Our Mission
To use basketball as a vehicle to save lives, strengthen communities, and create pathways to opportunity.
Our Vision
A generation of emotionally resilient, socially aware young people who choose community over conflict and have the support to build lives beyond violence.
Our Impact
Shoot Basketballs NOT People works with young people across Philadelphia who are living with the daily weight of gun violence. Through basketball, mentorship, mental health support, and consistent relationships, we create spaces where youth can feel safe, build resilience, develop confidence, and see possibilities for their future.
Our goal is simple but urgent: keep young people connected, supported, and moving toward a future where they choose opportunity over violence and community over conflict.
Our work goes beyond the basketball court. We meet young people where they are and stay connected as they grow, because lasting change does not happen in a single program or season. It happens through trust, consistency, exposure, and adults who continue to show up.
We have seen what that investment can become. Young people who began with SBNP have gone on to pursue higher education, leadership opportunities, and meaningful careers. Some, like Amir Staten, have returned to pour back into the next generation. After earning a full academic scholarship to Morehouse College and becoming only the second student in the college's history to be named Mr. Morehouse, Amir returned to SBNP in 2026 as a public safety research fellow.
His story represents what we want for every young person who comes through our doors: not simply to make it through difficult circumstances, but to grow, lead, and eventually become part of the solution.
Every donation helps create that possibility for another young person.
Founded by Philadelphia native Garry Mills, SBNP grew from his personal experience with the impact of gun violence and a commitment to give young people something stronger to belong to.
SBNP's work has since gained local and national recognition, but the mission remains focused on what matters most: helping Philadelphia youth feel safe, supported, and connected to opportunity.
