Armed And Educated is a community safety organization. We work to prevent firearm violence by educating & training communities on conflict management skills, mentoring youth & promoting a safe & responsible firearm culture. Our main focus is underserved communities experiencing heightened firearm violence. 

 

WHY?

Our passion for community safety is birthed from a desire to see all people live well. Underserved communities are experiencing record breaking loss of life due to firearm violence. We personally know victims as well as perpetrators of firearm violence. We are connected to the precious lives lost senselessly, forcing our families & friends to suffer pain, mourning, wreaking havoc on our family structures & damaging our communities in ways we can't even quantify. Recognizing the many systemic & intra-communal factors that propel and sustain firearm violence & knowing we can affect change has encouraged us into action. We know a cultural shift encouraging firearm safety & responsibility with an emphasis on learning & living conflict management skills and mentoring youth are a means to reduce firearm violence.  

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HOW?

Mentoring Youth:

We are actively mentoring middle and high school youth in effort to teach social, emotional well being, offer advocacy & model hope to at risk teens. Our focus is dialogue and activities to learn from as well as teach our youth. We positively influence and encourage our youth and allow them to do the same to us.

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Our Mentoring Program Includes:

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Intro To HipHop/The Art Of Dj'ing - Participants learn the origins & elements of Hip Hop culture. Participants listen to, analyze & discuss the content of Hip Hop music and compare/contrast it with many of it's sub genres such as Trap, Drill, Emo Rap, etc. & possible social & emotional effects of consuming it. Participants learn introductory techniques of the DJ craft, instructed on industry standard software and hardware. Participants are encouraged to apply learned skills as a means of emotional and artistic expression, hobbyists and as entrepreneurs.

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Conflict Management - (Avoidance, De-escalation & Resolution) Conflict Management class is designed to teach students the skills needed to identify conflict and manage it effectively in order to reduce negative outcomes and produce positive results. Emphasis is placed on handling conflict in a manner that represents pursuing and achieving ones goals and interests, finding common ground to compromise, and managing emotions effectively to work through conflict.

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Growing Games - Games  & sports have the ability to unite people and/or pit us against each other.  We utilize the emotions, mindsets, strategies, skills sets or lack thereof, critical thinking & competitiveness of games & sports to get to know our youth and for them to get to know us.  In our wide array of game choices we agree to rules, take turns, develop tolerance for frustration, hone an ability to regulate emotions and learn from winning and losing. Games range from luck to skill: from a throw of the dice to a well crafted jump shot. We learn to play the hand we’ve been dealt to the best of our ability. We learn & work on developing skills and also submit to chance. We use games to introduce participants to conditions of life. 

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Children's/Youth Gun Safety - We promote a safe & responsible firearm culture by actually teaching firearm safety and responsibility to our children and youth. Our first class is conflict management skills. Prior to even allowing so much as a water gun into the space, we teach & drill conflict avoidance, de-escalation & resolution. Conflict is a natural and inevitabel part of life & we all need to know & utilize skills to manage it productively. Once we've established productive conflict management as a collective mindset, we teach & drill children's firearm safety (Pre-K to 5th Grade) which strongly promotes absolutely not touching or being around firearms unless directed to do so by a skilled & authorized guardian or guardian approved person. Youth firearm safety (6th to 12th Grade) promotes a safe & responsible firearm culture by teaching & drilling the Universal Firearm Safety Rules, safe & responsible firearm handling and marksmanship with Airsoft Guns (less powerful than BB Guns).

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Adult Courses: 

You are solely responsible for the safety of yourself and your VIP's. It takes valuable time for emergency services to respond when you may be in critical need. We encourage community members to prepare to be their own first responders as much as possible and we offer training to assist in that preparation.

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Non-Firearm Classes

- Stop The Bleed (Learn proven life saving techniques to prevent loss of life from bleeding)

- Conflict Management (Avoidance, De-escalation & Resolution)

- Refuse To Be A Victim (NRA Course)

- Organizational Safety (Best practices on group and individual safety for small businesses and organizations)

 

Firearm ownership has seen a dramatic rise since 2020. We applaud the increase as long as firearm ownership is done with safety & responsibility. Training ensures that gun owners are educated on the responsible practices for handling and using firearms, storing them securely at home, as well as carrying guns in public. We offer firearm training courses lead by certified, experienced, skillful instructors that can train most anyone to be a safe and responsible firearm owner. 

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Firearm Trainings Courses:

- Basic Pistol (Pistol parts, operation, ammunition, gun safety, pistol shooting fundamentals)

- Concealed Carry Credentials (State specific) 

- Children's/Youth Firearm Safety & Responsibility (Pre-K to 12th Grade; promotes a safe & responsible firearm culture by teaching & drilling conflict management & age specific firearm safety) 

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Community Efforts: 

 

Pull Ups: We give away gun locks & teach basic gun safety on the spot, for free, to anyone who is interested. We approach people in parks, basketball courts & other popular community gathering places. Young folks ages 13 to 25 are our main focus as that age group is experiencing heightened firearm violence. However, we offer locks & training to anyone visibly carrying a firearm & anyone else who is interested. This program encorages & influences a safe & responsible firearm culture. 

 

Gas Money & Gun Safety: During the peak of gas price hikes in 2022 we gave away free gas in exchange for an opportunity to teach people basic gun safety. We organized the effort at gas stations in underserved communities experiencing heightened gun violence. Some of the gas stations had bullet holes in the gas pumps. Many of the people we served had firearms in their vehicles as we trained them & pumped their gas. This program encorages & influences a safe & responsible firearm culture.

 

Groceries & Gun Safety: During the peak of grocery price hikes in 2022 we gave away free produce & meat fresh from farm in exchange for an opportunity to teach people basic gun safety. We organized the effort at a black owned grocery store established in 2020 to combat a community food desert. Its also an underserved community experiencing heightened gun violence. Some people were firearm owners that expressed a need for the training. Some of the people we served were gun violence victims happy to see work being done to combat the violence. Many were happy to receive much needed food. This program encorages & influences a safe & responsible firearm culture.

 

World's Biggest Water Fight Against Gun Violence: We used 1,000 water guns, thousands of water balloons & a host of other water toys to have fun while teaching gun safety to children & their parents. Children were taught what to do if they ever come into contact with guns. Parents were taught basic gun safety. There was a special emphasis placed on the difference between toys made for fun & appropriate for children Vs. real firearms, bb guns & guns that can't be identified as real or not. The 3 neighborhoods we organized the effort in are all experiencing heightened gun violence. This program encorages & influences a safe & responsible firearm culture.

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Armed And Educated is changing the narrative on firearm violence with education, training & mentoring in underserved communities. 

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Armed And Educated Inc. is a registered 501C3 organization.

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