Continuous Change

In my last post, I talked about one of the biggest problems in Philadelphia right now which is gun violence. I talked about how much it affects our communities and the people that live in it. I gave numbers and graphs that showed the yearly increase in homicides, a map that showed what areas are being affected most by gun violence, and charts that showed victims of gun violence with and without paralysis.

As research continues for my project, Mayor Jim Kenney and congressmen plan to use next year’s stimulus money as funding for anti-violence efforts. Even though this isn’t major, it’s a step in the right direction for combating gun violence. Also, social media is spreading news about gun violence through platforms On twitter, Gun violence was trending just last week. This helped to continue to raise awareness to the issue and gain attention to the people in power. I am very happy that these tactics were set in stone. I think it’s a perfect mix of combining media and views from the mayor and congressman as a way to combat gun violence.

On the topic of social media, I decided to make a twitter page that specifically covers gun violence in Philadelphia. I wanted this page to consist of news, charts, videos, posters and more. Here’s one of the tweets I did, I dedicated this tweet to how gun violence has increased due to the pandemic. I talked about things like unemployment, health care, and housing that have been hard to find during the pandemic, ultimately factoring into an increase of homicides.

News outlets I followed on my twitter page

My twitter page where I talked about gun violence in Philadelphia

My main drive for doing this cause for my Agent of Change project was seeing thousands of people lose their lives to guns, especially in the surrounding areas and communities I live in. It’s truly saddening to know that some of my friends’ communities have to deal with gunshots every day and hearing another person die down the street from your house. Going into this cause I had no experience with gunshots and gun violence in the streets of my neighborhood. Even though I had little experience, I knew my impact on this issue could be just as good as some with more experience with gun violence. Creating a social media page was my way of making a change. I’m glad I chose this route because I know a lot of kids my age are exposed to social media and can gain traction from social media consumers about causes like this.

Going into the project I wasn’t that confident. I thought the change that I would take decades to do wouldn’t have enough impact and would be something that is forgotten quickly. After delivering a social media page gaining traction and attention this would be a project that I will always remember one thing, I made a better situation then me and my city were in. What I learned about myself was being a news reporter would be a job I would be interested in as a future job. I think I’m good at gathering information and publicizing it. One thing I wish I did better was gaining followers. I put out a good amount of tweets but I wasn’t gaining a following which I think would’ve created more publicity. If there’s one thing I remember its change is continuous, it never stops until their is no change to be made.

Annotated Bibliography