For Twina Feliciano, remembering her son means remembering far more than the circumstances surrounding his death. Ocasio “CioDaDon” Feliciano was 17 when he lost his life to gun violence in Atlanta in 2023. He was a son, brother, nephew, friend, student, and creative young man with a passion for music and technology and a future that was still unfolding.
His death brought unimaginable grief to his family, but Feliciano refused to allow that moment to become the entire story of who he was.
Instead, she began building something intended to give other young people more opportunities to reach the futures Ocasio never had the chance to experience.
Today, Feliciano serves as founder and executive director of the Ocasio Feliciano Foundation for Safer Futures, an organization focused on youth development, violence prevention, literacy, mentorship, creativity, social-emotional learning, and financial empowerment.
The foundation grew from a difficult lesson in Feliciano’s own experience as a mother. Ocasio had been loved, supported, educated, encouraged, and exposed to positive opportunities. He had mentors and was able to explore his interests in music and technology. Yet a friendship formed through his desire to help another young person with music eventually brought him into circumstances outside the environment his mother had worked so hard to create.
That relationship led Ocasio to a park after school, where he was ultimately killed at just 17 years old.
Feliciano’s work now centers on the space between what parents provide at home and what young people experience once they enter the wider world. She believes that prevention cannot begin only after a crisis has already occurred.
Parents, educators, counselors, mentors, and communities must be connected enough to recognize changes in a young person’s behavior and respond before those changes become irreversible.
“I cannot control every person my child will meet,” Feliciano says. “But I believe we can build communities where parents, schools, and the adults surrounding our children are better connected, so that when something begins to change, we have an opportunity to reach them before a future is stolen.”
That philosophy is central to the foundation’s approach. Rather than focusing on blame, Feliciano wants to address the gaps that can leave warning signs unnoticed. A concern may exist within a household, classroom, counseling office, or community without the other adults responsible for a young person ever knowing about it.
The foundation seeks to create stronger connections between those people and provide young people with resources and relationships that can influence their lives before they reach a point of crisis.
Feliciano also brings professional experience that informs the foundation’s work. Her career has included finance, banking, financial education, entrepreneurship, and economic development, with experience involving JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Operation HOPE.
That background has helped shape an approach to youth development that extends beyond violence prevention alone. Feliciano recognizes that education, financial knowledge, mentorship, emotional support, creative expression, and safe environments can all contribute to how young people see their futures.
The foundation’s programs therefore address several interconnected areas, including literacy, financial futures, mentorship, creativity, violence prevention, and youth empowerment.
For Feliciano, the organization is not intended to be a memorial defined by tragedy. It is designed as a forward-looking platform that helps young people recognize their abilities, develop practical skills, and envision possibilities beyond the limitations of their surroundings.
“Prevention has to begin before the crisis,” Feliciano says. “Young people need safe spaces, trusted adults, educational resources, and opportunities to discover what they can contribute. Those investments can change the trajectory of a life.”
On August 22, 2026, the foundation reached an important milestone with its inaugural Books, Beats & Bowties: The CioDaDon Symphony Experience, held in celebration of what would have been Ocasio’s 21st birthday.
The event combined music, storytelling, literacy, youth engagement, mentorship, and community leadership. It also introduced Feliciano’s first book, More Than My Last Day: The CioDaDon Story, together with its cinematic storytelling premiere.
The event reflected an important part of Feliciano’s philosophy: difficult subjects do not have to be approached only through grief. Creativity and community can also create opportunities for people to engage with serious issues and begin meaningful conversations.
Music and storytelling became vehicles for discussing youth violence, while the celebration itself placed young people, mentorship, and possibility at the center.
The title of Feliciano’s book carries a similar message. More Than My Last Day challenges the tendency to define young people who die from violence only by the circumstances surrounding their final moments.
Through Ocasio’s story, Feliciano preserves his personality, ambitions, interests, and potential while using his life to encourage conversations about the young people whose futures are still being written.
The foundation’s vision extends well beyond a single event. Feliciano plans to develop educational resources, school partnerships, mentorship opportunities, creative programs, and community relationships that can create meaningful support for young people before violence, disengagement, or hopelessness limits their choices.
“Our story is rooted in loss, but our work is rooted in love, purpose, and action,” Feliciano says. “Every young person deserves the opportunity to make it home safely and have their life unfold into adulthood.”
That mission reaches beyond the nonprofit sector. Parents, educators, mentors, business leaders, policymakers, donors, and community organizations all have a role to play in creating environments where young people can develop and thrive.
Ocasio’s life was interrupted at 17, but Feliciano is determined that his story will continue to create opportunities for others.
Through a book that preserves his memory, creative experiences that bring people together, and programs designed to equip young people with knowledge, support, and opportunity, she is building a legacy centered not only on remembering what was lost, but on protecting what can still be gained.
Feliciano cannot change what happened to her son. What she can do is use his story to help shape what happens next.
