Addressing Youth Violence Together
(Post Date: 4.16.24)
Four Richmond Public Schools students have been shot and killed since Easter Sunday. According to RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras, 169 young people have been shot in our city since 2019 – and 43 of them have died.
Yesterday, the Superintendent shared “The bullets tear not only through bodies, but also through the connective tissue of our communities. With each wound, our neighborhoods and the social bonds that strengthen them become even more stressed. Many are at the breaking point.”
There is a temptation for those of us who are in the directly impacted communities to grow numb to the violence for the sake of functioning and survival. There is a temptation for those of us outside the community to go about our days as if this violence is not happening.
As followers of Jesus we are called to engage in both the beauty and brokenness in our community. How can we do that? Here are a few suggestions that will help us seek the peace and prosperity of the city in which we have been placed (Jeremiah 29) and to engage in the work of repair and restoration that we’re designed for (Isaiah 58):
PRAYER.
Begin with lament, a biblical form of prayer that gives voice to the brokenness of our humanity, vocalizes pain and sorrow, and cries out to a God who hears for justice and healing.
As you move into supplication and intercession, remember Ephesians 6:12 which says that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
· Pray for the victim’s families, friends, neighbors, classmates, and teachers. Pray for the first responders, chaplains, mental health and social workers.
· Pray at home or do a prayer walk with friends at the 21 hot spots for gun violence that the Richmond Police Department has identified:
https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/richmond-police-pinpoint-gun-violence-hot-spots-following-surge-of-shooting-deaths/
· Pray with others at one of several ongoing prayer gatherings for city schools, including one with Young Life at John Marshall H.S. this Thursday at 8:15 am:
https://www.facebook.com/richmondyounglife
· Pray with us for Metro Richmond at our annual Christian Leadership Prayer Breakfast on May 2nd:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/868579122537?aff=oddtdtcreator
PRESENCE.
If you have the ability to be regularly present and invest in a young person’s life, consider joining in on an existing mentoring, tutoring, or coaching opportunity. A few organizations we recommend include:
The Micah Initiative which is working with Communities in Schools to support Southside schools
Richmond City Young Life which focuses on the Northside
https://www.facebook.com/richmondyounglife
Youth Life Foundation which supports Northside and Southside schools
RISE Richmond, Peter Paul, Hope Center RVA, and Servant Partners which support the East End
https://www.servantpartners.org/richmond
PARTNERSHIP.
Not everyone has the capacity to be present in a young person’s life. It takes commitment. We can all partner with those who do have a presence.
There are the parachurch organizations listed above who need financial and project partners but there are also countless local churches in the community whose youth pastors are regularly ministering to RPS students. We recently had an opportunity to sit down with several of them and they too could use the support of individuals and churches. If you would like to be connected to those churches, email info@forrichmond.org.
You could also consider partnering with RPS by donating to the Trauma Healing Response Fund that was established last year by the RPS Education Foundation to support the well-being of students, families, and educators.
PREVENTION.
Our city must continue to shift from responding to violence to preventing violence. This includes developing programs, policies, and funding streams for community-based resources, mental health resources, and proven Gun Violence Interruption strategies.
RISC has been supporting Group Violence Intervention (GVI), an evidence-based program to prevent gun violence that has been implemented in cities around the country, including Hopewell, VA. RISC is organizing a GVI Roundtable, which will be a forum for explaining the program and engaging local officials regarding the topic of gun violence prevention.
When: May 20th 6:30pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Third Street Bethel AME Church
Who: Mayoral Candidates, the Commonwealth Attorney, REAL LIFE, RISC members, and any interested local residents
What: We plan to fully educate the officials about GVI, and give them a chance to ask questions.
How: You can RSVP HERE.
By joining together in prayer, presence, partnership, and prevention, we will have an impact on the lives of young people in our community so that they can truly live out their inherent, God-given potential.