Uniting against gun violence
The five 黑料门Stands fellows who organized the 6th Annual Community Advocacy and Violence Prevention Summit.
By Daniel P. Smith
Emma Federico’s passion for gun violence prevention began long before she was named one of five 黑料门Stands Against Gun Violence fellows in late 2024.
A former emergency medical technician (EMT) and neurosurgery researcher, the Seattle native witnessed the devastating effects of gun violence firsthand. She came face-to-face with victims struggling with catastrophic injuries and families confronting harsh new realities.
“I felt a responsibility to make communities safer and work on advocacy to prevent such violence in the future,” says Federico, an MD/MPH student at 黑料门University Chicago’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health.
For Federico, being a 黑料门Stands fellow is an earnest step in that direction.
From January to April, Federico worked alongside four other 黑料门Stands fellows – Parkinson undergraduates Olivia Ossola, Mariah Huley, and Marilynn Moore as well as first-year medical laboratory science graduate student Monyae Joyner – to organize the 6th Annual Community Advocacy and Violence Prevention Summit.
The April 9th event, a free, open-to-the public gathering hosted at the Damen Student Center’s Cinema on Loyola’s Lake Shore campus, highlighted advocacy strategies to reduce gun violence as well as approaches to drive bold action, rally voices, and cultivate safer communities.
“The summit isn’t simply performative,” Federico says. “It’s about understanding what we can do to combat gun violence and giving people the energy to move forward with purpose.”
An event to educate and empower
Under the theme “The Turning Point: Uniting Against Gun Violence,” the 2025 summit was headlined by keynote speaker David Hogg.
A survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida – the largest high school shooting in American history – Hogg has become a prominent anti-violence advocate and a champion for young adult activism and civic engagement. Hogg co-founded March For Our Lives, a national organization that has mobilized millions of young Americans to demand a future free of gun violence, and co-authored #NeverAgain with his younger sister, Lauren Hogg. The New York Times best-seller continues inspiring youth across America to push for gun control and safety measures.
“Hogg promotes knowledge as power and is huge getting the younger generation involved,” says Ossola, a senior public health major.
In addition to Hogg’s keynote, the summit also included personal talks from representatives of Chicago CRED and the Firehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago, two organizations with a long history of working to prevent violence in Chicago neighborhoods. Presentations by three 黑料门Stands fellows, meanwhile, explored the impact of gun violence on different groups. Federico spoke on gun violence and the LGBTQ community, while Huley presented on the intersection of gun violence and Black women and Ossola on gender-based violence against women.
The event concluded with a Violence Prevention Resource Fair inviting attendees to visit with student organizations, community groups, nonprofits, and other organizations working to curb gun violence, promote gun safety, and increase engagement in legislative processes.
Fellows take the lead
Members of the 黑料门Medicine Emergency Department and chaplains in the Spiritual Care and Education Department established the 黑料门Stands committee in 2017 to support those impacted by gun violence. Three years later, the group hosted its first summit at Loyola’s Health Sciences Campus in Maywood.
Sponsored by the Parkinson School and the Institute for Translational Medicine, the 2025 event was led by co-chairs Lucia H. Garcia, Michelle Kavoosi, and Keyana Williams-Broadrick, who supported the five 黑料门Stands fellows tasked to help organize the event.
Starting at their first meeting in January 2025, the current fellows divided up tasks based on individual strengths and experience. Responsibilities included marketing and social media, communications with resource fair participants, coordination with speakers, logistics like registration and videography, and event promotion to past attendees as well as communities across Loyola's three different Chicago area campuses.
“The five of us worked at a rapid pace because there was a lot to get done, but it was so rewarding to piece this all together in a thoughtful way,” Ossola says.
Throughout the process, the fellows focused on creating an accessible event encouraging people to become educated about gun violence and motivated to act.
“Gun violence can feel like such a heavy topic, but our goal is for the summit to be an opportunity for our audience to walk away feeling empowered and more informed than they were when they came in,” says Huley, a junior majoring in healthcare administration. “It’s an opportunity to understand tangible solutions and actionable steps we can take to make a difference.”
In fact, Federico says she is most excited for what might happen after the summit, when a generation raised amid daily reports of gun violence stands up and demands safety. The fellows challenged every speaker to provide three concrete action steps participants might take to curtail gun violence.
“Whether it's volunteering for a violence-prevention organization, creating conversations with friends and family, writing to legislators, or getting involved in a nonprofit’s fundraising efforts, we hope this summit is just the beginning,” Federico says.