41 Years After Hands Across America, Youth Peace & Justice Foundation Launches “Youth Across America"
Updated: 16 hours ago
41 Years After Hands Across America, Youth Peace & Justice Foundation Launches “Youth Across America”
National Youth Violence Prevention, Remembrance and Community Action Initiative Set for May 25, 2027
TEMPLE, TEXAS — October 7, 2026 — Forty-one years after millions of Americans came together for Hands Across America, the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation (YPJF), also known as The Uvalde Foundation For Kids, is asking a new generation to come together for America's young people.
The national youth advocacy and violence-prevention nonprofit, founded following the May 24, 2022 tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, is launching Youth Across America, a new national initiative focused on youth safety, violence prevention, remembrance, crisis response and community action.
Youth Across America will bring participating schools, youth organizations and communities together through locally organized events culminating in a coordinated 3:00 PM local-time moment on Tuesday, May 25, 2027 — exactly 41 years after Hands Across America.
The Foundation is now inviting communities across the country to become part of the first 100 founding communities, while also recruiting youth ambassadors, volunteers, schools, youth organizations, sponsors, community partners and media organizations to help build the effort.
“This is something we believe needs to begin now,” said Daniel Chapin, founder and president of the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation. “In 1986, Americans showed what could happen when people across the country stood together for a common cause. In 2027, we want to give today's young people an opportunity to stand together for their generation — to remember those we've lost, support those who need help and work together to prevent the next tragedy.”
WHY ANNOUNCE IT NOW?
May 25, 2027 is seven months away.
Schools, youth organizations, communities, volunteers and sponsors need time to recruit participants, develop local events and help shape the effort.
The Foundation's first goal is to identify 100 founding communities willing to help build Youth Across America.
“This is the beginning of the organizing effort,” Chapin said. “We want communities and young people to have time to build this together.”
THE FOUNDATION BEHIND THE INITIATIVE
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation was born out of the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School tragedy in Uvalde.
What began as a small effort to help Uvalde families and children who survived the May 24, 2022 shooting grew into a national youth advocacy and violence-prevention organization.
Today, the Foundation's work includes youth advocacy, violence prevention, crisis response, emergency assistance, bullying prevention, victim and family support, community outreach, youth recognition and memorial projects.
Its guiding approach is:
RECOGNIZE. INTERVENE. PREVENT.
The Foundation has responded to violence in communities across the country through emergency assistance, crisis support, victim advocacy, community outreach, rewards for information and pro bono legal assistance.
WHY YOUTH ACROSS AMERICA?
The Foundation believes America cannot wait until violence occurs to act.
It needs prevention before another family receives a devastating phone call.
Johns Hopkins' Center for Gun Violence Solutions reports that firearms remained the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1–17 for the fifth consecutive year in 2024, with 2,214 young people ages 1–17 killed by firearms that year.
Behind those numbers are individual children, teenagers, families and communities.
Recent violence has shown how quickly young people can become victims.
In Baltimore, a 12-year-old girl was fatally shot at Leon Day Park while a youth football game was taking place.
In Vienna, Georgia, a homecoming block party shooting killed two people and injured nearly three dozen others, including teenagers.
In Houston, teenagers including 17-year-old LePaul Warren and 15-year-old Royce Witchet were killed in separate recent shootings near schools.
Different communities. Different circumstances.
The loss is shared.
Youth Across America is intended to give communities a way to move beyond reacting to individual tragedies and toward sustained prevention, youth leadership and united community action, beyond borders.
REMEMBERING THE YOUNG LIVES BEHIND THE NUMBERS
Youth Across America will also connect with the Foundation's Trees for Peace National Youth Violence Memorial Initiative, which provides permanent living memorials for young people whose lives have been taken by violence.
The idea is simple:
Young people should be remembered as individuals, not statistics.
Through Trees for Peace, the Foundation has announced memorial trees for young victims including Ryder Harrington and Savitha Shan, whose memorial trees are planned for the Sam Houston National Forest, and Emily Finn, who is being honored through a memorial tree in the Finger Lakes National Forest.
The memorials preserve the memory of young people while reminding communities why prevention matters.
On May 25, 2027, participating communities will be encouraged to remember young people lost to gun violence and other acts of violence, including those memorialized through Trees for Peace.
Trees for Peace provides a place to remember.
Youth Across America provides a day for America to remember together.
And both lead to the same question:
What can we do so there are fewer names to remember?
The goal is not simply to memorialize young lives after tragedy. It is to connect remembrance with prevention.
FROM HANDS ACROSS AMERICA TO YOUTH ACROSS AMERICA
On May 25, 1986, an estimated five million Americans participated in Hands Across America, a symbolic human chain across much of the country organized around hunger and homelessness. The event passed through 16 states and the District of Columbia, while contemporary reporting noted gaps in portions of the physical chain and participation by people outside the official route.
May 25, 2027 will mark the 41st anniversary of that event.
Youth Across America is intentionally connected to that anniversary.
But the Foundation is not attempting to recreate Hands Across America.
There does not have to be one continuous coast-to-coast chain.
Instead, communities will be invited to take the central idea of people across America coming together for a common purpose and build something for today's generation.
A school might organize a student gathering.
A community might hold a youth peace walk.
A neighborhood might create a human chain.
A city might organize a memorial and prevention event.
A youth organization might hold a violence-prevention program.
