Real advocacy. Real impact. Real neighbors.
2015
Where it started
Established in 2015, The Urban Advocate® is a name given to Founder and Chief Strategy Officer DeMicha Luster by Southwest Atlanta resident Andrell Crowder-Jordan for her advocacy of people over data and institutions.
2017
Responding to gun-related violence in NPU-V
Mechanicsville
Peoplestown
Summerhill
Pittsburgh
Adair Park
Capitol Gateway
Since 2017, we’ve led initiatives in Atlanta’s NPU-V communities in response to gun-related violence, with the sole intention of reducing it. These efforts built the foundation of the City of Atlanta’s community violence ecosystem in partnership with CHRIS180’s Zone 3 Community Initiatives, then led by Dr. Alfred Garner.
Our work started during a 20+ year federal ban on firearm injury prevention research dating back to the 1996 Dickey Amendment.
2020
Creating Guns Down Mechanicsville
Federal Fiscal Year 2020 marked the first year funding was reappropriated to federal research on gun violence. Concurrently, we sought to better understand the transmission of violence in our neighborhood and began developing Guns Down Mechanicsville, an organic evolution of advocacy and action, as a Community-based Participatory Research initiative to provide a safe space for Mechanicsville neighbors to share their stories and experiences with gun-related violence, trauma, and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
2021
A community-based study, built on real experiences
We piloted a mixed-methods community-based participatory research (CBPR) study to explore acts of gun-related violence committed and experienced by residents and Adverse Childhood Experiences in Mechanicsville. We collected data through outreach: a survey, a story map, interviews, and events that provided COVID-19 support and safely activated community spaces outdoors, as advised by COVID-19 experts.
We explored:
Acts of gun-related violence experienced by residents
Acts of gun-related violence committed by residents
Our data is community designed and owned. We are using data collected during our Guns Down Mechanicsville pilot study to support gun violence being recognized as an Adverse Childhood Experience.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
From our community care events during COVID-19
8 photos. 1 mural.
These photos of neighborhood leaders who stand against gun violence became qualitative data, and then the faces of the mural.
Chosen from many: selected from the photos taken at Mechanicsville Family Funday during Summer 2021.
2022
The Guns Down Mechanicsville Mural is unveiled at Summer Solstice
We fundraised for and installed the mural, unveiling it at our Summer Solstice celebration. Our outcomes are published as the Guns Down Mechanicsville (GDM) mural, which illustrates outcomes of our mixed-methods, community-based participatory research initiative by providing a resident-informed vision for how a safer and gun violence-free Mechanicsville can look and feel. A bold and colorful statement from our community, the mural reclaims the intersection of Windsor Street at Richardson Street, an area that has been littered with long-term gun-related violence and one of the hottest police beats in the City of Atlanta.
Neighborhood leaders
Residents who use their voice to advocate against gun-related violence in our community and actively participate in The Urban Advocate’s events and initiatives.
Respected. Connected. Empowered.
The phrase reflects recurring themes in our qualitative responses to the GDM survey.
Visit the Guns Down Mechanicsville Mural on Windsor Plaza: 307 Richardson St SW, Atlanta, GA 30312
The Safe Zone sign
Our Safe Zone sign we post at all events to establish community safe spaces free of gun-related violence.
2023
Summer Solstice
Watch our mini documentary
365 Days of Guns Down Mechanicsville
2024
The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory 2024
Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America
Firearm violence is declared a public health crisis
In July 2024, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a landmark Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence, declaring firearm violence in America a public health crisis. This advisory is the first publication from the Office of the Surgeon General dedicated to this issue, and it directed the spotlight to community-level prevention and intervention.
This shift marked a huge but short-lived step forward. In 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) cut nearly $820 million in congressionally funded support for violence prevention and intervention programs across the nation.
2026
October 1
The Summer Solstice Fund launches
We launched The Summer Solstice Fund to raise $100,000 to expand our advocacy and reclaim our neighborhood by adding augmented reality to the Guns Down Mechanicsville Mural.
2027
Save the Date for Summer Solstice 2027: Saturday, June 19th!
Saturday, June 19
Up next: the mural refresh & augmented reality revealed at Summer Solstice 2027!
The refreshed mural and its augmented reality addition will be revealed at our Summer Solstice event on Saturday, June 19, 2027. The AR addition will be permanent. QR codes will be added to each color panel, or zone, of the mural as the access point to augmented reality activations. When scanned with a smartphone camera, short-form recordings will allow viewers to see a subject from any angle. Questions and data outcomes from our 2021 pilot study will also be used during the recorded interviews. As an added experience, we will host a one-night-only projection, animating the mural in real time for the crowd gathered on-site, no smartphone required.
Oct 1, 2026 – Jan 1, 2027
Launch fundraising campaign · Phase 1: Story Capture and Prototyping
Jan 1 – Mar 1, 2027
Phase 2: AR Development · Begin restoration and update of existing mural
Mar 1 – Jun 19, 2027
Phase 3: Testing, Content, and Launch · Mural refresh complete
Join the conversation!
NPU-V neighbors, share your experiences!
Post photos, videos and voice stories on our story map, right where they happened.
Part of our 2021 pilot study was seeded by a grant from the Stadium Neighborhoods Community Trust Fund.
Created by the City of Atlanta in 2017 after the sale of Turner Field, the $5 million fund is guided by community residents and supports Mechanicsville, Peoplestown, Pittsburgh, Summerhill and part of Grant Park.