The outrageous, unnecessary destruction of lives in Parkland, Florida, has rightly inspired great sympathy for the grieving. For many (though somehow not all), it has reinforced their will to make our country a safer, more peaceful place. It has also opened the nation’s ears to the energizing voices and fresh ideas of young people.
On a sun-splashed, blue-sky, spring-like winter day in February, some of our Teens on Target youth leaders went behind the walls at San Quentin. They spent an eye-opening day with a group of inmates called SQUIRES, men whose devastating crimes had earned them a life behind bars, and whose collective message to our young men was clear: it takes only a few seconds to end up here, just one bad decision that can ruin many lives, including your own. So be wise, stop and think, find someone you can talk to about life. Stay free.
Members of the Snap Judgement radio and podcast crew cover a year of homicides in Oakland in their episode called Counted: an Oakland Story. For that they interviewed Youth ALIVE!’s Glen Upshaw and Tammy Cloud, as well as staff from some of our partners working to bring peace and healing to Oakland. Glen is our lead violence interrupter, working with his team to mediate conflicts between groups, gangs and individuals in Oakland before the guns come out. These are men trying to change young lives and make people safer. Tammy is the coordinator of our Khadafy Washington Project, named for the murdered son of its founder, which steps into the immediate aftermath of homicides in Oakland to support traumatized, devastated families at their time of greatest need. Hear full Snap Judgement interviews with Tammy and Glen here.
You can help save lives! We are looking for passionate, relentless people motivated to prevent violence and develop youth leaders. We have openings for permanent positions as well as internships.
On January 10th, 2018, with a webinar and three action briefs, Youth ALIVE!, a nationally recognized violence prevention and youth leadership agency, released its Screening and Tool for the Awareness and Relief of Trauma (START), an intervention designed to help young people identify trauma symptoms and provide them with tools they can use to mitigate those symptoms. The tool was developed in tandem with young men of color, including gunshot survivors, who provided insight on how they experience trauma and its aftermath, the language they use to describe it, and how various interventions helped them heal.
Milwaukee was a plump and juicy bratwurst of a conference for the National Network of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs. Our annual national gathering really is becoming a must-attend event for the violence prevention community, and for the movement to address violence with healing, as a public health issue. The September meeting in Milwaukee was annual conference #7 and our best attended yet, with over 340 attendees from 78 cities. This year’s speakers brought both motivation and perspective and included former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, founder of the National Compadres Network Maestro Jerry Tello, and Dr. Thea James, Vice President of Mission at the Boston Medical Center.
It’s always a moment worth celebrating, when a young client gets off probation. It’s a fresh start. A new day. Pathways intervention specialists Jesus Martinez and Jelani Jenkins both celebrated just such a moment of freedom with clients, at court, in the past few weeks.
