Teens, Social Media, and Reducing Gun Violence: A Roadmap

Nina Vinik is the founder and executive director of Project Unloaded, an organization working to inspire the next generation to decide against having guns through teen-facing cultural campaigns and community partnerships. Prior to founding Project Unloaded in 2022, Vinik spent two decades working in gun violence prevention. At the Joyce Foundation, Vinik oversaw the distribution of more than $50 million in grant funds to support evidence-backed gun violence prevention work. 

Before her role at Joyce, Nina had a successful career as a civil rights attorney with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc., and the ACLU Foundation of Florida. She also served as Legal Director of Legal Community Against Violence (now Giffords Law Center), and Director of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Assistance Partnership Project. 

She chaired the board of directors of the March For Our Lives Action Fund until 2021. Vinik also created the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, the Fund for a Safer Future, and the Toward a Fair and Just Response to Gun Violence cohort. Nina serves on multiple professional boards, as an Advisory Board member of the NYU Policing Project; an Advisor to the American Law Institute, Principles of the Law-Police Investigations; a Member of the Council on Criminal Justice; and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. 

Nina earned her law degree from the University of Chicago and her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She lives in Chicago.

Olivia Brown, MPH, CHES is a public health professional who works to prioritize what she calls "people-powered, joy-centered, cultural and systems change." At Project Unloaded, Olivia combines her industry expertise, art activism, and community engagement experience, leading community programming engagements that educate and empower teens to be part of the gun violence solution.

Olivia brings to her work the lived experience of a Gen Z Black woman raised in an under-resourced community. As a teen, she organized her community to address underage drug use. Before joining Project Unloaded, Olivia worked on environmental justice campaigns for a national organization in Manhattan. Her love for people and community building inspired her to incubate and lead two of her own nonprofit organizations that focus on arts in the Black community in Gainesville, Florida and climate resilience in Miami. Most recently, Olivia worked for a community foundation in Miami to bring together nonprofit organizations to strategize around economic development. 

Olivia holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida and a master's in public health from Columbia University. 

Selwyn O. Rogers Jr., MD, MPH, FACS, is a widely respected surgeon and public health expert. As founding director of the University of Chicago Medicine Trauma Center, Dr. Rogers is building an interdisciplinary team of specialists to treat patients who suffer injury from life-threatening events, such as car crashes, serious falls, and gun violence. His team works with leaders in the city's trauma network to expand trauma care on the South Side.

Dr. Rogers has served in leadership capacities at health centers across the country, including most recently as vice president and chief medical officer for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Dr. Rogers has also served as the chair of surgery at Temple University School of Medicine and as the division chief of trauma, burns, and surgical critical care at Harvard Medical School. While at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), he helped launch the Center for Surgery and Public Health to understand the nature, quality and utilization of surgical care nationally and internationally.

Additionally, as executive vice president for community health engagement, Dr. Rogers works with faculty across the University of Chicago as well as members of the community to develop a multidisciplinary approach to trauma care and health disparities. His work will help enhance the understanding of social factors that affect victims of violence and underserved populations, in addition to identifying approaches necessary to achieving better outcomes for trauma victims.

Dr. Rogers sits on Project Unloaded’s Board of Directors. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School and holds a master’s degree in public health from Vanderbilt University.

As the district’s chief of safety and security, Jadine Chou helps schools maximize student achievement by promoting safe and calm environments and building relationships with students. Jadine oversees the safety operations for more than 380,000 students in more than 640 schools, and is responsible for supporting school administrators in their efforts to provide a safe and welcoming learning environment for all students and staff.

Under Jadine’s leadership, the CPS Office of Safety and Security helps district schools plan and implement proactive practices to encourage calmer school climates and positive student behaviors. These efforts ultimately result in significantly fewer incidents of misconduct, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and police notifications.

Prior to joining CPS, Jadine worked for the Chicago Housing Authority, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the agency’s operations, including safety and security, for over 18,000 traditional public housing units across the city.

Jadine holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and a master’s of business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Laia McClain is a 16-year-old Project Unloaded Youth Council member. Laia first connected with Project Unloaded this past spring through Project Unloaded’s community partnership with After School Matters. In the program, she learned how to leverage social media to spread the information on risks of guns and created content for the Guns Change the Story campaign. 

Laia now serves on the Project Unloaded Youth Council, advising national social media campaigns and projects. Her perspective is shaped by several personal experiences with gun violence. 

Laia is currently a sophomore at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago.

Joanna Hernandez is a on-air reporter and host of Latino Voices at WTTW/Chicago PBS. Joanna grew up in Rogers Park and graduated from Columbia College. Before joining WTTW in 2021, Joanna spent 5 years as a journalist in New York City. While in New York, Joanna worked as bilingual morning reporter and assignment editor or News 12 Networks in Brooklyn and the Bronx. She also served as a freelance assignment editor for Univision NY.