Est. 2018

Youth Over Guns was born in 2018 from a simple act of defiance.

When Parkland brought gun violence into the national spotlight, Black and Brown students who had known this crisis their entire lives saw the moment being shaped without them. Prevention work erased. Policing offered as the only solution. An epidemic rooted in decades of divestment reduced to a talking point.

We pushed back.

What grew from that pushback is a movement rooted in survivor leadership, policy advocacy, and community power.

This is what that work looks like:

BY THE NUMBERS

 
YEARS ORGANIZING
OVER
STUDENTS TRAINED
OVER
PEOPLE MOBILIZED IN THE STREETS
CONTRIBUTED TO
STATE POLICY WINS
EMPOWERED  
FELLOWS THROUGH ATA
OVER
PEOPLE ENGAGED ONLINE
HELPED SECURE OVER
DOLLARS IN PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUNDS FOR COMMUNITY VIOLENCE INTERVENTION

AND WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED

BY THE MOMENTS

TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS

MARCH 14, 2018 | National school walkouts
Black and Brown student leaders who helped organize the walkouts come together with a shared conviction: this movement is leaving our communities out.
APRIL 7, 2018 | Youth Over Guns March formally announced to press at the National Action Network's House of Justice with NAN's support and partnership.
JUNE 2, 2018 | Youth Over Guns March over the Brooklyn Bridge brings together 50,000+ people on National Gun Violence Awareness Day. The march garners national attention. Student organizers become Co-Founders of what will now be an ongoing initiative. 
JUNE 4, 2018 | March for Our Lives kicks off the Road to Change national tour across 24 states and 80+ communities. Youth Over Guns joins the tour while simultaneously running its own 'Freedom Summer' of organizing, workshops, and teach-ins across NYC. 
AUGUST 10, 2018 | Youth Over Guns anchors the Road to Change NYC town hall.
NOVEMBER 26, 2018 | Youth Over Guns enters fiscal sponsorship, becoming a project of a 25-year-old statewide gun violence prevention organization.
JANUARY 2019 | Youth Over Guns launches membership, recruiting 200+ student leaders to build its base.
MARCH 14, 2019 | Youth Over Guns joins GoodKids MadCity's "March 4 Our Lives Too" Campaign, standing in solidarity with Black and Brown youth still being sidelined by the gun violence prevention movement one year after the national walkouts.
APRIL 2019 | Youth Over Guns presents at the National Action Network's National Convention. Co-Founder and Executive Director Luis J. Hernández leads "Gun Talk," a conversation on peace, policy, and protection.
MAY 2019 | Youth Over Guns holds its first Youth Advocacy Day in New York's state capitol, bringing young people directly into the halls of power to advocate for gun violence prevention policy.
JUNE 2019 | Youth Over Guns launches the ProtectBlackTransWomen campaign and helps organize the Queer Liberation March, which draws 25,000+ people into the streets to demand safety and justice for Black transgender women.
NOVEMBER 2019 | Co-Founder and Executive Director Luis Jonathan Hernández is invited to ask the opening question at the 2020 Presidential Gun Safety Forum in Las Vegas, hosted by March for Our Lives, Giffords, and MSNBC, pressing then-candidate Pete Buttigieg on what he would do as president to ensure the safety of marginalized communities on Live Television. 
FEBRUARY 2020 | Youth Over Guns joins NYU's Health and Human Rights Association to present on gun violence as a public health crisis.
MARCH 2020 | Youth Over Guns hosts its second annual statewide Youth Advocacy Day, held remotely due to COVID-19.
APRIL 2020 | Co-Founder and Executive Director Luis Jonathan Hernández is featured in Aeropostale's Oneness campaign for his work at Youth Over Guns.
MAY 2020 | Youth Over Guns launches "Stockpile Compassion Not Guns," an online discussion series breaking through the stigma around mental health and its connection to gun violence.
JUNE 2020 | Youth Over Guns receives its first major investments from KidsRights Foundation and Levi Strauss & Co.
SEPTEMBER 2020 | The Anger to Advocacy Activist Incubator launches.
DECEMBER 2020 | Youth Over Guns begins advising the Biden-Harris White House transition team on critical gun violence prevention policies to advance in their first 100 days in office.
MARCH 2021 | President Biden announces a historic $5 billion investment over eight years in support of community violence intervention programs, a policy Youth Over Guns actively advocated for.
APRIL 7, 2021 | New York becomes the first state in the nation to declare gun violence a public health crisis. A statewide fund to support community violence intervention and hospital-based violence intervention is established, in part due to Youth Over Guns' sustained advocacy.
APRIL 8, 2021 | Youth Over Guns is invited to join President Biden at the White House as he announces his initial executive actions on gun violence, the result of months of advocacy and direct collaboration with his domestic policy team.
MAY 2021 | Youth Over Guns launches the Daring Discussions series in partnership with Us4Us Bay Area, creating space for honest community-centered conversations about gun violence and its root causes.
JUNE 2021 | Youth Over Guns partners with Levi's on Gun Violence Awareness Day for a social media takeover highlighting gun violence's impact on children and teens. The takeover reached over 1 million people online.
