The Joseph Gabriel Foundation, in partnership with Democracy Prep Harlem High School, recently hosted a youth violence prevention forum at the Africa Center to raise awareness about the impact of gun violence on young people and bring together a panel of experts to discuss solutions.
Michelle Gabriel, president of the foundation and an English teacher at Democracy Prep, organized the event after hearing concerns from her students about gun violence in their neighborhoods and gang activity around the school.
“They don’t feel safe in their community, they don’t feel safe in their neighborhoods, they don’t feel safe when they travel,” Gabriel said.
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“I always have to carry pepper spray, a knife, scissors. I have to bring weapons to protect myself, and that shouldn’t have to happen. I should be able to go outside and feel like I’m safe, I can walk around,” said Rayne Blake, a tenth grade student at Democracy Prep.
After a spike during the height of the pandemic, rates of gun violence have decreased across the country, including in New York City. But the violence remains concentrated in poor, largely Black and Brown neighborhoods that have faced disinvestment for decades. NYPD data also showed that in 2024, the number of robbery and assault victims under the age of 18 reached the highest totals in five years.
The event began with students from Democracy Prep performing dances, speeches, and poetry, much of which touched on the traumatizing impact of gun violence. Gabriel said she wanted the forum to start by celebrating her students’ artistic work in the context of Black History Month.
“Originally, it was just going to be the [panel]. [But] I was like, how are we just going to show the dark side and not show the Black excellence, and all of the wonderful things that young people are doing,” she explained.
The students then introduced the topics of the subsequent panel, which started with a discussion of youth mental health and its role in fueling violence. Gabby Moran, a mental health counselor and social worker, noted that around 70 percent of youth involved in the juvenile justice system have a diagnosable mental health disorder, and that children growing up in poverty are more than twice as likely to struggle with mental illness.
“If we don’t provide the right supports in schools, neighborhoods, and homes, we deny young people the help they need, and let problems continue,” Moran said.
“By creating proactive mental health programs [and] building supportive environments, we can help change the course of these young peoples’ lives for the better,” she added.
Wayne McKenzie, an Assistant District Attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, spoke about the Office’s efforts to combat gun violence.
“We need to have a focus on the most serious crimes and the most serious offenders,” he said, detailing the office’s efforts to disrupt gun trafficking. “But there is an equally, or even more important aspect to this work. And that is preventing the gun violence in the first place.”
He highlighted the Office’s summer youth prevention program that has in each of the past four years provided $200,000 in grants to community-based organizations.
Lemuria Alawode-El from the city’s Gun Violence Prevention Task Force spoke about the importance of upstream efforts to prevent gun violence.
“If people live in quality housing, and they feel good about their community, they act differently when they come outside … If the schools have the resources that they need, then children will be educated and won’t turn to violence as a last resort or as an opportunity,” she explained.
In 2023, the Task Force announced a $485 million plan that, in part, would target investments in six precincts with the highest rates of violence. In one of those precincts, Brownsville, the Task Force coordinated city funding to renovate a park in the Van Dyke public housing development. Because the basketball courts there were run down — Alawode-El said they hadn’t been renovated in over 25 years — the Van Dyke residents were traveling to another public housing development to play basketball. Community members said that was resulting in a number of shootings at the development.
“As a result [of the renovation], we stopped seeing shots fired in that area where young people were traveling to go play basketball,” Alawode-El said.
Norman Scott, a youth advocate who was a member of the hip-hop and breaking group Rock Steady Crew, criticized the role of drill music in fueling social media feuds that can also lead to actual violence.
“Our kids are actually celebrating the death of each other in media outlets, and we’re allowing that to happen,” he said.
Tarsha Gibbons, founder of Gibbons Family Fitness, emphasized the role of diet in youth behavior and the importance of healthy eating.
“Whether we realize it or not, a lot of times [kids] are angry or they’re frustrated because they are devoid of nutrients,” she said. “So you’re going to see more violence in the schools, you’re going to see more violence in the streets, because they are not being fed nutritiously.”
Gabriel said she hopes people left the event with a key takeaway: to include young people in discussions of gun violence and other issues that impact their lives.
“I want to dispel the stereotype that Black and Brown kids are not interested in real issues that matter,” she said. “Young people care.”
Shannon Chaffers is a Report for America corps member and writes about gun violence for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.