JACKSON, Miss.—Standing outside the front doors of Jackson City Hall on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 26, Keisha Coleman said that shifting the conversation around violence in Mississippi’s capital city from punishment to prevention is the way to “create a safer Jackson for everyone.”
For the past two years, she has led the City of Jackson’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, meant to support community-led efforts to de-escalate conflicts before they result in violence.
The City of Jackson established the office two years ago, thanks to funding from The National League of Cities and the Wells Fargo Foundation. Over that time, Coleman worked with the Jackson Police Department and local violence prevention organizations to collect data about “who’s shooting, who’s being shot, the age ranges and time of day,” she said.
That data aided the City in deciding which organizations are serving the populations most in need, she said. On Feb. 26, the City awarded Operation Good, Strong Arms of Mississippi and Living with Purpose with $50,000 each to help the organizations build capacity and infrastructure to continue serving Jackson’s most at-risk youth.
“These organizations are the backbone of our community and we stand with them,” she said. “By expanding their capacity, we invest in proven solutions to stop violence in the city before it starts.”
For 100 days after the announcement, the City is partnering with the organizations to host events like resource fairs and town halls in the areas most affected by violence—including an event talking to students at Lanier High School, Coleman explained.
“We also want to acknowledge the aftermath of gun violence, working with families—not only families who have been victimized but families who have to suffer and endure watching their loved ones go to trial—the retaliation, the fear. We are working with families on both sides of the gun,” Coleman told the Mississippi Free Press.
The resources will primarily target South Jackson and area codes 39212, 39204, 39213 and 39202—the areas that data shows are most affected by gun violence, Coleman told reporters. The three grantees each have a proven track record of community outreach that specifically targets Jackson’s most vulnerable in these neighborhoods, she continued.
“They are the ones that go out and do the mediation, actually taking the guns out of the hands of youth and then not only taking the guns, but then taking the youth under their wings and saying, ‘We got other options and let’s explore those options,’” Coleman said.
Strong Arms of Mississippi, a local version of the national “credible messenger” approach to violence prevention, will use the money in part to fund field trips, a feeding program and to purchase tools for a new workforce training program, the organization’s co-founder Benny Ivey told the Mississippi Free Press.
Strong Arms serves at-risk youth in both Jackson and Pearl, standing in the gap to support youth who don’t get those resources at home, Ivey said. “We want to reach these young men and keep them from going down the path that we did,” he said.
Ivey’s journey in life includes an 11-year stint in prison—where he first became associated with the Simon City Royals gang—and time in rehab to beat meth addiction. Today, he is a licensed plumber and entrepreneur who trains young people interested in making a career out of the trade themselves.
“I have one young man that actually works for my plumbing business. He’s about to be 17 and he’s worked with me for a couple of years and he already knows more about the plumbing trade than some 20, 30-year-olds,” Ivey said.
“If we can catch them at an early age, maybe they won’t do 11 years in prison like I did,” he continued. “What it’s going to take for these young men to do something with their lives is for some people to give them opportunities and show them love because, in a lot of cases, they don’t get that love at home.”
Read more about Benny Ivey’s journey from being a gang leader to helping prevent other young people from taking the same path. For more information on credible messengers, see Jackson Free Press’ “Preventing Violence” microsite.
