Goods for Guns Foundation :

 

Toys for Guns was conceived as a means to remove guns from our cities' streets. Based on an idea of his teenage son, in December 1993 Fernando Mateo organized a gun exchange in the Washington Heights section of New York City, which yielded 1,502 guns in 16 days. The strength of the idea and the phenomenal success of this exchange, which was expanded to include police precincts in all New York City boroughs, captured the imagination of numerous Americans who organized similar exchanges around the country, resulting in the destruction of tens of thousands of guns.

Recognizing that gun exchanges, combined with complementary programs, have tremendous potential to measurably reduce street violence, Fernando and other supporters of Toys for Guns have organized a not-for-profit entity, Goods For Guns Foundation Inc., to build on these early successes through a sustained strategic program targeted to urban youth.

Goods For Guns is committed to reducing handgun supply and demand by:

Organizing national gun exchanges

Promoting non-violent conflict resolution

Focusing public attention on gun violence to facilitate public policy change

Organizing youth to develop solutions to gun violence.

Need

Handguns flood American streets in unprecedented numbers. In 1953 there were fewer than 10 million handguns in the United States. Today, there is close to 100 million handguns in private hands (One handgun produced every 20 seconds) . Because of their availability, handguns are the instrument in over 22,000 deaths each year. In comparison, more citizens die in handgun fire in just two days in the U.S. than in one year in Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Sweden and Australia combined.

Children are increasingly carrying guns and are increasingly the victims of handguns. In schoolyards around the country, minor conflicts quickly escalate into life/death struggles when handguns are involved. Uninvolved bystanders are oftentimes the victims of random gun violence when caught between gang gunfire. A recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that one of every ten youngsters who dies before the age of 20 is killed by a gun. In addition, an American Academy of Pediatrics' study revealed that gunshot wounds among youth have increased 300 percent in urban areas since 1986.

Goods for Guns Accomplishments

About the Program

Fundraising

Contact Us Regarding the Goods for Guns Program

HAA encorages all to cheer for Alex Rodriguezl.

Hispanics Across America and its president Fernando Mateo is encouraging all
Yankee fans to get behind A Rod in a show of support that demonstrates to
him that we appreciate who he is, and what he stands for as a Yankee and as
a great Latin American Ballplayer.

HAA looking to get Roberto Clemente's number retired throughout Major League Baseball.

Hispanics Across America President Fernando Mateo has launched a national campaign aimed at getting Roberto Clemente’s number 21 retired in the same manner which baseball has retired Jackie Robinson’s number. Clemente who is looked upon as a pioneer for all Hispanic baseball players and an ambassador by all Latinos around the world, has all the credentials to be given this honor statistically as a Hall of Famer and as a Humanitarian. A web site has been created to help garner the support of all fans around the world in our quest to get this great honor accomplished. You can log on to www.retireclemente21.com to register your support to this cause.

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Health
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PDF Files
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