The rate of gun-related homicides in the U.S. is 22x the rate in the European Union.
We can take a targeted approach.
Gun violence is clustered in a small number of neighborhoods. 26% of all gun deaths happen in a set of neighborhoods that together have a population of 4.5M people and would fit inside a 40 mile x 40 mile square.
We know how to mobilize.
The U.S. responds to mass shootings with outpourings of empathy and philanthropy. But these events represent just 0.1% of gun homicides. We need to bring the same attention and activation to daily gun violence in our communities.
In the news
Quavo joined the Community Justice Action Fund in Washington, DC, for a day of advocacy on September 20th, 2023, to raise awareness about community-driven solutions to gun violence. The following day, President Biden announced the establishment of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, led by Vice President Kamala Harris with Greg Jackson from Community Justice as Deputy Director.
Quavo met with Vice President Harris, the Congressional Black Caucus, and joined a panel discussion on gun violence prevention at the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference.
The applications for the 2024 Spark Grants are now open
Application Deadline: April 21st
Join the Movement: Vote & Use Your Voice.
Guns are now the leading cause of death for young people in America.
Make sure you are ready to vote, and use your voice in the ballots.
Text ‘ROCKET’ to 57568 or visit headcount.org/rocket to get registered to vote.
If you are already registered to vote, consider verifying everything is good to go!