West Harlem Organizers Work To Combat Gang Violence Through Youth Programming

Upper West Side NY

30 January, 2022

10:34 AM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY SOPHIE DAU JANUARY 29, 2022 One day in 1990, Kelvin McAllister Sr. stumbled upon an empty baseball field in Manhattanville. Rather than simply seeing an empty lot, though, he saw an opportunity: creating an organization for young people in his community, centered around sports and forging connections. Now, 32 years after chancing upon that empty field, he runs his own nonprofit, Uptown Inner City League. While the New York Police Department has continued to implement gang policing tactics and raids in much of Harlem, local youth organizations like Uptown Inner City League have instead focused on restorative justice and anti-violence practices. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, "Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership," indicates a community that invests in its youth has significantly lower rates of gang involvement. Many local organizations have worked tirelessly to prevent youth involvement in gangs and help young people heal from violence, believing that working within the community is the best way to address such issues. Although community centers were once prominent in West Harlem, many became privatized during the administration of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with public access becoming increasingly restricted. McAllister's Uptown Inner City League is among those still serving youth in the area, providing free coed recreation to around 400 neighborhood residents between the ages of two and 18. The League offers a range of sports options, including baseball, basketball, and softball. Additionally, the League takes the teams to the Black World Series baseball event each summer in Greensboro, North Carolina. McAllister founded his organization as a response to the lack of youth-oriented community spaces in West Harlem—an issue he attributed to the city's money-making inclinations. "Building incarcerated institutions is another form of making money. If you shut down these community centers, then you would see—I've seen it—an increase of violence, an increase of crime, an increase of robbery, an increase of burglary," McAllister said. "Those things lead … kids, perhaps in underserved communities, to get arrested, who don't have enough money for legal representation and who wind up in the houses of incarceration." Having grown up in Manhattanville, McAllister appreciated the support that local community centers gave him and his peers. His mentors truly cared about his well-being, and he wants to provide the same level of care for today's youth. He remembered how community center employees would stay out long after the centers closed to make sure the kids all got home safe. "We just wanted to create some type of organization[al] structure that makes kids feel that they belong to something positive, non-gang-related, non-drug-related, and nonviolent," McAllister said. In addition to creating accessible fitness and wellness spaces for neighborhood kids, the organization offers them potential role models, including McAllister's own two sons who grew up with and remain involved in the program. The nonprofit is funded through corporate sponsorships, political offices, and the community. "We can find ways to put [kids] in uniforms of all various types of colors, opposed to these gang game colors," McAllister said on the importance of his work. "I want these kids in my community to be a part of a very constructive, very positive, and very important game." Another restorative justice organization in West Harlem is Living Redemption Youth Opportunity Hub, which sits in an unassuming building on 124th Street between St. Nicholas Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Founded by the Rev. Maurice Winley, the organization helps youth and families involved in and affected by the criminal justice system, relying on Credible Messengers—community members who are familiar with neighborhood tensions and trained in de-escalation tactics—to mediate and prevent conflict. Its services range from anti-gun violence initiatives and a food pantry to law advocacy and violence intervention. The Living Redemption building also provides youth and families with access to technology and professional development resources to help them prepare for interviews and maintain jobs—one of the most significant challenges many of these community members face. "Out of 685 of the youth [Living Redemption helped secure a job for], only about 10 of them kept a job," Dorin Hammond, a Credible Messenger at Living Redemption and lifelong West Harlem resident, explained. Dorin Hammond explained that they were not trained to work in a professional capacity, but instead only had experience addressing conflict on the streets of their neighborhood. "In the streets, you go quit and walk off. You could fight. You could get reckless. Professional[ly], you got to talk it out." The organization recognizes, however, that young people also need support in more personal aspects of their lives, not just the professional and financial sphere. Additionally, Living Redemption's youth programs include access to fitness and wellness centers and creative projects like coding and music production. Dorin Hammond's brother, Beloved, is also a Credible Messenger at Living Redemption. Both formerly incarcerated, their experiences in prison contributed to their desire to reduce violence in their own community. Now, families turn to them as mediators and pillars of de-escalation in the neighborhood. "[The community] know[s] me firsthand for the violence and corruption. But now they see me face-to-face, implementing myself into their problem at the end to help them," Beloved Hammond said. Living Redemption ultimately aims to build lasting relationships within the community, as Beloved Hammond himself did through being a leader of the organization. Dorin and Beloved Hammond refer to the living room effect as one of their primary goals: making a space where youth can find mentors willing to listen and help them heal from the violence they have faced. The organization also seeks to help youth gain experiences outside of their neighborhood and expose them to the full range of opportunities in the world, offering nature retreats and trips to Florida and Washington, D.C., among other locations. With all of its programming, Living Redemption focuses on orienting young people away from the cyclical legacy of violence and incarceration. "[The kids] wanted to be involved in going to college, and they wanted to know what it would take to enroll into Howard University," Dorin Hammond said regarding a trip to Washington, D.C. that he helped chaperone. "Now you can see the future. Dark clouds no longer clouding your vision. You see the future. We had successes where individuals actually went to college." Living Redemption's positive reputation within the local police department, with whom many residents have had a fraught relationship, allows Credible Messengers to implement restorative justice and community mediation tactics in potentially violent situations. In some instances, police officers have cooperated with Credible Messengers, allowing them to step in and intervene in a potential arrest. Their connection to the department helps Living Redemption achieve its goal of keeping young people out of the criminal justice system. "When we see the team of officers, they're like, 'We see y'all have everything under control. We are aware of who you are; we know y'all are Living Redemption. We just gonna stand off to the side and we're gonna let y'all handle this,'" Dorin Hammond said. "The empowerment part, right there, is that you are closer to the problem, you're also closer to the solution. … That was powerful for me." Based on both anecdotal and statistical evidence, restorative justice practices work. The Hammond brothers have been able to mediate conversations that stopped violent retaliation, which they believe has saved many lives in their community. A 2018 Urban Institute report showed that Arches, a New York City program that partners with local organizations like Living Redemption and uses Credible Messengers, has reduced one-year felony reconviction rates for its participants by over two-thirds, and two-year felony reconviction by over half. Yet there has been a consistent lack of funding and attention paid to these organizations. Beloved Hammond said that during the push to defund the police in 2020, the organizations and city officials discussed reallocating money to support more Credible Messengers, but such a goal never came to fruition. Dorin Hammond believes the city prioritizes the physical and material aspects of communities, like the façade of their buildings, over residents and their experiences. Additionally, he says that "money is going outside the community, and the community doesn't benefit. Everything's being taken out of the community, and the community is already lacking." McAllister has also confronted a lack of funding and care for youth programs from the city and has served in many local political capacities to advocate for more money toward organizations like his own. "If there's money allocated to provide programming on improving a community, or improving your neighborhood, I just wanted to be that voice," McAllister said of his advocacy. "[It is] speaking for a voice that is voiceless, which I say are the young people." Staff Writer Sophie Dau can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.