City Council - Regular Meeting

All right.

Good afternoon everybody. Um today is May 14th, 2026. Um this is an official meeting for the public safety committee here um for the uh city council. We're going to go over um the Shannon Grant um and all the uh wonderful authorities who are here today. Um so those of you who do not know me, uh my name is Jerry Martin. I'm city councelor for W 7 here in the city of Springfield. I'm also joined by my colleagues in government, um school committee woman, uh Rosa Valentine. Thank you for coming. Um, nobody else in person. Um, I am joined by, um, some of my colleagues on the council virtually. We have council Justin Hurst, we have councelor Victor Dava, and we have councelor Lavar Click Bruce. Thank you for joining, gentlemen. Um, yeah. So, um, couple weeks ago, Oh, hello. um council president uh Tracy Whitfield reached out to me um expressing an interest in um hosting a meeting regarding around the um Shannon Grant and um to be truthful this is uh first time I've heard of it as a you know new newly elected city councelor so good opportunity to make myself aware other counselors who may be unaware aware and um the public so to my understanding and it's an initiative from the state to help curb um gang and and and youth violence which is obviously very um very important and a concern here uh in the city of Springfield. So I'm joined here by a lot of people by a lot of awardees. Um if anybody else wants to further comment on what the shanning grant actually does and further elaborate that would be helpful too. If anybody know would like to articulate it in a way more deeply than I understand it

you would

well just going back since I've been with Shannon since day one um the grant itself has just done amazing work over the years and yes it definitely targets but it's it's really designed at targeting at risk youth before they become hardcore gang members before they become come SSY youth. So every youth that comes in, we have to do an assessment on each youth that comes into any of our programs and that will determine if they actually are a qualified Shannon risk youth because those are the only youth we're really supposed to be serving. So again, a lot of our youth that that we're serving are young people who might have a foot into kind of the gang area or want to be gang members or are kind of affiliated because they walk out their door and they're in a certain neighborhood. So we want to get these at risk youth and and work with them. A lot of them have mental health issues. A lot of them have a lot of family issues. I mean, there's just a lot of stuff going on in a 12, 13, 14, 15 year old youth. And I think with the people in this room, we really are making a difference. And um it's it's really, you know, again, I've been with Shannon a long time and we have some great partners in this room and we all kind of have our specialty and what we're doing. So, if I can't do it, I can call Jason or I can call this one or I can call that one. So, it really is a shared effort and I have to say Kyle's been doing an amazing job and um the lieutenant, Lieutenant Benoy, I mean, they have just kind of put this thing together and really is being run the way it's supposed to be run. Yeah.

It's not just a a a throwaway money because so many programs over the years that money's just given out and people aren't really doing what they're supposed to be doing. So, I hope I kind of touched on that a little bit. Um there may be other people in the room who can touch on as well. Um but again it's really that kind of young male and female to actress use. Get them off the street, get them into a good program, get them surrounded by people who care about them, put them in a safe environment, give them something to do so they're not out in the street and that's why I think we do so well in this room. Yeah, that was very excellent articulation. Thank you. Thank you. And I I also like to acknowledge our representative from the Springfield Police Department. Um, thank you so much for being here.

And if you if you wouldn't mind just introducing yourself and explaining your role and and how you know you're able to pull everyone together.

I'm Kyla Rmmer. I'm the police grant administrator. I don't just manage Shannon. I manage all of the police department grants. Shannon, I have to say, is my favorite. I get to meet and engage with all these great programs in the city that I personally had no idea even existed until I started at the police department and advocating for youth. I have two boys at home. Like, I was the oldest of many siblings. I have six total. So, I'm the oldest. I always took care of them. And watching some of these kids struggle to even express how they feel cuz they don't feel safe at home, at school, wherever it is. Having a program where they can trust that they're going to be listened to. Because parents, as a parent, I'm like, "Oh, you're fine. that it's just your reaction, but being a part of it now, I don't know. It's we have to help these kids.

Absolutely. Yeah.

