Late last summer, I went to my former home town for the German magazine Brigitte to photograph an inspiring group of women who are organizing against gun violence on the South Side. I only had a couple of days to spend with Carolyn, Shirley and Mary, but their resolve and dedication to fight for their community in the face of the senseless tragedy that took their children and destroyed their families will stay with me. Here’s to some strong women:

Above, from top: Mary Long holds a poster memorializing her son Eric, who was killed in 2012; a prayer circle during a fundraiser and bbq in Carolyn Champion’s yard in the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side memorializes the lives lost to gun violence; all four of Shirley Chambers children were murdered, including most recently her son Ronnie, who was gunned down in January of 2013; Carolyn Champion co-founded the Chicago chapter of Mothers in Charge – her son Cortez was killed at age 20 in a triple homicide when picking up the birthday cake for a friend’s toddler at a nearby bakery.

This was a quick portrait assignment, but it’s a topic that is dear to my heart, and that deserves continued attention. Below are a few more impressions from my weekend last August, but if you want to see some in-depth work on the epidemic of gun violence that is taking Chicago’s youth, I’d recommend checking out Too Young to Die by Carlos Javier Ortiz, a long term photographic documentary, and also this detailed report by the Chicago Tribune: Chicago Under the Gun.

Tashauna Waters, age 28, a co-worker and supporter of Carolyn Champion, lives in Roseland but is sending her two young children to school in Lincoln Park on Chicago’s North Side in an effort to escape the neighborhood violence.

Frames tacked to the wall of a foreclosed neighboring building memorialize the names of those lost to the gun violence. By the end of August, 285 people had been killed by gunfire since Jan. 1, 2013, including young children and senior citizens.

Neighborhood children check out the festivities in Shirley’s yard. The streets are not safe to play any longer.

The family of Heaven Sutton observes a moment of silence. The seven y.o. was killed on Chicago’s West Side by gang-related gun fire while running a candy stand on the sidewalk outside of her house with her mother, Ashake Banks.

The Trinity Church drill team is one of many after school activities aiming to keep kids safe. But families and activists alike are pointing to a problem that is at this point so entrenched and out of control, with gangs more fractured and less organized top-down and even the most petty of grievances ‘resolved’ with guns, that there are no easy solutions to stemming the epidemic.

A mural of portraits at St. Sabina’s parish on the South Side commemorates Chicago victims of gun violence.