About the WalkUp Foundation

Our Story

It all started one fateful day

Ryan and Kelly Petty lost their daughter Alaina in the tragic school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.  Alaina was one of 17 students and teachers killed. Since the tragedy that took their daughter, Ryan and his wife Kelly have been actively involved in the public policy arena as advocates for improving school safety, through early identification, and intervention of potential threats.

The WalkUp Foundation‘s mission is to protect our children & teachers at school through the support of evidence-based policies and programs. We work to improve the culture in our schools, educate everyone to identify and report potential threats and encourage robust and accountable interactions between students, educators, parents, mental health professionals, and law enforcement. 

Our Approach

We are focused on making schools safer

The foundation will conduct the following activities to achieve our goals:

  1. Create a speaker’s bureau composed of school safety experts, members of local and federal law enforcement, educators & victims of school violence and their family members; 
  2. Develop educational seminars and workshops;
  3. Connect institutions & individuals with services, including threat assessment training centers for law enforcement, educators and mental health professionals; and
  4. Support related to acquiring training for improving school culture and development of effective behavioral threat assessment programs.