The JVN Project is a collective centered on using the genre and culture of hip hop as a tool of empowerment. We are an organization instituted by students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison inspired by the life of 19-year-old Chicagoan artist and UW-Madison student John Vietnam Nguyễn - emcee, poet, dancer, music engineer, and activist.

The JVN Project uses the core values of hip hop as a framework for developing our programs and initiatives. These include a commitment to literacy, the uplifting of underprivileged communities through the arts, the redirection of violent, unproductive, and/or and self-destructive energies, youth mentorship, social justice initiatives, and the provision of platforms for others to share their story.