After Semester-Long Efforts Students Award $7,500 to the T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project
It was an emotional and inspiring night at the annual ‘Leading and Investing in Social Change: Redefining and Experimenting with Philanthropy’ grant ceremony where 62 first-year students came together to award The T.R.I.G.G.E.R Project with $7,500.
Each fall students in the iGive program have the opportunity to develop and run a grantmaking process during their first semester at the University of Maryland. During the course, students research and learn about different social issues, narrowing them down to the top three issues they feel are the most urgent. The students discussed the final social issues – gun violence; poverty/homelessness and hunger; and health justice – at length and ultimately selected gun violence as this fall’s focus area. As a class, they created a request for proposals, read applications, interviewed applicants, conducted site visits and held discussions before choosing their final grant awardee.
On December 7, students held a Q&A and ceremony with their selected grantee. The guests of honor arrived with big smiles and sat amongst the students while the first speaker joined virtually; setting the tone of gratitude and positivity for an important and pressing issue, gun violence. The T.R.I.G.G.E.R Project aims to denormalize and destigmatize gun violence in communities of color across the nation by changing the norm and narrative around gun violence by providing a safe space for youth survivors.
During the ceremony, The T.R.I.G.G.E.R Project founder, Tia Bell, delivered heartfelt words of wisdom and encouragement to the students. Bell also shared the tragic story of losing someone close to gun violence and held a moment of silence for them and others who’ve lost their life to gun violence.
To conclude the event, many students gathered around the honoree sharing laughs and conversations around various topics.
The Do Good Institute proudly provides funding for this grant every year. To learn more about the T.R.I.G.G.E.R Project and their work, click here.