News Articles, 1998
  News Articles, Main Page

Enlisting Young People in Battle Against Violence
D.C. Project Seeks to Make Neighborhoods Safe Through Youth Discussions, Involvement

By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 18, 1998; Page B03

It had the makings of a festive event -- balloons, singing and poem recitals -- but the dozens of posters lining the entrance to the sign-in tables told a different story: beaten and bloodied bodies, young men holding guns to each other's heads, syringes and other drug paraphernalia.

"The pictures are frightening, and that's the point. The violence in our city is frightening," said Tony Lowery, a coordinator for the Circle of Hope Violence Prevention Project, which yesterday brought together nearly 100 young girls and women, ages 12 to 24, to discuss the causes of violence in their D.C. neighborhoods and ways to prevent it.

"Unfortunately," Lowery said, "a lot of these young people have become used to it, and they've become callous. They find it part of their daily lives. We want them to understand that it doesn't have to be this way, and we want them to have the correct perception of violence in the District."

The Circle of Hope project is aimed at bringing young people into the forefront of crime prevention because, participants said, teenagers listen most to each other.

"I think young people have to get involved and talk to each other about choices they make in life, to stay in school, avoid violence," said Fatima Washington, 15, who attends Eliot Junior High School in Northeast Washington and lives in a Capitol Hill neighborhood plagued by crime.

Shadonna Boggs, 15, who attends Fletcher-Johnson Educational Center in Southeast Washington, agreed. "If anything can help, it's kids talking to kids," said Shadonna, who said she has to stay inside at night because of violence in her community.

Circle of Hope, one of 11 such programs nationwide, is funded by a $300,000 grant from the National Collaborative on Violence Prevention to the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region.

The city project's goal is to help make neighborhoods safer by involving young people from three violence-plagued areas -- Anacostia/Congress Heights, North Capitol-Shaw and Columbia Heights -- in a variety of initiatives, including community programs and new anti-crime strategies that are being tested.

Yesterday's gathering of young women at the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center in Northwest Washington was the second project-sponsored event involving young people. An earlier one was held for young men. Next month, young men and women will meet together to discuss violence prevention and, perhaps, to form new friendships with people trying to help their communities.

The young women who attended yesterday's program listened to several speakers discuss self-empowerment and the need to find imaginative new ways to prevent violence in their neighborhoods.

"The old stories aren't working anymore," said Gail Oliver, coordinator of the project's Columbia Heights program. "Young people don't want to hear how things used to be, how much safer they were years ago. They only know what goes on today."

Some young women -- as did many of the men at the earlier event -- said that violence and drugs were first experienced in their homes.

"All parents are not worthy of respect because sometimes the parents are the pushers," the Rev. Shirley Pulley told the group, which applauded in agreement.

Participants also said that young people need more jobs and better recreational facilities to stay off the streets and away from drugs. Some said young people need to become more spiritual.

Noting that tomorrow is the official birthday holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some young women recalled his nonviolent message.

"If Dr. King were living, the world be a different place. A better one," said Jameice Phillip, a 14-year-old at Eliot Junior High School.

The Washington Post Newspaper Homepage