A young girl lies tossing and turning in bed, her sleep interrupted by thoughts of news stories about teenagers falling victim to gun violence. When the sound of gunshots rings out, she jolts up in bed, breathlessly checking herself to see if she’s been hit or if it was just a continuation of her nightmare. The scene was part of “Trauma Dreams,” one of three winning entries submitted by members from Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout (YEAHPhilly) in a youth pitch competition hosted Monday at REC Philly. “Guns Change the Story” was sponsored by both YEAHPhilly, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit supporting youth affected by violence, and Project Unloaded, an anti-gun advocacy group. The competition sought short video pitches for a social media campaign aimed at reaching young people and educating them on the impact of gun violence. 

“Trauma Dreams” was the brainchild of Presley Barner, an 18-year-old YEAHPhilly member inspired by her own experience of losing her cousin in 2021 after he was shot to death outside of a 7-Eleven in Southwest Philadelphia.

“When I lost my cousin, all I could think about was his death. It kind of kept replaying over and over in my head,” said Barner. “Sometimes I wouldn’t go to sleep because that’s all I would think about, and that’s something that I kind of ran from because I didn’t want to accept the fact that he was dead.”

Barner said the omnipresent fear captured in “Trauma Dreams” is one that even those who haven’t experienced a loss from gun violence might feel. 

“All they see is killings and shootings left and right on the internet and on the news,” said Barner. “Just hearing about it puts a lot of worry on people, especially elderly people, especially people’s parents, because it’s like, ‘Dang, I hope my child can make it home today.’ No parent should ever feel that.” 

In addition to “Trauma Dreams,” the YEAHPhilly team also produced and presented two other short films, one showing how gun violence can cause a family cookout to take a tragic turn and another looking at how a discarded gun left in an outdoor basketball court can lead to accidental shootings. 

More than 30 young people across five teams participated in Monday’s competition. Judges included community leaders and activists as well as Norristown’s police chief. Often moved to tears, the judges evaluated the presentations on their creativity, ability to inspire, efficacy in retooling Project Unloaded’s slogan of “Guns Change the Story” into something fresh and innovative, and incorporation of facts and statistics about gun violence. While all teams received $2,500 for their participation, the winners received an additional $2,500, and their ideas will be folded into Project Unloaded’s national campaigns. 

Founded in 2022, Project Unloaded uses creative and cultural campaigns to reach young people and educate them about the dangers of gun violence and gun possession. Since launching its first campaign two years ago, Project Unloaded has reached more than 3 million young people on social media. Its team of youth consultants helps create short-form content that thrives on apps such as Instagram and TikTok. Monday’s pitch competition marked the first collaboration between Project Unloaded and YEAHPhilly. While Project Unloaded is based in Chicago and has fostered relationships with Chicago Public Schools, partnering with YEAHPhilly required the organization to turn to Philadelphia youth to help its members better understand the landscape of gun violence in the city and how it shapes young people’s lives. 

Philadelphia made headlines this year for having the most significant decline in gun violence among all major U.S. cities, but the city’s youth have not benefited from that drop. Gun deaths have almost doubled between 2018 and 2022, and so far this year, 91 youth under the age of 18 have been shot, making up roughly 13% of all shooting victims across the city, according to data from the City Controller. In recent years, the proportion of shooting victims under the age of 18 typically hovered around 10%. In an interview with The Trace, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner cited the pandemic, a nationwide increase in gun violence, and historic levels of gun purchasing as reasons for the “extremely concerning” rise in youth victims of gun violence. 

Some teams honed their projects around gun violence in Philadelphia specifically as opposed to looking at nationwide trends. A team from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) shared an in-depth presentation featuring statistics that illustrate the impact and recent rates of gun violence across the city. Their campaign video included a spoken word piece overlayed on sweeping footage of the city. The short film captured the essence of Philadelphia and featured specific murals commemorating victims of violence. 

In presentations that accompanied each video, contestants often shared personal stories, detailing their own connection to the issue by discussing their uncles, cousins, and school classmates who had died from guns. Many presenters also mentioned the trauma and grief that they had to manage in the wake of those losses. 

Some, like members of the youth group Unity in the Community, explored that grief head-on by centering three children who had lost their fathers to gun violence in their campaign. Their video featured a series of short scenarios where each child imagines what moments both monumental (graduating from high school) and quotidian (playing basketball) might be like if their fathers were still alive. The scenes of wholesome fun swiftly turned bleak upon realizing they were just dreams that would never be realized.  

The belief that social media is a worthy investment for those looking to end gun violence is at the heart of Project Unloaded’s theory of change. A profile of the organization by The Guardian went in depth on the potential of narrative shifts in dispelling the association between guns and personal safety. While deep-seated and legitimate fears around public safety fuel gun ownership, campaigns such as Truth Initiative, which helped significantly reduce cigarette smoking among teens, are worthy templates and examples of the power of public messaging. By leveraging partnerships with influencers, Project Unloaded has tried to expand its reach to the population it hopes will reverse rising rates in gun ownership. 

The ability of social media to tell a wide array of stories was highlighted by Amira Adam, Meehad Bahar, and Raquel Alamo-Rosas, three friends from Masterman High School who entered a pitch for the competition. The team created a website featuring statistics, links to resources, including a helpline, and an accompanying Instagram page featuring facts and original poetry about gun violence. With the slogan “Guns Up, Guns Down,” the group created short videos highlighting the consequences of engaging in gun violence and the benefits of trying to avoid it. The videos explored the ripple effect on one’s employment, likelihood of being incarcerated, and physical safety. 

“Beyond statistics about death, we wanted to highlight the impact on the individual and their community,” said Alamo-Rosas.

In digging beneath the numbers and into the impact and consequences of gun use, the contest entries showed that sometimes quelling violence comes from arming people with information and allowing them to make the best decision for themselves. 

“The story is about you,” Bahar said. “The gun changes the story, but at the end of the day, you’re holding the gun.”