‘Tough Love': Harlem Gang Expert Visiting Jackson

Whitten Preparatory, a mostly black middle school, is one of four schools in Jackson that are trying to combat disciplinary issues and keep violence low by using peer mediation - training students to be mediators so they can help their classmates come to a peaceful resolution to their issues.

Black-led summer camps and community programs are addressing the dual challenge of rising child care costs and lack of culturally affirming options for Black families. Programs like Camp HBCYouth and Camp Legacy offer affordable, comprehensive outdoor summer camp experiences, complete with meals and extended care if needed. The programs also act as community builders, helping youth form friendships and strengthen their connections to the outdoors.

In Rochester, NY, the Center for Teen Empowerment, a nonprofit that trains youth in community organizing, personal development, and anti-violence, is working to bring kids off the street and into safety. The program, which started in Boston, is centered on four ideas: jobs (paying the youth hired as organizers), teamwork, agency (letting them build their own activist agendas), and peer influence. While hard to evaluate because of its situational, qualitative nature, city officials, including law enforcement, point to the program as a factor in the decrease in violence across the city.

After going to prison themselves, John Knight of Jackson and Shanduke McPhatter of Brooklyn are living straight and determined to make changes. They work as "violence interrupters" in their neighborhoods, using an approach called "Cure Violence," developed by Dr. Gary Slutkin. They mentor other young, at-risk men and encourage them towards graduating high school, community service, staying away from drugs, and pursuing honest work.

A program in Baltimore bring youths together with volunteer second “families” to help guide them through turbulent times.

Child-mentoring programs around the United States have helped at-risk youth during crucial years of development. However, New York City's Friends of the Children has improved the model by placing at-risk youth with adult mentors for 12 years. The forged relationships between mentor and developing child have greatly reduced the probability of teenage pregnancy, incarceration, and school drop-outs, and is cost saving.

Play Cousins Collective helps Black youth build self-confidence and celebrate their identity and culture through hands-on activities, community building and access to free educational programs and therapy. Over 1,700 youth and families participated in the program last year.

A group in Chicago called Good Kids, Mad City is made up of youth who have been affected by gun violence. They offer support and accountability to each other and use the group as a way to cope with the daily violence they face every day. In addition to the therapeutic benefits of the group, the youth have even lobbied and passed legislation that expunges non-violent marijuana offenses as part of the state’s marijuana legalization proposal.

SOS Children's Villages is a non-profit group that services more than 80,000 kids. Their successful model emphasizes love, family, and relationships, even though the children aren't being raised in a "traditional" family.

When Washington state introduced higher standards for child care, many feared that home-based centers, including those run by women from Somalia, would close. But a group spearheaded by nonprofit Voices of Tomorrow arranged for training and materials in East African languages, helping a stunning 94 percent of providers to acquire the necessary license and to keep their centers - vital especially for low-income, immigrant families - open for business.