Team ENOUGH Announces Official Launch

Youth advocacy organization formed to mobilize young Americans in support of gun violence prevention

Washington, D.C., May 22, 2018 - Student leaders from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Sandy Hook, Columbine, and neighborhoods impacted by gun violence across the country have joined together to form Team ENOUGH. This new youth-led group will focus on student engagement on the issue of gun violence prevention and ways to continue momentum for change, including voter education, community empowerment, and advocacy. Team ENOUGH will convene individual leaders and other youth-focused organizations on a national platform.

Fourteen young leaders representing a diverse set of communities will serve as founding members of Team ENOUGH’s Executive Council, the group’s governing body. Members include MSD survivor and March for Our Lives speaker Aalayah Eastmond; March for Our Lives speaker Matt Post; Youth Over Guns founder Ramon Contreras; Women’s March Youth Empower National Organizer Kaleab Jego; 50 Miles More national organizer Tatiana Washington; and incoming Howard University Student Government President Amos Jackson III. Team ENOUGH is a project of the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Team ENOUGH Executive Council member Aalayah Eastmond stated:

“No student should have to hide underneath her classmate’s body to survive, but I was that student. I’m proudly a part of Team ENOUGH to ensure that no other student has to go through what I went through.”

Team ENOUGH recognizes the multi-dimensional reality of gun violence in America. While school shootings like those at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Sandy Hook, and Columbine have devastating effects on a community, chronic gun violence that occurs in many underrepresented communities of color is equally troubling, and must be treated with the same urgency.

Team ENOUGH Executive Council member Anahi Ballesteros stated:

“Gun violence has been robbing us of our friends and family for years - not just in mass shootings, but in everyday violence throughout our communities. We need to come together to work towards the change that we need, and I’m excited to join with such an incredible group on this effort. Enough is enough, and we’re going to make sure everyone knows it.”

Using data-driven techniques to determine where young voters can have an outsized impact on congressional races in the 2018 elections, Team ENOUGH will educate and mobilize high school and university students from now through November. Monthly touchpoints will focus heavily on voter engagement efforts. The group will also invite students across the country to form their own Team ENOUGH groups and host nonpartisan candidate forums.

As the school year draws to a close, Team ENOUGH will issue report cards grading members of Congress on gun violence prevention issues. A sample report card was unveiled today, demonstrating how members of Congress will be graded on whether they have cosponsored important gun legislation, including expanded background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and extreme risk laws (ERPOs). The report cards will put elected officials on notice that they need to do their homework and co-sponsor lifesaving legislation in order to earn a passing grade. The group plans to issue these report cards in the coming weeks.

Team ENOUGH Executive Council member Matt Post stated:

“For years, members of Congress have told us they’ll be there to keep us safe from gun violence, and then they’ve turned around and taken the gun lobby’s money instead. It’s time for that to end. We’re going to hold them accountable, and if they don’t earn a passing grade, then they can expect us at the ballot box come November.”

Brady Campaign co-president Kris Brown stated:

“These past few months, I’ve been lucky enough to meet with these remarkable students in Parkland and all over the country. I’ve been amazed by their heartfelt dedication to this cause, as well as how they’ve made it clear that they aren’t letting this issue go away. The founding members of Team ENOUGH are the best of the best, and we welcome their skills and talent as young leaders in the gun violence prevention movement. We look forward to working with them in the months ahead to enact real change - at the ballot box in November, and in communities across the country.”

For more information or to join Team ENOUGH, please visit www.teamenough.org.