That's that's great. Thank you for sharing that. Would you mind just going a little bit into, you know, how, you know, one of the organizations could apply for the grant, whe qualifications and whatnot people, you know, you as the organization look at before granting these grants. Right now we do a RFP process. We put out a solicitation and any community organization can apply and there's a scoring rubric that goes over program. Are you reaching that 10 to 24 age group? What do you hit? stabilization, prevention, intervention, all these different parts of Shannon. It's not just suppression. It's not just pre. It's all of it together because if you can catch it before the police do, that's the police are the suppression portion. They go catch the hard criminals selling drugs where the kids are at home in that situation and they do a great job because the amount of cases they had last year there's and we refer them to these programs too for the kids.

Um yeah, that's great. No, thank you. Thank you again. So, I think we'll just take the time now to go around the room, talk to each of the awardees and hear how, you know, hear about your organization a little bit, how you plan on spending the grant, how much you've received in the grant, and just um, you know, and whatever else you'd like to share. So, we have our first volunteers. Would you mind if I share the PowerPoint? Is that okay? First, are you guys all I'm together? I'm a research partner. So, I help out with the collecting some the data, doing all the research piece of this. Okay. But you're you're with our first volunteers, our first group. No, if I'm independent. Oh, okay. I am completely independent from the grant. Okay.

Touch on each person and that person can talk about the problem. Okay. Okay. Now, we put together slides for each agency, sent over their information and stuff, and that's okay. Beautiful. Yeah. Thank you, princess. Okay. Nice. You're presenting all of us. Okay. That's great. Team player. See if this works here. This is great. Share.

All right. So, real quick, if I'll take the first couple slides, this is based off of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Pre and um Delinquency Prevention, OJJDP, their comprehensive gang model. They use five different pieces to try to address the gang issues. And this is used throughout the country. It's community mobilization opportunities provision, social intervention, suppression, which is a law enforcement piece, and organizational change and development. You want me to go over all of these that be discretion? Um the community mobilization is the involvement of local citizens, former gang members, community groups and agencies and the coordination of programs and staff functions within and across agencies. Opportunities provisions provides a variety of education, training, employment and re-entry programs specific to engaging gang involved youth and young adults. Social interventions are youth serving agencies, schools, street outreach, outreach workers, grass, grassroot groups, faith-based organizations, law enforcement agencies, and other criminal justice organizations. Reaching out and acting as links between gang involved youth, families, and needed services. suppression, formal and informal social controls, procedures, accountability measures, including law enforcement, close supervision and monitoring of gang involved youth by agencies working in collaboration with community service providers, schools, and grassroots groups. And lastly, the organizational change in development, its development and implementation of policies and procedures that result in the most effective use of available and potential resources to better address the gang problem. So all of the agencies that are in this room have one or two pieces of these five core strategies in their um philosophy and in their programming.

So just some quick stats. This is from the Shannon 2025 brief. So this is for the last fiscal year. Um 20 youth received K management services. 683 youth received outreach services. With the community mobilization, 210 community members attended events, meetings, presentations. There were two community events, meetings, and presentations held. Education employment, 1,36 youth participated in an education program. 263 youth participated in an employment program. Positive youth development and recreation. 1,217 youth participated in a recreation program. 1,588 youth participated in youth development programs and suppression. There were 41 hotspot patrols completed and 131 arrest of gang members, high impact players during hotspot patrols, warrant sweeps or home visits. So that was the police piece on that. Just some stats. The population just compared um Springfield has a higher population that lives in poverty as compared to the state 25.8%. The unemployment rate is slightly higher. The total school population is about 25,880. Low income is about 82% of the population in Springfield. And the dropout rate is 3.9. And previously it was significantly higher than that. So that's gone up. Right now we have approximately 65 street gangs with about 1,00 to,200 gang members between the ages of 10 and 24. So one of the pieces of having Shannon youth in the program is the partners are supposed to do these risk assessments to see whether or not they're suitable

candidates for the program. So they ask a series of 30 27 almost 30 questions or so about different factors of gang involvement and different risk factors and it is scored and 48% of the risk were um lower risk. So they're in danger of engaging in risky behavior or gang activity. About 28% were the moderate risk. They were exposed to the same risk factors as the low-risk youth as well as additional risk factors such as truency and about 24% were high risk. So their perpetrators are victims of shooting or stabbing violence and or are known gang members. So in all the risk that that was assessed that's part of it. Just some quick trends here. Um arrest from simple assault Massachusetts increased about 5% and Springfield did too. Um, arrest for robberies 2021 to 2025, Mass increased 20, Springfield was only 8%. But, um, arrest for aggravated assault. Massachusetts did increase, but Springfield did go up, uh, 49%. So, just some very quick stats in that.

