Turning Passion into Change
Turning Passion into Change
Teenage activist and Sandy Hook survivor describes the benefits of donating her summer to the GVP cause
By: Jordan Gomes
This summer, I passed aside opportunities for a traditional internship and moved to D.C. for two months to spearhead lobbying efforts for Congressman Maxwell Frost’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention Bill.
I scheduled and took seventy-three meetings in the United States House of Representatives during June and July. I called twice that many offices, and spoke with three times as many staff members — legislative aides, directors, schedulers, a Chief of Staff or two. At nineteen, I shoved my foot in every door I could, and it certainly proved effective.
By the time the efforts had concluded, there were eight new cosponsors and sixty-five offices — half-Democrat, half-Republican — had been introduced to the bill. Looking back, it feels fantastic, for a number of reasons.
One, I was surrounded and supported by the most incredible people I’ve come to know in the gun violence prevention movement, from organizations that have been making a difference since their inception. Notably, my own Newtown Action Alliance, which has supported me and lifted me up for the past five years as I’ve found my voice — specifically Po Murray, who has never hesitated to speak her mind and to demand what’s right.
Additionally, Change the Ref and March For Our Lives connected me with a youth advocate they felt was up to the challenge, and they delivered. I’m beyond lucky to know them in their advocacy and to have them in my life. Dylann Loverro (Change the Ref) and Carrie McDonald (March For Our Lives Georgetown) came to every meeting, every day. They gave up their summer, same as me, because they understood the power of passion.
It was in those long hot walks with Carrie across the Key Bridge and those hours spent researching in the Longworth Cafeteria with Dylann that I was reminded that the gun violence prevention movement is as much about the pursuit of justice and safety as it is about building communities and friendship. With our work we aim to build a culture of love and kindness as well, and that starts with each of us, for each other.
Two, the reception that we got leaves me positive that change is possible — it’s just about fostering those connections. That can be accomplished in all the ways you’d think, and ways you might overlook.
I never hesitated to tell a staff member when I loved their shoes or their jewelry. During one of our first meetings, Carrie struck up a conversation with Representative Ruppersberger about Old Bay, a spice originating from Baltimore, Maryland, his home state. And Dylann could always be counted on to know someone in every district we met with, bridging the divide between us and people from many different parts of the country. It felt good to see the friendliness in their faces.
People were stunned, in a good way, when faced with youth and good attitude, and I believe one hundred percent that it contributed to the bill’s overwhelmingly positive reception. All three of us had experience working on other GVP bills, and all of us also agreed that we’d never seen such support, from Republican offices specifically.
We left knowing that solutions exist, and that more people than you’d typically think are ready to work towards them.
Finally, I left with a much better understanding of accessibility in politics. The feeling of malcontent for the American political system that is pervasive across the United States is nourished by this idea that politics and government operate in a separate sphere, above us all. In some senses, this is true. There will be spaces I and the majority of Americans will never be granted access to. There will also be information we’ll never be privy to, people we’ll never meet.
This doesn’t cut us off completely though. Not everyone has the time and resources to move to D.C. and work on behalf of a nonprofit to further a piece of legislation — but then again, not everyone has to.
What we need is a million people doing a million things that matter in whatever way they can. It can be making calls; meeting with federal, state, and local officials; joining lobbying groups; volunteering with campaigns; or even taking to social media to raise awareness or funds in support of key issues.
Finding a niche that speaks to our individual passions and needs within a larger movement ensures that we’re not just working towards a future of justice and peace, but to one that is well-rounded.
Jordan Gomes is a junior at Fordham University and currently serves as the Outreach Director for the Newtown Action Alliance, a grassroots gun violence prevention organization created after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Top image of Jordan Gomes at White House, July, 2022, via her Twitter; second image from interview with abc7NY, December, 2022.