Council focused on prevention of youth violence in Leon Co. outlines plans, updates progress

In a room in the downtown library, in front of over 100 people, Royle King updated the community about Leon County's at-risk Black youth.

King, who runs the Council on the Status of Men and Boys, said his team of five have begun mentoring students at both Second Chance and Success at the Ghazvini Learning Center.

King and the four navigators identified 50 students who are at risk of gun violence and have started meeting with them, their teachers, social workers and school administrators to determine what can be done to “interrupt” their trajectory.

“While we were going there, forming those relationships, we understand that that is the foundation of everything, breaking down those barriers and building trust,” King said.

The council, established in August 2022, held a meeting Wednesday afternoon to update the community and service providers on its progress. More than 100 people attended and packed the medium-sized multi-purpose room at the Leroy Collins Leon County Main Public Library downtown.

More:LCSO's Men and Boys council gets $1.4M federal grant for staffing

Mayor John Dailey, County Commissioner Nick Maddox, Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell, State Attorney Jack Campbell and Public Defender Jessica Yeary spoke in support of the council’s plans.

“We’re not going to arrest our way out of this. We’re not going to incarcerate our way out of this,” Yeary said. “So we’re excited to be here, and I look forward to working with all of you.”

The council was created to reduce youth gun violence in Leon County and is funded by a $1.4 million federal grant, a recurring $1 million from the City of Tallahassee for the next five years, and money from the Leon County Commission, Leon County Schools, Tallahassee Police Department and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

LCSO’s Anatomy of a Homicide report, a detailed data-driven examination of all homicides between 2015 and 2020, analyzed common factors among the 141 people killed in those five years – 83% of them were either expelled from school, dropped out or had been placed in alternative schooling.

Of the victims and known offenders, most were 15-25 years old. Seventy-five percent of the victims and 81% of offenders were Black.

More:NAACP town hall seeks solutions for Tallahassee's youth gun violence problem

King said the council’s strategy for the next year includes: re-establishing trust with law enforcement and the community; involving the community’s service providers for more support; continuing to gather data to share across law enforcement agencies; and evaluating the outcomes of the council’s programs.

After the update, service providers and community members commented on what they thought needed to be included in the council’s progress.

Whitfield Leland, a former candidate for mayor and community organizer, stressed the importance of the council relying on those who are already in “the trenches,” doing the work.

“We’ve got to be willing to accept the people that can go where you can’t go,” Leland said. “You can’t continue to do the work up top and think that change is going to happen at the bottom.”

King agreed. He told the Tallahassee Democrat one of the next steps is to involve everyday Tallahassee men. The council plans to try to bring together 1,000 men from Leon County to begin the work in their communities.

At Ghazvini, King works with kids who already have criminal records and wear ankle monitors.

Crisna Logan, a navigator with the council, said it will take the whole community to make a difference in these young men’s lives.

“If you see a kid, don’t turn a blind eye,” she said. “If you’re in Leon County, we’re all affected by what’s going on with the gun violence.”

So far this year, two people were killed and 11 were injured in at least 13 shooting incidents in Tallahassee and Leon County, according to a Tallahassee Democrat analysis. In 2022, there were 21 murders, a 17% increase compared to 2021.

On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Beltran, R-Riverview, filed an amendment to a Republican-backed permitless carry bill that would allow open carry of a firearm.

Both the sheriff and state attorney have come out against HB 543, which heads to the House floor on Thursday.

“It’s not good,” McNeil said. “It’s going to be much more difficult to have interactions with people carrying a weapon. It’s a place we have not gone before.”

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Council on the Status of Men and Boys in Leon County shares progress