Atlanta rapper Quavo and his foundation are launching an emergency therapy fund to support children and families affected by recent gun violence in the city.
The fund is dedicated to those impacted by the shooting deaths of two people with deep ties to the Rocket Foundation.
“Anytime a family or community suffers loss is traumatic, and it doesn’t matter if it’s 20 people or one person — that trauma is still the same for those who are closest to them,” said Greg Jackson Jr., president of the foundation, whose mission is to end gun violence.
In its latest effort, the organization aims to provide “real-time support for the mental health needs of impacted families and youth,” including “trauma expert therapeutic services for children and families,” according to a news release.
A dozen shootings across the city from July 25-28 wounded 27 people and killed two, Atlanta police reported. The string of incidents prompted Mayor Andre Dickens to acknowledge, “We haven’t had a weekend like this in a long time.”
And other shootings, just before that tumultuous stretch, hit the foundation especially hard.
Six people were shot on July 24 at Empire Park in southeast Atlanta, police said. Deshawn Johnson was killed, according to the foundation. The same day, Aaron Hines, also known as “Coach Ball” for his work with a local youth football program, was killed in a southeast Atlanta townhome community, according to the foundation.
Johnson had attended Rocket Camp, a music education workshop for Atlanta youth, in 2024. Coach Ball worked as lead violence intervention specialist in the community for the Cure Violence Offender Alumni Association, an organization that works closely with the Rocket Foundation to prevent gun violence, Jackson said.
“It was really like losing a family member when we lost Coach Ball,” he said. “We knew that we had to honor his legacy by investing in the youth that he served in this tough time.”
The foundation has pledged to provide therapeutic services for 30 kids who knew Coach Ball, as well as Johnson’s family. The organization has not yet announced a fundraising goal. Jackson said the organization will first tally “how many folks can leverage these resources and support.”
Quavo, a rapper from the group Migos, started the Rocket Foundation to help families impacted by gun violence after the 2022 death of his nephew and fellow Migos rapper Kirsnick Khari Ball, known professionally as Takeoff. He was killed as a bystander in a shooting in Houston, Texas.
Those who want to contribute to the foundation’s effort can go to the official donation page at www.pledge.to/rocket-foundation.
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