Headshot Photo of Taylor Gleeson
2017 Award Recipient

TaylorGleeson

Project Students United Against Gun Violence

Location Lafayette, CO

Issue Area Advocacy/Activism | Gun Safety

Taylor grew up in post-Columbine Colorado. The night of the Aurora shooting, she had friends inside the theater. These experiences with the normalization of violence inspired her to launch Students United Against Gun Violence (SUAGV), an organization dedicated to giving youth a voice on gun violence. Through this project, Taylor engages students in education, advocacy, and action in order to enact grassroots change in their communities.

Taylor began with a team of about fifteen national organizers and has since expanded to over forty college campuses in twenty-one states, in addition to several high school and middle school chapters. SUAGV was a partner in DC’s 2016 Disarm Hate March and partners with the Concert Across America, as well as the film “Is That A Gun In Your Pocket?”

I don’t want any member of the next generation to grow up in this climate where violence is accepted as the norm.

Taylor Gleeson
“It is never too late, too early, or too often TO GIVE BACK AND MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE”
Helen Diller