Ad Council expands agree to agree campaign

The initiative expands the Agree to Agree campaign, which addresses the impact of firearm injuries on children and teenagers in the United States

Translation has created a new phase of the Ad Council's Agree to Agree youth firearm injury prevention campaign, focusing on the role of community violence intervention (CVI) in preventing gun violence. The campaign includes a series of public service announcements (PSAs), a documentary and online resources designed to increase public understanding of community-led violence prevention.

The initiative expands the Agree to Agree campaign, which addresses the impact of firearm injuries on children and teenagers in the United States. The latest work highlights how trained community members, known as credible messengers, help prevent violence by mediating conflicts and connecting individuals with services such as counselling, employment support and mentoring.

Campaign highlights community intervention

Translation developed four PSAs — Community Safety, Breathe, Footprints and Takes a Village — based on the experiences of community violence intervention practitioners. The films depict moments in which credible messengers work to de-escalate conflict and build trust within their communities.

The campaign will run through donated television, digital, social media and out-of-home advertising, with additional support from Spark Foundry, which is providing media planning and distribution on a pro bono basis.

Documentary extends the initiative

The campaign also includes the documentary Where Peace Lives: Building Safe Communities, directed by Deborah Riley Draper and produced by Coffee Bluff Pictures. The film introduces audiences to community violence intervention programmes and features practitioners working to reduce violence in cities across the United States.

Campaign materials direct audiences to the Agree to Agree website, where visitors can watch the PSAs and documentary and access information about community violence intervention. The materials were developed with input from practitioners and organisations involved in violence prevention.

Focus on unseen work

Michelle Hillman, Chief Campaign and Program Officer, Ad Council: "We can all agree that everyone deserves to be safe and have the opportunity to thrive, yet too many communities continue to experience the devastating impacts of gun violence. Through this campaign, we're shining a light on community violence intervention and its role in helping prevent violence before it happens. It's an honor to help bring greater visibility, understanding and national scale to the people and strategies making a difference every day."

Chaucer Barnes, Chief Marketing Officer, Translation: "In a time scarred by violence — directly in our communities and across the country — we all could use a reminder that there are peacemakers among us. We believe the most powerful stories make the invisible unmissable, and that's what we've attempted to do with the CVI practitioners doing the hard work of de-escalation, changing outcomes thanks to their credibility and commitment. This campaign is about giving these violence interrupters a pedestal, not only to highlight their work in the communities where they are active, but to applaud an entire practice of work that so rarely gets the praise it deserves."

Fatimah Loren Dreier, Executive Director of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention and Kaiser Permanente Center for Gun Violence Research and Education: "At the HAVI, we believe violence is not inevitable—it is preventable. Across the country, survivors, violence intervention workers, hospital and community leaders are demonstrating what's possible when we invest in healing, partnership and innovative solutions to our national crisis. The 'Agree to Agree' campaign elevates the voices of peacemakers, credible messengers, and violence intervention specialists transforming lives and building safer communities — it is a reminder that those closest to the challenge are often closest to the solution."

Deborah Riley Draper, director: "As a documentary filmmaker, it is a profound privilege to sit with community heroes willing to let you witness them in their element, sharing their truths and vulnerabilities with authenticity and courage. CVI trusted messengers have rarely been centered, named or made visible as a professional community, even though their work quietly holds communities together. It was an honor to help share their stories, amplify both their impact and their struggle, and invite the public to truly see the unsung people who prevent violence and build safer cities every day."

Erica Ford, founder, LIFE Camp: "When I started this work in the early 1990s, there was no field, no name, no industry, just a few of us who refused to let our young people be killed, and today that has grown into a whole profession of credible messengers showing up as the right person, in the right place, at the right time. The world needs to see us clearly, learn our work and stand with us, because community violence intervention does not just stop violence, it grows peace, and the best of this work is still ahead."

www.adcouncil.org

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