To maximize involvement in the Youth Across America campaign leading up to May 25, 2027, local groups can contribute through tailored participation paths that align with their operational strengths.
Schools & Educational Institutions
Schools serve as the natural focal point for youth-centered safety initiatives:
Host a 3:00 PM Assembly or Peace Walk: Organize a campus-wide gathering, moment of silence, or student-led walk at 3:00 PM local time to observe the national moment.
Form a Youth Ambassador Chapter: Recruit student leaders to act as Youth Ambassadors who lead peer-to-peer safety awareness, bullying prevention programs, and community service projects.
Integrate Curriculum & Workshops: Utilize the campaign period to deliver structured workshops on conflict resolution, peer support, and mental health awareness.
Plant a Memorial Tree: Partner with the foundation’s Trees for Peace initiative to plant a living memorial tree on school grounds honoring lives impacted by violence.
Local Businesses & Corporate Sponsors
Businesses provide essential logistical, financial, and promotional momentum:
Direct Event & Campaign Sponsorship: Fund local event supplies (t-shirts, signage, audio equipment) or sponsor local student ambassador programs.
In-Kind Resources & Space: Offer venue space, parking lots, or facilities for community gatherings, meetings, or youth workshops.
Employee Engagement & Volunteer Support: Grant paid volunteer hours for employees to assist local youth groups in organizing May 25 events.
Public Awareness Push: Use storefront displays, customer receipts, or social media channels to promote the campaign and highlight the "One More" safety commitment.
Community Organizations & Nonprofits
Civic organizations, faith-based groups, and youth clubs provide community infrastructure:
Register as a Founding Community Partner: Act as the primary local organizing hub to connect schools, local government, and families under a unified city or neighborhood banner.
Host Safe-Storage & Prevention Workshops: Coordinate community education sessions focusing on safe firearm storage, crisis intervention resources, and youth mentorship programs.
Lead Local Service Projects: Organize neighborhood clean-ups, youth art installations, or community forums centered on youth safety in the months leading up to the main event.
The local format can be different. The national commitment will be the same.
MAY 25, 2027 — 3:00 PM LOCAL TIME
At 3:00 PM local time on May 25, 2027, participating communities will be invited to pause together.
Each community will observe the moment at 3:00 PM where it is located, creating a rolling national wave through America's time zones.
The moment could include joining hands, holding photographs, reading names, observing silence, hearing from young people or making a personal commitment to prevention.
In 1986, the image was Americans physically joining hands.
In 2027, the Foundation hopes the image will be communities across America standing together for young people.
100 FOUNDING COMMUNITIES
The Foundation's first organizing goal is to identify 100 founding communities.
Those communities can include:
Schools and student organizations
Youth nonprofits
Cities and neighborhoods
Civic and community organizations
Colleges and universities
Businesses and sponsors
Families and volunteer groups
Other organizations committed to youth safety and violence prevention
A community does not need thousands of participants to take part.
The Foundation wants communities to begin where they are.
YOUTH AMBASSADORS
The Foundation is also recruiting Youth Across America Youth Ambassadors.
Youth Ambassadors will help recruit communities, connect students, organize local activities, promote prevention resources, create awareness and help shape the May 25 event.
They will not simply be asked to attend.
They will build it.
MORE THAN ONE DAY
The Foundation does not want Youth Across America to end at 3:01 PM.
The long-term goal is to turn the national moment into year-round local action.
That could include mentoring, bullying prevention, peer support, crisis intervention, youth leadership, violence-prevention programs, safe firearm-storage education and community outreach.
The Foundation calls this the “One More” commitment:
One more student reached.
One more warning sign recognized.
One more family connected with help.
One more young person supported.
One more firearm securely stored.
One more life protected.
HOW TO JOIN
Communities do not have to wait until May 2027 to get involved.
Schools, youth organizations, communities, civic groups, businesses, families, volunteers and others can contact the Foundation now to:
Become a Founding Community
Discuss organizing a local event
Learn about Youth Ambassador opportunities
Volunteer
Discuss sponsorship or community partnerships
Receive Youth Across America update
To begin the conversation:
Phone: 254-499-8027
Interestd participants should identify their community, organization or school, provide a contact person and briefly explain how they would like to participate.
More information is available through the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation.
FROM 1986 TO 2027
Hands Across America gave the country an enduring image:
Americans joining hands.
Youth Across America hopes to create a new image for a new generation:
Young people and communities standing together against violence.
The circumstances are different.
The generation is different.
The national challenge is different.
But the underlying message remains:
We are stronger when we stand together.
THE ORGANIZING STARTS NOW
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation is not announcing that the country is already organized.
It is announcing the beginning.
In 1986, Americans were asked to come together around hunger and homelessness.
In 2027, Americans will be asked to come together around the safety, well-being and future of young people.
May 25, 1986.
May 25, 2027.
Forty-one years apart.
Two different generations.
Two different national challenges.
One enduring idea:
America can still come together.
MAY 25, 2027
3:00 PM LOCAL TIME
YOUTH ACROSS AMERICA
41 YEARS AFTER HANDS ACROSS AMERICA
REMEMBER. PROTECT. PREVENT.
DONATE TO THE PROJECT HERE
Youth Peace & Justice Foundation
Also known as The Uvalde Foundation For Kids
National Youth Advocacy & Violence-Prevention Nonprofit
EIN/Charity ID: 88-3268749
Phone: 254-499-8027
