Maura Binkley wanted peace.

She planned to study foreign affairs, looking to become a diplomat.

The Florida State student tutored kids in German, volunteered for a literacy program and wanted to land a job with Teach for America. Caring and courageous, the 21-year-old woman with the vibrant smile had dreams of brightening the world.

Dreams she will never have the chance to live out.

A gunman opened fire at a Friday evening yoga class in early November. He killed Maura and another woman, Capital Health Plan’s Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, and injured five others before killing himself.

It’s been three months since his daughter’s death. Jeff Binkley is still reeling. And he is rallying for change.

Working with Florida State University’s College of Social Work, Binkley is launching Maura’s Voice, a research foundation focusing on the intersections of mental illness, hate and gun safety — with a goal of developing policy proposals to address violence.

"Everything is here for Tallahassee and Florida to assume that responsibility and be a light for the rest of the country," Binkley said.

On March 4, Maura would have turned 22.

This week, the new foundation is mailing legislators invitations to its launch at the Capitol. It will be on her birthday, the day before Florida's annual legislative session begins.

“All eyes are on this place,” Binkley said. “In light of everything that’s happened in Florida, now it has the responsibility to be an example to the rest of the country.”

A VOICE FOR CHANGE

Last week, the Tallahassee Police Department released an extensive investigative report on the shooting at Hot Yoga Tallahassee, presenting findings that the gunman had a history of hatred toward women.

The same day, Binkley, who'd driven down from his home in Atlanta to the capital city, met with lawmakers to talk about Maura’s Voice. He shared the foundation's goals of "ideas before ideology, research before rhetoric, policy before politics."

Back story:'We have to do better': Tallahassee yoga studio gunman evaded consequences at every turn

FSU social work professor James Clark is the lead researcher for Maura's Voice. His work focuses on the intersections of public and criminal health laws with behavioral health, violence against women and lethal assaults.

"It's the safety of all our brothers and sisters," Binkley said.

FSU President John Thrasher said the goal of Maura's Voice is "identifying and developing effective, science-based steps to reverse (violence's) pervasiveness."

"Maura’s greatest wish was for all of the violence to stop. Now, it is up to us to help the Binkley family ensure that Maura’s voice — a voice for peace, love and kindness — will carry on," Thrasher said in an email to the Tallahassee Democrat. "She wanted to make a difference in the world, and now her legacy has the potential to save lives.”

The logo for Maura's Voice, a lotus flower, is a cultural symbol of enlightenment and cultivating beauty from the mire. Binkley worked with public relations firm Moore to develop the foundation's logo, graphics and campaign.

Maura often used the lotus as a metaphor to encourage friends during hard times, Binkley said.

"We were surprised by how many people she knew. So many said that she’d changed their lives," Binkley said in an interview last week. He closed his eyes and quietly sobbed.

Through Maura's Voice, he wants to continue changing lives.

Maura was studying German and was a student in the editing, writing and media program at FSU. She was a Delta Delta Delta sorority leader and studied in Germany last spring, forming an affinity for the culture and language.

On a visit to the East Side Gallery, a remnant of the Berlin Wall covered in art, one mural in particular captivated Maura. It juxtaposed a dismal landscape with one of greenery and blue skies and read, "Many small people, who in many small places do many small things, that can alter the face of the world."

She bought a small replica of the mural. It sat on a bookshelf she and her dad built together in her Tallahassee room.

"That's her," Binkley said of the adage.

"It's in her memory that we are using a collective voice to break down barriers and address violence in our culture," he wrote on a flier about the project.

Before Maura went to her yoga class the evening she died, she bought ingredients from Whole Foods down the street. An avid baker, Maura planned to make brownies for her roommates, her dad said. Minutes before walking into the studio, she sent a message to him reviewing logo designs for his new business. It was their last correspondence.

She was "helping, to the very end," he said.

"I don’t know how we’ve been coping," Binkley said. "It’s certainly with the support and love of a lot of people. And also, the confidence that this was her mission, so now it’s ours. That’s how Maura would have lived her life."

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.