And Lieutenant Benoy is on the Zoom if you have any other police department questions. I'm sorry, who's on the Zoom? Lieutenant Benoy. Who's on the Zoom? Okay, thank you. Also, just so you know, we've been involved with Shannon since 2006, which Katie. Okay. So, so far this year, Shannon, we're trying to do more community events and that's been part of our um piece. So, Isla and Jason attended the um Shannon Day on the Hill. Do you want to give a quick uh

um my name is Jason Kahill. I'm the director of recreation enrichment over at New North Citizens Council. Um I had the pleasure of of course taking two of our uh teens uh from our after school program over to the state house day to of course advocate uh for Shannon funding. Uh it was a wonderful experience you know just bringing those two youth out there eighth graders that are heavily influenced by you know not only their environment but their community and their peers. um that day, you know, them seeing other teens uh from across the state represent their programs meant a lot to them. And on our way back, they just kept on emphasizing how important events like this were to them and how much they want to participate in these events moving forward. So, that day was wonderful. And of course, it was wonderful uh taking the tour with Kyla uh and the youth.

That's awesome. Thank you for doing that. Thank you. And then so far this year, we had one popup public safety event over at Union Station. We did one last year. We started off doing one this year. Um I don't know if any of the partners that were there would like to give a quick live talk. Let's see. Somebody

So um me and my instructors actually went to the popup and it was really fun. The picture actually towards the bottom right there with all the students who came over. We were doing a red flag and green flag activity which is really fun. So just being out there engaging with the youth and meeting them where they're at as well is such a really fun thing to do and also a positive thing for youth. So it's a really great day

also. Um I would um we're on the top um share the table with the um Salvation Army with families against violence organization. So um we did share our table and it was nice and then on top of that when we was at the station there were families in there. there was youth there that she really they needed some help. She was going through a situation, a domestic violence situation. Um she by her being young and her mom referred her to us. So we was able to um help her and bring her in as give her an assessment and give her the counseling that she needed.

That's that's tremendous. Yeah. A lot of cooperation, collaboration. Another thing about the Union Station, the day of the event, the diversion officer from the district attorney's office came down and part of being in diversion, you're not supposed to be in Union, no one's supposed to be in Union Station, but she went kind of walking around. She went in the tunnels, the the parking lot. Actually, some youth tried to get into her car when she was getting into the parking lot. He said it was a mistake, but she saw a lot of young people who shouldn't be there. and you know being there they can be thrown out diversion and have to go back in front of a judge. So um as we all know and I'm sure the police department can tell you as everybody in this room knows it's it's really an issue for young people being there. Um it's not a good situation. So it was a success last time and we're planning on doing another one in June. We're going to schedule it during our next meeting which is coming up on the last Wednesday of the month. We don't have a date for it yet, but we're trying to do something right before school ends so we can basically blast it out there of all the different excuse me programs and opportunities that are going to be available throughout the summer. So

that's awesome. I'd love to be put in the loop with that too. I'm sure other counselors. So as you guys, you know, get through information, you know, contact Kyla or reach out to the council office and, you know, keep us in the loop with all that stuff. That's Can I ask a question? Yeah. Is this prevention or intervention? What this is this stuff that you're doing here? Is it is there pre is it prevention or is it intervention? It's prevention, intervention, and suppression. So it's all three of them. The goal is to obviously prevent the problem, but if the problem cannot be prevented, then there's the intervention piece. And then if that doesn't unfortunately work, there is a suppression piece.

