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Testimonials

“If there were any reason I liked being on probation it would be meeting Jelani Avant from Youth ALIVE! She’s a Guardian Angel. Whenever there is something wrong or I need somebody, I call Jelani and she’s always there no matter what. She takes me to all my court dates. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be in school. I never told her but I look at her like a second mom. I’m very thankful to have met a person like her.”

Caught in the Crossfire Client

“The session material is relevant and real and it has opened the door for me to support my students in a deeper context and I am so grateful to see ‘all the lightbulbs go off’ for many of my disengaged students. Teens on Target is a lifesaving program for youth today, they are eagerly awaiting the next lesson and talking about the personal changes they will be making in their lives!”

Judith Rathbone, Teacher, Roots Academy Middle School

“Nicky helped me. She was the first person I actually talked to who believed my PTSD was real, that my feelings were real.”

Aireana, Mental Health Services Client

“I needed somebody who would do what they said they were gonna do; I was fragile, man. Ray helped me get the joy in life back.”

Jean, Caught in the Crossfire Client

“Tammy was always available, every single time I called she answered. She was always, ‘How can I help you move forward?’”

Rickey, Father of a Homicide Victim & Khadafy Washington Project Client

“We are like a little family; you need anything, our mentors are always there.”

Ismael, TNT Youth Leader

“TNT was a foundation for me; I owe everything to them. Before TNT, my grades were slipping, I had no direction, or passion. The program pushed me to do more for the community and to set goals for myself.”

Smooth, TNT Youth Leader

“What are we advocating for? Changes to improve our lives. What we can give is an informed picture about our lives that no one else can see. We need to become visible.”

TNT Peer Educator, Age 16

“Why is it that we can walk to get any kind of gun, drug or alcohol that we want, but we have to take the bus to get school supplies?”

Art, 16-year-old TNT Peer Educator

“Speaking from personal experience, once you’ve been shot, it’s all in the aftercare, whether you really heal or retaliate. There’s a small window of opportunity where we (the recovering victim) can receive help.”

Caught in the Crossfire Intervention Specialist

“My Caught in the Crossfire caseworker was the first person who made me realize that my life is worth saving.”

17-year-old Caught in the Crossfire Participant

“Without a Caught in the Crossfire staff member there, your family and friends think healing means retaliation. They stand by your bed and make a plan to go get the guy who put you in here to show how much they respect you.”

Sherman Spears, Co-Founder, Caught in the Crossfire

“You’re the first person who gave me hope that I could change – because you used to be like me, and you changed. I never had hope before.”

17-year-old Gang Member to a Peer Educator in a TNT workshop

“We work in neighborhoods that are called ‘murder central,’ ‘ground zero,’ or ‘the killing fields.’ We young people are the first line of defense in the prevention of violence. The hospitals and the police come in after violence has occurred. We’re coming in before.”

17-year-old Youth ALIVE! Peer Educator

“Youth ALIVE! didn’t just change my life. It saved my life. And now I want to do the same for my friends and my community.”

Latrae, 16-year-old TNT Peer Educator

“Our low-income children are killing and injuring one another, and there are few effective programs in place that interrupt their high-risk behavior. Youth ALIVE! is one of those programs.”

Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Professor, Harvard University School of Public Health

Our Values

Healing

We believe hurt people, hurt people and healed people, heal people, and true peace comes from love and healing. We are committed to helping our community find hope that renews and restores spiritual, physical, mental and emotional balance.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

-- Helen Keller

Courage

We bravely engage in situations where others fear to go, because our community bravely works to change their lives despite the odds against them.

"Courage is the most important virtue of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”"

-- Maya Angelou

Community

We are of, by, and for the community. We partner with others in the movement so that our work has real life effect at the neighborhood level. We are life-changing!

"We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own."

-- Cesar Chavez

Diversity

We treat every person as an individual. We attempt to meet people without bias or judgment. We aspire to represent the diversity of our community.

"No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Innovative Leadership

We are on the cutting edge of violence prevention work in the nation. We lift the community’s voice to inspire and advocate for new models.

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Relentlessness

Not only will we do what we say we will do, we will not stop until we achieve our goal, no matter the barriers. We are consistent in our commitment to provide services from beginning to end.

"Never, never, never give up."

-- Winston Churchill