3309 Martin Luther King Ave SEWashington, DC20032
United States
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Organization Information
Mission Statement
Our Mission is to expose gun violence survivors to therapeutic modalities that may be absent from their current grieving and coping methods. With a focus on the inclusion of creative arts, we will equip survivors with strategies to healthily endure the complexities of loss- while promoting community health and solidarity. Our Vision is to provide a safe, supportive space for affected members of the community to express themselves- such that it fosters an environment of openness, honesty, and critical reflection of the factors contributing to gun violence in our communities. By openly addressing gun violence, we will empower community members to collectively engage in dialogue that will produce viable solutions for gun violence prevention.
Description
The TraRon Center was founded in 2017 by Ryane B. Nickens, a native Washingtonian who was raised in the Ward 8 section of the city. Her life was impacted by gun violence on several occasions. First, in 1990 her uncle was murdered walking home from a relative’s house. (The gunman believed her uncle was someone else.) Then in 1993, her family was rocked again when an argument between her sister and a neighbor escalated into gun fire. The neighbor’s son killed Ryane’s sister who was nine months pregnant and wounded her mother, other sister, and brother. Finally, in 1996 Ryane’s brother, Ronnie, was found murdered by a little boy on his way to school. And so, The TraRon Center was birthed out of Ryane’s desire to help families that have endured the pain of gun violence find healing, and to empower them to actively seek ways to change the culture of violence in their communities.
Ryane began laying the groundwork for The TraRon Center while she was a student at the Howard University School of Divinity and an intern with the Washington Interfaith Network. While organizing a Gun Violence campaign, Ryane gathered 15 mothers of murder victims for a conversation around community safety. That initial meeting of mothers turned into quarterly meetings for families. During these sessions, it became apparent that deep emotional wounds were still open, and that the survivors needed a safe space to deal with their personal traumas before they could effectively address violence in their own communities.
