Quavo’s Rocket Foundation Summit Aims for Gun Violence Prevention

After its inaugural summit featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris, The Rocket Foundation hosted its second annual summit at the College Football Hall of Fame on Thursday, June 12. With a commitment to ending gun violence bolstered by the 2022 murder of rapper Takeoff, the day was filled with solution-backed conversations and highlights of community violence intervention (CVI) organizations, survivors, and local leaders and activists at the frontline of gun violence prevention. 

Grammy-nominated rapper Quavo, founder of the Rocket Foundation, said the 2025 summit signals the change being fought for in the Atlanta community.

“We’ve got to step out. We’ve got to be outside. We’ve got to be front line,” Quavo said. “We’ve got to be vocal and verbal.”

At the heart of the event was a message of prevention and resources geared toward youth. Students from the Atlanta area attended the summit, including the football team of Berkmar High School—the alma mater of all three Migos members—and students from Rocket Camp and Huncho Elite, two youth programs started by Quavo. 

Malachi Lowe, a student from the Rocket Camp program aimed at motivating students with a passion for music, took to the stage to tell the story of how he spent 68 days in the hospital after being shot through his stomach. In a passionate plea, he told the audience to put the guns down.  

The program featured four panels that explored the roots of gun violence, the journey of healing from grief and anger, and the changes being made on the ground, locally and nationally, to implement long-term change. 

Marcus Ellis, deputy of impact at Cities United; Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action; Amber Goodwin, founder of Community Justice & CVI Legal Network; and Dr. Chico Tillmon, executive director of CVI Leadership Academy, were the keynote speakers on “The Urgency of Now” panel. Brent Bailey, national youth organizing manager at Community Justice; Jacquel Clemons with Atlanta Circle of Safety; Leonard Dungee, executive director of H.O.P.E. Hustlers; Deborah Daniels, co-founder of the Offenders Alumni; and Aaliyah Strong, founder and executive director of Tyme to Thrive, led the discussions for the “We are the Change” panel. Former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, hosts of the “All the Smoke” podcast, also held a keynote conversation with Quavo.

The term that carried the day was CVI, an approach that uses evidence-informed strategies to reduce violence through tailored community-centered initiatives.

The critical need for CVI was emphasized by its panelists and by the audience. When Ellis asked how many people in the room had lost someone due to gun violence, more than half the room raised their hands. In attendance was Mia Jaye, the longtime partner of Memphis-based rapper Young Dolph, who was shot and killed in his hometown in 2021. Jaye started the campaign “Black Men Deserve to Grow Old” in 2020 after the murder of her brother and spoke to The Atlanta Voice about how she has turned pain into purpose.  

“I feel like it’s very important for me on this journey to just be able to show how I’ve been able to manage to get out of the weeds. It’s been a journey. I don’t want to try to make it seem like you just pick yourself up and keep it going. There’s more to it than that,” Jaye said. “But I think being a voice to continue to advocate for change to happen in our community and to be able to showcase what it means to be resilient and how to push through adversity is super important for our community — in every community — to be able to witness examples of that.”

Quavo started the foundation to honor the life and legacy of his late nephew and has turned his death into a mobilization for gun violence legislation. The 2024 summit was held on Takeoff’s birthday, June 18, and this year’s summit was held just days before the rapper would’ve turned 31. Throughout the day, family members of Takeoff and panelists formed the letter T with their hands to remember the rapper who earned his stage name from his rap flow and ability to do a verse in one take. 

“It’s getting bigger. It’s getting better. There are so many more people involved, and the message is reaching further and further throughout the country, and we know that turns into saving lives,” said Greg Jackson, president of The Rocket Foundation. “This year alone, violence in Atlanta is down 11 percent, and we know a lot of that is policy, but a lot of it is also culture and how we shift the narrative and how we talk about these problems differently.

“This message here is how we shift the culture and really shift policy in a real way.”

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