Quavo responded to a deadly weekend of gun violence in Atlanta that claimed the lives of two people connected to his Rocket Foundation by launching a trauma therapy fund aimed at helping families and youth cope with the aftermath.
Eighteen-year-old Deshawn Johnson and Aaron Hines—a local mentor known as Coach Ball—were among five people killed in separate shootings across the city. Both had ties to the Rocket Foundation, which Quavo founded in 2022 after the fatal shooting of his nephew and fellow Migos member Takeoff.
Johnson had recently participated in the Rocket Camp, a summer program focused on youth development and violence prevention. Hines, a respected youth football coach and grant recipient from the foundation, was honored at a vigil attended by hundreds of young athletes earlier this week.
“What he preached for was peace and blessings. So it’s like, stop, gun violence and all. That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Fox 5 Atlanta reported from the memorial.
In response, the Rocket Foundation announced the creation of the Therapy Support Fund, which will provide mental health services to those directly affected by gun violence. The initiative will also support two local organizations—Hope Hustlers and Offenders Alumni—that are actively working to reduce violence in Atlanta neighborhoods.
“The Rocket Foundation is committed to providing real time support for the mental health needs of impacted families and youth,” the foundation said in a statement. “This fund will provide trauma expert therapeutic services for children and families and support grantee organizations- Hope Hustlers and Offenders Alumni, who are leading frontline community violence intervention efforts to end the cycle of violence, and offer ongoing mentorship and support in affected neighborhoods.”
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, multiple people were injured in the shooting that killed Johnson. Police recovered more than 100 shell casings at the scene, but no arrests have been made. In Hines’ case, a 36-year-old suspect has been taken into custody.
The Rocket Foundation was born out of tragedy in November 2022, when Takeoff, born Kirsnick Khari Ball, was shot and killed outside a Houston bowling alley. His death sent ripples through the rap community and deeply affected Quavo, who was present during the incident.
“This is a huge problem in our community, in our culture, gun violence. And just being a victim, of course, it’s so personal to me,” Quavo told Rolling Stone last year.
He described the Rocket Camp as “a 10-week summer Rocket camp, violent intervention program to just start off with the younger generation and get they mindset on a positive type of time.”
“When I grew up, I went to camp, that’s where I learned how to swim, that’s where I learned how to play football, that’s where I learned how to get along with other people,” he said. “But now I watched my basketball goal be taken down in the community, I watched my programs be not funded and just ran out of money because the parents was running it and they had no plug or no government official, nobody who just funded them every month or funding them every year regardless of the fact that we don’t have the families that make enough money to keep these programs running. So that’s what the Rocket Foundation is about.”
The Rocket Foundation is currently accepting donations to support the Therapy Support Fund.
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