How March for Our Lives is Creating a Safer America

March For Our Lives was created by students in the days following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida just over two years ago. The youth-led movement organizes young people in all 50 states to enact lifesaving gun violence prevention policies and record-breaking youth voter turnout. In 2018, March For Our Lives made history by organizing the nation’s largest protest against gun violence and mobilizing an unprecedented young voter turnout in the midterm election. With this critical contribution from CREDO, we can do it again in 2020. 

On March 24th, 2018, young people organized over 800 marches in cities worldwide, calling attention to the solvable gun violence epidemic in the United States. The day of action marked the largest protest against gun violence in our nation’s history, and the tsunami of activism that created and followed it became known as the largest youth movement since the Vietnam War era. March For Our Lives forever changed the conversation about guns in America, raising awareness for a critical issue that had been largely ignored in politics. 

In the summer of 2018, March For Our Lives led the Road To Change, a 60 day bus tour visiting 80 communities in 24 different states, with the goal of registering and mobilizing young people to vote. Students from communities across the country including Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Houston, Newtown, and others joined Parkland survivors on the bus tour, recognizing that a movement combatting an intersectional issue like gun violence deserves intersectional representation. The results were astronomical. 

2018 was all about making noise and drumming up enthusiasm for civic engagement and life saving policies. In 2019, MFOL focused on training and strengthening our chapter organizations across the nation- laying the groundwork for an even bigger impact in the 2020 election. But we can’t do it alone. That’s why we need your help!

We don’t have to remind you that things are far from normal. March For Our Lives, like everyone else, has had to restructure some of our 2020 plans for civic engagement to accommodate virtual tactics for mobilization. Luckily, digital organizing has always been one of March For Our Lives’ greatest strengths. Generous CREDO funding has helped MFOL achieve great heights and create meaningful social, political and cultural change before. With your help, we can make an even bigger splash in the critical months to come. 

Thanks in part to the last donation from CREDO, MFOL has made huge strides in the gun violence prevention movement in recent months. Some major highlights include:

• Launched Our Power, MFOL’s 2020 campaign to start the next chapter of our journey; sharpening our focus, harnessing our intersectionality and giving meaning to enough is enough. 
• Organized the 2020 Gun Safety Forum, a historic forum in Las Vegas, NV featuring every leading Democratic presidential candidate’s discussion on the policies they think will end this nation’s gun violence epidemic.
• Filed an amicus brief in a Supreme Court case that could have expanded gun rights and invalidated lifesaving laws already on the books. We rallied outside the Supreme Court to proclaim our right to not be shot, and we won- the court dismissed the case just a few weeks ago.

We’re not slowing down, either. March For Our Lives is still committed to leading a record-breaking youth voter turnout in the 2020 election, while remaining responsible and safe during the pandemic. We’ve organized a series of digital hubs, inclusive online spaces and virtual rallies, directly engaging with young voters across the country to ensure a safe, fair, and historic election is top of mind. Our Digital Hubs have hosted a number of exciting special guests to commend the inspiring work MFOL activists are managing to do while at home, including March For Our Lives founders, elected officials who are championing the gun violence prevention movement, as well as musical artists and entertainment. The hubs are packed with programming for young activists and people looking to make a change from their own living rooms. Activities like phone banking, workshops, trainings and even yoga and mindfulness exercises are all offered as part of the program!

March For Our Lives has the people, platform and plans to make big things happen in the future, but it requires all hands on deck. The unfortunate reality is that one public health crisis does not stop for another, which is why we’re doubling down now to create necessary change. With your help, we can ensure a safer America.