The Compassion Project is a 501 (c)3 charitable organization. We were founded in 2021.

On March 9, a 15-year-old Black Autistic child was killed at his home after his parents called the sheriff’s dept seeking mental health support.

His name was Ryan Gainer. You can read more on his story @ LA Times.

We are committed to assembling an online community resource center where parents can tap into life-saving resources AND provide resources to each other. We are calling in families, city officials, law enforcement, educators, behavior analysts, mental health professionals, and all other changemakers who are willing to join this community and help us bring the resources to ONE PLACE so that parents can access them when needed.

"We, the People" is the beginning of the forming of this community. The emphasis is that parents should never have to call the police on their child for lack of access to better resources. Demanding better training for law enforcement is insufficient, as we know that mental and behavioral health professionals are experienced, and that is the difference. No amount of training is going to make up for inexperienced officers, like the one who shot Ryan.

This is an ongoing and solution-focused conversation. It will be an organized Roundtable discussion on who Ryan's parents (and others) should have been able to call instead - a call to action for leaders across industries to rise up and serve our communities better.

We, The People 🎙️