So this is for the age. So this is the targeted population from 10 to 24 years of age that are participating in this event that these tables events that that that you're having as a sharing grant by the

these are eligible for everybody but um a lot of the kids that are probably going to be coming in there given their location or their circumstances they could potentially be at they could have potential risk factors that could entice them into the gang life or deal with various issues involved with that trauma and all of that. So there's all but there's a lot of different services and by putting it out there gives them an opportunity to kind of see what's out there. Even if they just want to get out get so somewhere safe, get somewhere to play basketball or to hang out or get someone to talk to. There's a ton of different opportunities out there for them. The hot topic that day was Jason with the summer jobs at Jason.

Yeah. So, um, one of our programs over at the NCC youth surface, uh, youth service department is youth works, uh, via mass hire. Fortunately, that day I had a QR code on me. So, of course, youth were able to come around, scan the QR codes, and start applying for jobs. Uh, of course, um, teens right now getting ready for the summer, they want to work. So, it's just given that opportunity to put out there. Um it is a lottery process. So just trying to of course have the youth apply as soon as they can to then be able to follow up via email. That's a quick question. Um so those that are in the programs are gang affiliate or are they how how do you know that? How do we how do we know that?

Well, I can talk. So all my kids have been arrested. They all come from the district attorney's office. It's a second year program. Okay.

Have been completed their records expuned. Would I say my kids are gang members? No, I wouldn't say they're gang members. I would say they're want to be gang members. They want people to think they're gang members, but are they actual gang members? No. Have I had kids, and I've been doing this for 29 years now. Have I had kids who've been murdered? Who have I had kids who've killed people? Absolutely. Did they go the wrong route? Absolutely. So, again, our our goal potentially um is to prevent them from being going down the wrong avenue. And are these youth put on a gang data data at all?

No. No. Again, you know, just speaking from doing this 29 years, if I had somebody, you know, again, the problem nowadays, if you live in Knox Street, you live in Sycamore, you walk out your door, people affiliate you with Knox Street, they affiliate with Sycamore, they affiliate with the street. Because in Springfield, I'm sure as you know, there's a lot of posies. There's a lot of neighborhood gangs that come together. So depending on where you live, if you walk outside your door, sometimes you're affiliated with that and sometimes you'll say you're Knox Street or this or that, but you're not really that bad of a kid. You're not doing real harmful things, but you want people to think you're associated. Um so no, we don't keep a um but the report that we do, it asks a question. One of the questions on the what's the report called?

The ROIcus. Yeah. So there's individual risk assessment. Are you a gang member? Have you ever been a gang member? Do you associate with gang members? Now, a lot of these kids are going to lie to you anyways. Some will tell you yes, just because they want you to think they're cool. So, I mean, it just goes both ways. So, um yeah, most of the kids are good kids. They're just they're coming from tough situations. Um you know, there's a lot of foster care kids, there's a lot of DCF kids, a lot of kids living in group homes. they just don't have anybody who really, you know, wants to help them or care about them. So, if you were to roughly say out of the thousand 1,200 kids that are in this program, what would the actual percentage of kids who are in a gang aren't

that are conferred? That's really hard to say. Self assessment. I mean, we have the assessments and um Dr. Al can give you more and like if they're low risk, medium risk or high risk.

Um he has that That's so I I just want to say my name is Charles Stokes. Um I spent most of my life on the corner of Catherine and Bay and then we moved over to Burgger Circle and then I went to prison for about 20 years and it became Sycamore. Right. And then you have Pendleton Park that became the black top. Then it went to the A. Then you had Rifle Street. So there's not 65 gangs in the city of Springfield. There's Burblock, Sycamore, A, Knox, A, the Latin Kings, Nietas, Solids, and now the Bloods are here in the city of Springfield. And so Springfield ranks as either the first or second deadliest city in the Commonwealth to live in. The number one cause of violence is through gun violence. Over the last five years, the only community that has suffered death through gun violence has been the African-American and African Latino community. And so my question is, is what's the intervention being doing? Are are you going to Burblock? Are you going to Sycamore? Do you know who the shooters are? Do you know who the drug dealers are? Do you know who the influencers are? Because this is what's happening.

Mr. Stokes, if I can stop you just for Well, when I finish, you can stop me. Okay. Yes, you can. But it's two different programs. You're talking Shannon and there's SSY. That's for Shannon Grant are for to prevent gun violence, right? Part of it.

