Program Spotlight

YAC Teens Get a Close-Up Look at Causes and Consequences of Youth Violence

Loren Daniel, a community center administrator for Overtown and downtown Miami, delivered a sobering message – a warning – to the Youth Advisory Committee teens who were visiting his community:

Don’t get caught up in the prison system in Florida.

“This state has archaic rules, and you’re never forgiven. Many lives are ruined,” Daniel, who oversees the city’s downtown Neighborhood Enhancement Team (NET) Center, told the 20 YAC members who took a bus and walking tour of Overtown, Liberty City and North Miami in late February.

YAC members took a walking tour of Liberty City.

Daniel’s message was not lost on the YAC youths. “I really understand the importance of not getting a record, not getting caught up – this tour is an awesome learning experience,” said Enrique Alvarado, a senior at William S. Turner Senior High School.

Not that Alvarado or any of these teens, who comprise a group that advises The Children’s Trust board on youth issues, are in any way prone to commit acts of violence. Still they had come to listen and learn. Youth violence is one of two major issues they are exploring this year, and the tour was organized to give a first-hand look at the grit-and-grime of youth crime, and help the teens better understand its roots and consequences.

YAC member Ra'Anna Pickens examines a list of wanted local gang members.

“The tour gives them a framework for their thinking, a way to understand these issues,” said Persephone Taylor, YAC advisor and Community Outreach specialist for The Children’s Trust. “They get to meet with and ask people: ‘what are you all doing to change this? What can we do? “

Daniel was one of a handful of community organizers, law enforcement officials, gang specialists and agency administrators who shared the challenges and frustrations they experience daily trying to safeguard the community and keep young lives from ruin.

“Youth violence is one of the biggest issues facing our community,” said Daniel. “There are so many one-parent homes where the mother’s out working and not there with the kids – until we meet this issue of absent fathers, we’ll continue to have these problems.”

Advisor Persephone Taylor and Loren Daniel, director of City of Miami’s Neighborhood Enhancement Team (NET) Center for Overtown and the downtown.

Nearly all the YAC teens were born and raised in Miami, but few had ever visited Overtown or the other communities, areas plagued by youth and other violence. As the bus rumbled passed historic landmarks in Overtown – St. Agnes Village, Greater Bethel AME Church, Hotel Elizabeth, the railroad tracks over which blacks were prohibited from passing at night – the teens glimpsed a community with a proud history yet one that has suffered from decades of systemic poverty. 

“I’ve lived all my life in Little Havana and I’m used to seeing the expressway but not the community that’s here beneath it,” said Angeline Pino, a sophomore at International Studies Charter High.

Mirva Cadet and Michael Nozile, of Gang Alternatives, provided an overview of gangs in Miami and across the country and discussed why some youths are attracted to gang life. The faith-based organization, funded by The Children’s Trust, mentors at-risk youth and teaches social skills and conflict mediation to reduce aggressive and violent behaviors, and keep kids out of gangs.

“The kids are looking for family, looking for love – and they’re not getting it at home,” Cadet said. “Whether negative or not, the gangs give all that. You think it’s not real – but you feel it – a false sense of love, of respect.”

Miami Police Cmdr. Keith Cunningham

Nozile said it was especially troubling that more kids are joining gangs at younger ages and also that guns are far too easily accessible to these troubled youths. “Gangs pack Uzis and AK-47 assault rifles, while the police have much less sophisticated weapons,” he said, adding “kids at even 12 can buy guns.”

In Liberty City, Miami Police Cmdr. Keith Cunningham and Officer Kimberly Pile boarded the bus to explain the progress police have made in recent years to stem crime in this once violence-riddled neighborhood. “We’ve made great progress. We’re far from where we were 15 years ago in terms of violence in this community,” said Cunningham, whose law enforcement career has spanned 24 years.

In the heart of Liberty City, the group de-boarded to visit a childcare center and after-school site. They stopped on their walk near where 9-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins was fatally shot by a stray bullet fired from an AK-47 assault rifle – one in a spate of child-related fatalities in 2006 that prompted The Children’s Trust Youth Violence Initiative.

As part of their tour, YAC members visited the North Miami Police Athletic League gym.

In North Miami, the YAC teens toured the North Miami Police headquarters to learn how police direct operations to reduce crime. With Officers Willie Walden and James Stewart serving as guides, teens learned how police attempt to deter gang activity, detect illicit drugs and detain criminals. Teens were invited to sit the dank cold of a jail holding cell and, though it was only for a few seconds, the experience left a strong impact.

“It seems easy for kids to get in gangs, but much harder to get out – they don’t see the consequences,” said Julian Cano. The junior at the School for Advanced Studies said the tour had taught him that people are not bad by nature yet sometimes they make bad decisions. “They’re just people put in situations of crime – and then they become criminals.”

As a result of their tour, the YAC group set up a number of Facebook pages to generate awareness regarding youth violence and their other major issue this year – teen driving safety. They recently returned from a three-day trip to Tallahassee, where they participated in Children's Week activities, met with legislators and other state officials to advocate on these and other issues relating to children, youth and families.

Don't Text Your Life Away

Youth Violence - PREVENT IT!

Written by Michael R. Malone