MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The numbers are shocking. Thousands of young people charged with crimes.
Mayor A C Wharton said youth violence is on the rise, and the city isn’t doing enough to stop it. More needs to be done.
Look at the facts: So far this year, more than 3,100 juveniles have been arrested, and 2,000 juveniles became victims of crime.
Now city and community leaders are joining forces to create a plan to stop the violence.
Wharton said he wants to expand programs that are working, so the city can impact every child.
Critics want to know why the city isn’t getting ideas from people who live in neighborhoods where youth violence happens every day.
Teresa Brown, a great-grandmother, said she’s had her hands full keeping her babies out of trouble.
Brown lives in Foote Homes, a neighborhood plagued with youth violence. Recently, four teens were shot in a drive-by.
“Programs that are there for kids when they get out of school that help them with their homework, and they play basketball,” she said.
Brown said she has other ideas too, which is why she’s upset she couldn’t give her input at the city’s Youth Violence Forum Thursday night.
“The public should be involved, because they have their concerns too, you know, about their young kids,” said Brown.
Wharton said a town hall meeting is always a possibility, but Thursday night was about talking to people who work with children every day.
“There is somebody out there somewhere who has an approach to every one of these children,” he said.
Hundreds of pastors, police officers, non-profit and community leaders packed into a room and threw out their ideas.
Shelby County Reginald Milton works with children at risk, and said families need case management, too.
“When you have a dysfunctional family, they don’t know the right decision. They don’t know where to go or what to do. They make bad decisions, and we need to work with them,” he said.
The focus was education, employment opportunities, parenting and after-school activities.
“We are here so we can have collaborative efforts and have a bigger impact than the impact we’ve already had,” said Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong.
As for Brown, she’s hoping she can be heard too.
“I hear a lot of the stuff going on. I am concerned about the children in this community,” she said.
All the ideas will be brought back to city hall and worked on to see if it’s money or people needed to make these ideas work and prevent youth crime.