JULY 2021 | New York Governor Cuomo declares gun violence a disaster emergency, realizing years of Youth Over Guns advocacy in a 7-point plan addressing the root causes of gun violence and moving a historic $138 million investment into violence prevention.
APRIL 2022 | Youth Over Guns holds its Albany Youth Advocacy Day, focused on fair access to victims compensation for communities impacted by gun violence.
JUNE 3, 2022 | Youth Over Guns collaborates with Seventeen Magazine on Gun Violence Awareness Day. Social media takeover reaches over 500,000 teens with resources on gun violence prevention.
JUNE 4, 2022 | Partnered with Voto Latino and Hispanic Federation on #StandWithUvalde following the devastating massacre in Uvalde, Texas, centering the Latino community in the national response.
JUNE 6, 2022 | Youth Over Guns joins New York Governor Hochul as she signs a landmark 10-bill legislative package to strengthen gun laws, including closing loopholes exposed in the tragic shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde.
JUNE 11, 2022 | Youth Over Guns leads the March Against Gun Violence across the Brooklyn Bridge in partnership with March for Our Lives. Over 100,000 people were in attendance.
JULY 2022 | Following the June passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant federal gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years, Youth Over Guns attended the ceremonial bill signing on the White House lawn. It was a win YOG leaders helped build, from drafting to passage.
JULY 2022 | Youth Over Guns launches a fact-based campaign for Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, unpacking the nuanced intersections of gun violence and mental health in communities of color.
JULY 28, 2022 | Co-Founder and Executive Director Luis Jonathan Hernández delivers a keynote at LULAC's National Convention in Puerto Rico on solutions to gun violence impacting the Latino community.
OCTOBER 2022 | Youth Over Guns separates from its fiscal sponsor and takes an organizational pause.
2023 | Organizational Pause
Youth Over Guns continues its organizational restructuring and strategic planning, laying the groundwork for the next chapter of the movement.
JANUARY 2024 | Operations resume. Articles of incorporation filed, establishing Youth Over Guns as an independent legal entity.
FEBRUARY 2024 | Board of Directors established.
MARCH 2024 | Youth Over Guns joins the first ever national convening on gun violence presented by  Hope and Heal Fund, hosted at The California Endowment Headquarters in Los Angeles.
APRIL 2024 | Youth Over Guns announces its rebrand and relaunch. A new mission statement, vision, and goals are unveiled alongside an updated website, marking the beginning of a new chapter for the organization.
APRIL 11, 2024 | Youth Over Guns co-hosts a Youth Gun Violence Prevention Summit with the NYC Mayor's Office in honor of Angellyh Yambo.
APRIL 2024 | Youth Over Guns joins the inaugural Community Justice Action Fund Summit and Lobby Day in Washington D.C., presenting on how to move gun violence prevention policy while centering the voices and experiences of Black and Brown youth.
JUNE 2024 | Youth Over Guns Founder, Luis Jonathan Hernández, joins the Rocket Foundation Summit main stage alongside then AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, Vice President Kamala Harris, then Deputy Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Greg Jackson, and Rocket Foundation founder Quavo.
SEPTEMBER 2024 | Youth Over Guns Founder Luis Jonathan Hernández is spotlighted by Everytown for Gun Safety during Latinx Heritage Month.
SEPTEMBER 2024 | Youth Over Guns joins March for Our Lives, Ben & Jerry's, and the offices of Representative Ayanna Pressley and Senator Chris Murphy for a briefing on Capitol Hill in support of the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act.
SEPTEMBER 2024 | Youth Over Guns joins the Biden-Harris administration at the White House for the announcement of new executive orders directing federal agencies to take swift, decisive action on gun violence prevention.
OCTOBER 11, 2024 | Youth Over Guns attends the first ever White House Roundtable on addressing gun violence in Latino communities.
APRIL 2025 | Youth Over Guns co-hosts "From Campus to Community," a national Gen Z town hall with CivXP, connecting young people across the country in conversation about civic engagement and gun violence prevention.
APRIL 2025 | Youth Over Guns partners with Cities United, A New Deal for Youth, and the National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy to host a National Youth Violence Prevention Week conversation: "No Role Models? Be One."
SEPTEMBER 2025 | Youth Over Guns Founder Luis Jonathan Hernández joins Giffords' Latino Advisory Council as a representative of Youth Over Guns, ensuring the stories of Latinx survivors continue to shape national solutions.
OCTOBER 2025 | Luis Jonathan Hernández speaks at Giffords' Celebration of Courage reception in New York City alongside litigation directors, pediatric trauma surgeons, and gun owners for safety.
DECEMBER 2025 |  Luis Jonathan Hernández is named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Impact in recognition of his work with Youth Over Guns.
 
​Youth Over Guns Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit 
For any questions or to learn more about our work,
​Contact: [email protected]