AMERICAN GIVING | Strengthening communities through generosity
29 January 2009
Community-based Groups Combat Crime in American Cities
In Baltimore, men who grew up in trouble steer teens away from gangs
Baltimore — One recent Tuesday evening, 14-year-old Troy Robinson was in a city park when his cousin, who was standing next to him, was shot and killed. The next day, his dark-skinned young face hardened by what he had witnessed, Troy spoke with America.gov about growing up in one of this city's worst neighborhoods.
“I see a lot of people with guns and selling drugs,” he said, “things I shouldn't be seeing.”
Yet in a community where more young men go to prison than to college, Troy said there is a positive force giving him hope: a small, private organization that works with young people who, like Troy, have been in trouble with the law. The group, called Reaching the Unreachable Outreach Ministry, is run by the Reverend André H. Humphrey, a 52-year-old Baptist minister who grew up in these same rough streets and was in trouble with the law as a teenager. “He's trying to teach me the right thing,” said Troy.
Located in a row house in this high-crime neighborhood on the city's east side, the program provides training on computers and sewing machines. It helps young school dropouts get a high school equivalency diploma, teaches young people how to present themselves for employment and helps them find jobs. Just as important, the program provides a safe after-school haven — away from the pull of drug-dealing gangs — for children who may have no adult at home until evening.
Twice a week, Humphrey is called to a hospital or morgue to provide counseling to a distraught family that has lost a son to violence. He is also called to mediate disputes between gangs before the conflicts turn violent. The minister, a large man who looks younger than his years, said he is able to talk with gang members because he “used to be a thug.” Having run into trouble as a youngster, Humphrey has “street credibility,” something social workers from more middle-class backgrounds may lack.
His program, which helps up to 100 young people each year, has gotten funding from private foundations, the city government and even Baltimore's police department. These groups believe that by giving young people an alternative to the gangs, Humphrey’s project and others like it make neighborhoods safer. Baltimore, a major port on America's East Coast, long has been one of the country's most violent cities. For several decades, it has ranked among the top 10 U.S. cities in terms of murder rates, with nearly 300 homicides each year.
But after years in which Baltimore missed out on a nationwide trend of falling murder rates, the city appears to have registered a roughly 20 percent reduction for 2008.
Authorities attribute falling crime rates across the country in part to a growing number of local initiatives. Neighborhood patrols walk streets, without guns, to signal their presence and report suspicious activities to police. Churches and civic associations host activities for children and counseling for families. Victims' associations lobby for longer prison terms for criminals.
Ex-offenders have gotten particular attention for their efforts to stop gang violence and work with troubled teenagers. Edward “Ted” Sutton used to be an enforcer-for-hire for criminal groups. He says he turned his life around 15 years ago, after seeing close friends killed. He opened his home to gang members who were trying to go straight and he went to college to get an education. Now, he mentors troubled students in two public schools under the auspices of a nonprofit group, High Expectations.
“A lot of them don't think they'll live long,” he said of the youngsters with whom he works, so they don't see the point of investing time and energy to get an education. Sutton tries to help them develop their talents, and has helped some start careers as artists, singers or security contractors. “I try to show them that selling drugs is not the only option,” he said.
Philip J. Leaf, director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence, said that some reformed criminals are “really effective” in mentoring and in intervening when gangs appear headed toward a clash.
“They don't have command and control, but they know the people who do,” he said.
Leaf said that for much of U.S. history, immigrants, workers, churchgoers and others have formed associations to further their interests. In recent years, government agencies have increased their support of such initiatives, seeing such groups as essential to reducing crime.
“Clearly, there has been a recognition that the more local the organization, the better [its] ability to know the needs of the local people,” said Leaf. The goal, he said, is “getting people to take responsibility for their own [street] corners.”
He added that a constant challenge for those working with the often undereducated young people in poor neighborhoods is finding them jobs that can provide at least some income and status as an alternative to the easy cash they can earn in the illegal drug trade.
Meanwhile, as Troy Robinson struggles to define his future, the murder of his cousin has given him reason to reject the gangs that hold sway over many youngsters in his neighborhood. “I don't want to end up like him, in the grave,” he said.
Photo Gallery: Saving Tough Neighborhoods, One Teenager at a Time