Anton Moore grew up in a public housing project for low- income families in South Philadelphia. One day he was visiting an uncle in another part of the city when he got a phone call. One of his good friends had been murdered. “A couple of days before he passed, we had a conversation,” Mr. Moore says. “We were young guys. We were talking about girls and fun stuff.” The call changed Anton Moore’s life. “My friend being murdered in South Philadelphia moved me to say I want to come and deal with an issue like this,” he says. Mr. Moore went on to found an organization called Unity in the Community. Its goal is to fight gun violence and drug and gang activity. “I see the people I grew up with, and I want better for them,” he says. “I want them to grow up in a nice, safe, peaceful environment.” To him, the solution to gun violence is more than saying “we need you to put guns down.” Unity in the Community tries to address social factors that can contribute to violence, such as unemployment and mental health issues. The group helps young people fill out job applications and prepare for the General Education Development, or GED, test. By passing the test, a person earns a credential similar to a high school diploma. Unity in the Community also awards college scholarships to local kids, donates laptops to a Boys & Girls Club, and organizes events to bring people together. Mr. Moore invites performers he knew when he worked as an associate producer at Black Entertainment Television in New York. Mr. Moore says he and his three brothers were raised by their mother, while his father was in and out of his life. Where he grew up was not always safe or peaceful. Sometimes, he says, that was his fault. “I was never bul- lied,” he says. “I was the bully.” His brothers were older, so he couldn’t act up at home, but he did at school, he says. One day, he was “messing around” in the schoolyard when he looked up at the window of the principal’s office. He saw his mother staring down at him with “an attitude.” She’d just learned that the principal had been Anton Moore Putting guns down is just the start 18