Lexington, Fayette County schools announce new program to address violence, trauma

Lexington is giving 16 Fayette County schools grants to help them address violence and trauma among students.

“Children who live in a home experiencing trauma related to violence need extra support,” said Mayor Linda Gorton, who announced the new grants at a press conference Tuesday at the Fayette County Public Schools’ administration building.

Devine Carama, director of the city’s violence intervention and prevention program One Lexington, said the city chose the 16 schools most affected by homicides and non-fatal shootings.

The $1,000 and $500 grants will go to the Family Resource and Youth Service Centers which serve every school. Those centers help address issues that affect student learning, such as connecting families to rental and food assistance or mental health services.

The schools are a key partner in helping the city address homicides, Carama said. The family and youth resource centers have long been a great partner in that effort, he said.

Recently a 4-year-old girl was shot while she was sleeping in an apartment off of Centre Parkway. Carama received a call from the school system which then connected him to the girl’s family resource center at her school.

That family will need extra support, he said.

“We have to work together more,” Carama said.

Last year, the city set a record for the most homicides with 44. It went all of January with no homicides until Monday night when Marquis Tompkins Jr., 24, was found shot on Toner Street.

Still, the city has seen the number of youth ages 13-24 involved in homicides dramatically decrease over the past 12 months, Gorton said.

Violence intervention and prevention programs guided by One Lexington is helping stem or turn the tide, Gorton said.

The grants also come at a time when the Fayette County Public School system has also seen more behavioral problems in schools. On Friday, a fight between two Tates Creek High School students ended with school police having to pepper spray the two students. A 17-year-old student at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School was recently charged with three felonies after school personnel found a loaded gun in his backpack.

Ciera Bowman, Family Resource Youth Services Center coordinator at Henry Clay High School, said students are struggling with many issues. Because schools were closed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, they lost two years of socialization skills.

Bowman will use her $1,000 grant to team up with Frederick Douglass High School to hold youth summits.

The first youth summit will help give students strategies to deal with conflicts. Other youth summits will also focus on listening to students, Bowman said.

“As adults, we often think we know what youth need, but we need to listen to them,” Bowman said. She also hopes the summits will help students feel empowered, she said.

“This donation represents more than just money,” Bowman said. “It represents the support our youth need within our community, within their schools and wherever they can be reached.”

Those schools receiving $1,000 grants are: Lexington Traditional Magnet, Winburn Middle School, Bryan Station Middle School, Crawford Middle School, Tates Creek Middle School, Henry Clay High School, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Frederick Douglass High School, The Learning Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Academy.

Those schools receiving $500 grants are: Williams Well Brown Elementary School, Booker T. Washington Elementary School, Arlington Elementary School, Mary Todd Elementary Shcool, Deep Springs Elementary School and Rosa Parks Elementary School.

Tuesday’s announcement is the first round of grants the city will give to address violence. The city has a separate $50,000 fund for gun violence prevention programs. Those micro-grants will be for up to $7,500 for nonprofits working in community violence intervention. Those grants are expected to be awarded later this month, Carama said.