Kaylee Tyner
Marymount University
Kaylee Tyner is a student leader and passionate advocate for the gun violence prevention movement. For the past three years, Kaylee has served as an executive council member for Team ENOUGH and lobbied for numerous policies that aim towards decreasing gun violence on local and national levels. As a third year student at Marymount University, she has successfully organized multiple lobbying days on Capitol hill, helping to build the largest youth gun violence prevention lobbying group in the United States. She encourages young people to get involved by helping them register to vote and engage with issues that directly impact their communities. In 2019 she launched #MyLastShot, which gained national attention for reaching over 20,000 people with the heart-wrenching message that young people give consent to have images of their death publicized in the event they die from gun violence. She currently leads a group of youth organizers in creating a culturally responsive gun violence prevention organizing guide. This guide aims to be a comprehensive tool for youth organizers, which will showcase how identities are affected by gun violence, how different gun violence prevention policies affect communities differently, and how to use that knowledge to be a culturally responsive leader.
Personal Statement
As a leader working towards addressing the root causes of social injustices, I have discovered that I can’t wait around for other people to change the world—I have to actively be a part of the change. I have worked on educating myself on different social justice issues, relying heavily on the works of Black revolutionaries. As a white woman, I understand that my privileges are rooted deeply in the systemic upholding of white supremacy in America and I work towards dismantling that. With this in mind, I always strive to become a better leader by not being at the forefront of organizing work, but rather finding where I can use my own knowledge and skills to bring attention to the voices of marginalized communities that people in power ignore. I recognize my individual power to change the world, but also my potential to continue to grow as a leader and in my strategies to address social justice issues such as gun violence. I aim towards creating projects in the future that will allocate funding and resources for grassroots organizations in my own community and others, that are constantly affected by things such as everyday gun violence and police brutality.
