The name Live In Peace originally developed in response to a time of high violence in the community. Students of ours were in the heart-breaking habit of making "R.I.P." t-shirts that bore the faces of friends or family members who had been killed.

In the middle of that grief, Live In Peace was born. We asked a different question, what if, instead of memorializing loss, we celebrated life? We started making “Live In Peace” t-shirts—ones that lifted up the graduates, the leaders, the dreamers who were still here, fighting for their futures. It wasn’t just about the shirts. It was about sparking hope in a place that needed it most.

That spirit has carrier us ever since. As our work grew and developed, the "L.I.P." brand became the natural identity for our organization. While rates of violence are thankfully nowhere near what they were in the past, "Live In Peace" is also a response to the death of dreams and visions, an all-too-common injustice affecting our youth. We stand with young people as they reclaim their stories, step into their power, and create futures filled with possibility and purpose.