While itβs been four months to the day since tragedy struck at Travis Scottβs Astroworld music festival last November, the rapper is continuing to do what he can to help those affected.
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On Tuesday, Scott announced the launch of his latest endeavor, Project Heal; a multi-tier, community-based initiative βdedicated to addressing challenges facing todayβs youth, especially those from marginalized and at-risk communities.β
Per the official website, this latest initiative comes in conjunction with Scottβs Cactus Jack Foundation, and seeks to unite various initiatives ranging from βacademic scholarships, free mental health resources, a creative design center and a first-ever, tech-driven solution for event safety. These efforts, independently and collectively, aim to solve challenges and overcome issues impacting the youth community.β Scott is also kicking off Project Heal by donating $5 million with $1 million going towards HBCU scholarships (looking at you, Waymon Webster Scholarship Fund), as noted by Complex.
The Jackboys rapper later took to Instagram to share the news, explaining that he will βalways honor the victims of the Astroworld tragedy who remain in my heart forever.β
βOver the past few months Iβve been taking the time and space to grieve, reflect and do my part to heal my community. Most importantly, I want to use my resources and platform moving forward towards actionable change. This will be a lifelong journey for me and my family,β Scott captioned in a post.
He continued:
While itβs easy for corporations and institutions to stay in the shadows, I feel as a leader in my community, I need to step up in times of need. My team and I created Project HEAL to take much needed action towards supporting real solutions that make all events the safest spaces they can possibly be. I will always honor the victims of the Astroworld tragedy who remain in my heart forever.
Giving back and creating opportunities for the youth is something Iβve always done and will continue to do as long as I have the chance. This program will be a catalyst to real change and I canβt wait to introduce the rest of the technology and ideas weβve been working on. See you all so soon.
If youβre keeping score, this marks the second initiative that Scott is spearheading. Back in December, he announced heβd be partnering with the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) to lead the charge in finding and creating βnew technologies and innovationsβ for better safety guidelines at concerts and festivals. And though it appears the βOut Westβ rapper is taking responsibility for the horrific event, the fall out has continued to play out on both an entertainment and national front.
In addition to being dropped from this yearβs Coachella lineup and Dior βindefinitely postponingβ their previously announced capsule collection, as previously reported by The Root, Congress has also decided to open a bipartisan investigation into the Astroworld tragedy.
βThe whole idea for why I brought this festival to the city was to show that Houston was something different and show that thereβs all different kinds of lives, different kinds of energy,β Scott explained in his first interview following the event. βAnd just bring that morale to the city, to just bring that energy to the city. I definitely want to figure out how could we fix this in the future [and] what could we do to change these things.β
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