What Co/Motion Did
Co/Motion worked at the grassroots level to empower young people to strengthen the gun safety movement. Co/Motion provided support to community organizations working for gun safety. This critical support included: training, technical assistance, matching challenge grants, and a wealth of resources and publications. Together, we worked at the grassroots level to help make communities safe from gun violence. Co/Motion worked with young people and organizations in an ongoing effort to expand the gun safety movement by engaging high school students as vigorous participants in the policy and cultural issues surrounding gun violence.
Over the past years, Co/Motion became a leading force behind the effort to expand the gun safety movement by including the active voices of young people. The program challenged young people to think critically about social change, analyze the root causes of problems, learn the skills and tools of advocacy and organizing, put these skills to work through real action campaigns, and gain confidence in their ability to be agents of change in their communities.
Our program included:
Grants
Alliance for Justice offered matching challenge grants. The purpose of these grants was to empower youth with the resources to organize and lead campaigns that helped end gun violence. Through a competitive selection process, matching challenge grants of up to $10,000 were awarded to organizations engaged in youth-driven initiatives focused on gun violence prevention issues. Learn more about our matching challenge grants.
Training
The basic two-day Co/Motion training consisted of several workshops that featured various building blocks and skills to become youth activists. Through our fun and interactive training, young people were:
- Exposed to the concept and history of social change;
- Learning advocacy and direct organizing techniques;
- Developing organizational skills to build strong youth-led initiatives;
- Organizing campaigns to address problems in local communities.
The core Co/Motion training typically covered the topics listed below. Co/Motion also provided tailored training to youth activists on topics covered in the Co/Motion Guide to Youth-Led Social Change.
- History of Youth Involvement in the Social Justice Movement
- Youth Activism to Stop Gun Violence
- Organizing 101: The Basic Types of Organizing
- Understanding the Relations of Power
- Choosing an Issue Developing an Organizing Strategy
- Recruiting New Members and Leadership for Youth Organization
- Organizing Community Based Events and Formal Meetings with Elected Officials
- Working with the Media
Technical Assistance
After youth received training, Co/Motion provided support and ongoing technical assistance as these new activists implemented their action plans. Upon request, Co/Motion staff provided specialized training in specific skill areas, such as media training or project evaluation. Co/Motion also connected young people with local community experts provided guidance in implementing action strategies. Co/Motion technical assistance helped organizations build their capacity for working with youth by providing workshops, networking, and professional development opportunities for the staff of partner organizations.
Campaigns
In 2002, Co/Motion sponsored a nationwide poster contest titled "Drawing the Line on Gun Violence" to encourage students to communicate the impact of and solutions to gun violence in their communities. A coalition of educational, advocacy and gun safety organizations, including the National Education Association, the Children's Defense Fund, Million Mom March and the Brady Campaign joined Co/Motion to co-sponsor the contest. View the list of winners (pdf).
Coaches Against Gun Violence was another successful campaign of Co/Motion. Click here for more information.
