Concerns over violence in Little Rock fuels community members to start new outreach program
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – This holiday season nearly 60 families in Little Rock will be missing someone at the dinner table due to violence and some people in the community say enough is enough.
Just this week alone, five people under 21 years old were shot, including a 13 and 14-year-old who were killed.
Mother of 14-year-old who was shot & killed in Little Rock calls for justice
Members of the John Barrow community and other areas are creating an organization called Meeting Where I Am that aims to build one one-on-one connections with youth to help them find the right path.
The growing concern about violence in Little Rock has led Jackie Smith and others to take a stand against it.
“The people are tired, the communities are tired,” Smith said.
Smith said she lost her godson to gun violence two years ago.
“I was out speaking and advocating for other people’s kids at the time, not knowing months later he would be in a drive-by shooting on John Barrow,” Smith said.
She said it’s a horrible memory that now fuels her passion to make a difference.
“So, we bring in people out of Tennessee, out of Houston, out of different areas, men that have been to prison, women who have been to prison, to teach these kids that this is not the way to go,” Smith said.
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Hoping to have mentors put themselves in kid’s shoes, to build deeper relationships, adding to her dream of stopping the violence.
“We have to walk these kids in the programs to show them that if you want to rap, if you want to battle, let’s battle it in the studio,” Smith said. “You want to fight? Let’s battle it with a boxing match.”
Smith said everyone plays a role in putting an end to the violence.
“It takes a village to raise a kid, but it takes a community to save a kid,” Smith said.
The first day of the program starts in just a week.
Formerly incarcerated men speaking out about the violence in Little Rock
Smith along with others will meet Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. at Bedrock Mattresses to walk the streets of Little Rock, hoping to show unity and calling for the violence to end.
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