The Sandy Hook Promise

The first step to lessening the threat of potential gun violence in our communities and schools? Awareness and a knowledge that it can happen to you, says Nicole Hockley, founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, an organization launched by family members of the victims of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

"In order to create sustainable and meaningful change, people really need to be engaged in the issue," says Hockley, who lost her young son in the tragedy. "The best way to be engaged in an issue is to know about it, realize it is relavant to you and your community and your family, and know there are actions you can take."

Through campaigns focusing on parent engagement, community organizing, and the development of mental health programs, Sandy Hook Promise's ultimate goal is to prevent loss of life to any kind of gun violence, whether it be crime, suicide, or accident. Also vital is equipping students with the skills to recognize the peers who may be struggling and empowering them to take what they have observed seriously.

"Students are very often seeing things that adults are not," says Hockley.

In this edition of the Harvard EdCast, Hockley speaks about the goals of her organization and outlines how parents, teachers, and students can work together to prevent gun-related deaths.

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iTunes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber and co-produced by Jill Anderson, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.