Ending The Cycle Of School Violence - One Community, One School, One Life At A Time

The Uvalde Foundation For Kids brings a true application of "Pacifism" to Activism, when it comes to ending school violence. It is not a stagnant approach or blindly driven from laws designed on Capital Hill or some safety review boardroom, far removed from the actual classrooms and lunch halls of schools across this country. Rather our approach is a vibrant, multilevel, often student driven, community engaged approach; effecting true change for students on a cultural, sociological & individual level first; long before a weapon is picked up or fist is clenched.
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The Uvalde Foundation For Kids is dedicated to ending the cycle of school violence through violence prevention programming, responding with support & advocacy to school safety  concerns by parents, teachers, students; while also providing numerous resources to schools and districts to enhance current school safety, learning environments & the school communities overall.

The Uvalde Foundation For Kids asserts that it is only when our nation begins to systematically, politically and on a grassroots level, reverse the "Culture Of Violence;" infiltrating our schools & the future's of our students; that we will begin to reverse the tragic trajectory & impact of violence. From school shootings, to bullying related teen suicide - to students taking guns to their classrooms instead of books; or to other, more subtle, forms of violence - Our students are in crisis!

The Uvalde Foundation For Kids does not underestimate this particular, 'Pandemic,' taking the lives of far too many of our sons and daughters. This does not exclude, of course, those numerous students & staff who have experienced violence in their schools.
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In part, The Uvalde Foundation For Kids is accomplishing our mission, by aggressively and thoroughly coordinating efforts through school communities, partner organizations, students, mental health professionals, law enforcement & students themselves; in areas such as bullying prevention, nonviolent communication workshops, volunteer school community citizeb patrols, mental health care seminars, performing arts outreaches, safety training workshops; among other programming.

The Foundation works as well to actively provide additional security and safety training resources to enhance a schools individual security; for example situational awareness & uniquely, student organized, active shooter training & prevention.

Additionally, through a variety of resources; including providing emergency and followup mental health treatment, crisis intervention & counseling services, for students, staff, family members & communities having experienced a school crisis such as those crippling our nations classrooms currently - Our Foundation serves as a response agency; dedicated to ensuring those experiencing school violence have the counseling resources immediately and ongoing to expedite what is always guaranteed to be a trauma victims ongoing healing journey.
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Did You Know? Since our organization was founded - Not one officer or board member has ever received a salary OR financial compensation for services provided. In fact, to this day - NOONE within our organization receives a paycheck - From our phone line operators, to our team of volunteer mental health professionals & program directors! This allows donations, grants, etc., we receive as a nonprofit charity; to but utilized where they belong & are expected to benefit - Students, their safety & their futures. 

Donations we receive, fund student scholarships & recognitions - OR aide schools in advancing/developing existing programming - OR sometimes provide that coverage for a families much neeeded counseling services, outside our network; following a student relative, traumatic event. Our foundation is indeed proud of this rare aspect in our By Laws & honored to have so many individual & organizational partnerships & connections from across the nation join us in ending school violence - In all its forms.. Our students deserve that.
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SOME OF WHERE WE STAND:
- Make it a felony offense against any individual who makes a false "swatting," threat against a school institution

- Require autopsies of children killed in school/mass shootings to be kept private

- Require Metal Detectors In Every School (Elementary - High School)

- Require "Manifestos," of those who commit mass shootings at schools to be kept private, except for legitimate investigation & prevention purposes use by law enforcement, etc

- Require SROs In every public school nationwide (Elementary - High School)

- No guns law for anyone who suffers from, or is being treated for a mental illness or a serious emotional disturbance, including those who have ever had a "5150, or 5151" status, unless cleared by a mental health professional (Harm To Self Or Others)

- Allow law enforcement to petition the court to apply a mental health order for anyone who poses a threat by owning a firearm

- Increased student mental health care & multilevel programming in schools designed to recognize the varying forms of violence & implement susainable programs to PREVENT IT

- Increased bullying prevention programming & behavioral care on schools

- Increased mental health support & care for teachers & school support staff

- Enact national mandate of bill nicknamed “Alyssa’s Law,” after Alyssa Alhadeff, a victim of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 people in early 2018; requiring all state public schools have "panic alarms," to respond to school shootings

- Increased accountability to schools and student focused institutions to provide safe, violence free & healthy environments

- Making it a felony to commit a violent crime with a deadly weapon within 3000 feet of a school

- Holding adults accountable for giving kids guns

- Nearly half of US states, 24, do not require any school safety training for teachers and staff, according to the Education Commission of the States. The Uvalde Foundation For Kids Will Be Launching An Aggressive 2023/2024 School Year National Campaign To Change That Statistic!

Those states are: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, South Carolina, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

- Public schools requirement nationwide to include & update specific measures for "special needs" students in safety protocols & active training

- Public schools requirement nationwide to hold & document ongoing monthly school safety reviews & threat assessments.

- Passage of "Ahmir's Law," named after Perry, Iowa student shot and killed at Perry High School, Ahmir Jolliff. The bill, if sponsored & passed, will require an individual concretely & accurately "flagged," by law enforcement to be a threat to the safety of others, due to verified threats of violence and other related activities; to be prohibited from obtaining, purchasing or handling of a weapon, including a firearm, for a 6 month period. The law would require individuals to be enrolled in a mandatory 6 month violence prevention program.