A digital drawing, made with black pencil and red and neon blue gouache, shows a teenager standing in the center. The figure’s human head has been replaced with a red rose, which is losing its petals. The rose petals fall around the figure with drops of water, symbolizing tears. The figure’s body is half within a broken smartphone, the frame of which is coloured the same red as the rose. In the background, smaller red cellphones are aligned horizontally. Their screens show a combination of guns, a happy human teen with a friend, and a memorial of the same teen. Behind everything, the base background is black and ominous. — Oona Tempest/KFF Health News/TNS
Juan Campos has been working to save at-risk teens from gun violence for 16 years.
As a street outreach worker in Oakland, California, he has seen the pull and power of gangs. And he offers teens support when they’ve emerged from the juvenile justice system, advocates for them in school, and, if needed, helps them find housing, mental health services, and treatment for substance abuse.