So, part of it is the people who are receiving funding. In 2024, we had the highest murder rate in the history of Springfield. I buried my son's friend, my friend's son, James Brown Jr., right? During this time, the mayor had this conf uh stakeholders and he allotted money to prevent gun violence. Gun violence has not decreased in the city of Springfield over the last 10 years. This is the There are over 200 unsolved homicides of black and Latino men in the city of Springfield over the last 10 years. Right. And so the question now becomes and this is not to cast the Spurs on the work that you're doing. What we are seeing is there is no intervention. There is there is no the only intervention is with ROA each court um and if you're in DY um and um

sheriff's department sheriff that's sheriff's department and there's no really intervention in Lello that people with lived experience can go in and try to circumvent some of the violence. So my my question is there is you said two types prevention and intervention. Yeah.

There is to our understanding and from the people that the shooters and the drug dealers and those who are on Knoxav Bird Block and Sycamore are not participating in any of these events. there the the shooters, the killers, the murderers, the influencers are not coming to none of these events. And so my question is, how do we help the the Shannon Grant initiative to do more direct intervention with the people who are the influencers?

Mr. Sto, I I I appreciate your your comments and and what you're eliciting a lot of. Let's leave it. Let's go back to the presentation here. We're we're getting a lot of information. We're learning a lot from, you know, what Mr. Falo has mentioned earlier about some of the murderers, some of these perpetrators that they are in fact dealing with. We understand there's very Springfield specific streets and gangs and affiliates and we, you know, we will get to those and we'll talk about them and we will touch upon them, but let us let the the people who, you know, will come here today to give us this presentation to continue to do so and we can circle back on those topics. Thank you.

One other point, your children are not dying in the street of city streets of Springfield, right? You're not going to the Nobody in here is going to the funerals. Nobody. I know you are. You don't have to take up for them. I know you are. I know you are. None of you guys are going to the funerals. Our loved ones are dying in the silly streets of Springfield. This presentation as wonderful and as great sounding as it is, it's not. And I'm telling you from the work they do the work that they do not community if you just let me know.

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. As city as city council president hold on. How these meetings traditionally run and what we put on the agenda for the city council meeting is to hear from each of the organizations and what they are doing with the Shannon grant fund. We have not got through the presentation to hear the information that is on the city council schedule

to hold on. In order for us to be in compliance with city council rules and with state charter rules, we are here to discuss what is on the city council agenda. So we need to get around the room, hear the presentations from each of the organizations and then the right order is to hear the questions from city council members first and from there we will entertain if we have enough time questions and comments from everyone else in the room. But we have to get back to the structure of the meeting and listen to the presentations and from there it's city council and then everyone else in the room. So please respect the order of the meeting and let's get back to the presentation.

Thank you so much for your presentation Tracy Witchfield. Thank you Madam President for chiming in and and and correcting the the train of uh this meeting. Um so continue on where we left off. Francis, would you like to pick us up? So, this is just a breakdown of the funding that was received. This is public information. Don't need to go into too much detail, but um the lower partners um with the 10,168 are new additions to the Shannon partnership. So, we're just going to go partner by partner. Each partner has a slide. So, we'll start off with the Springfield PD. I don't know if Lieutenant Benoy is on.

Okay. Lieutenant Benoy, would you be able to speak to this, sir?

Yes. Good evening. Um, sorry for my absence. I had a family commitment that kind of impeded with this. So, I'm here via Zoom. Um, I can't really read the slides from here, but what I can say is that the police department uh works collaboratively with the partners. Um we are readily available to the partners in regards to uh accessibility to officers for their programs. Um the police department function in this is primarily suppression. So by suppression, you know, we're deploying officers on the streets to intervene uh with criminal activity. Um we have over the last few years adjusted our uh deployments to a more strategic approach um where it's utilized for high um profile offenders that have arrest warrants and things like that. The firearms investigation unit is our primary unit that does suppression with the um Shannon funds. And again, uh, most of their deployments are based off of probable cause, arrest warrants, and apprehension, uh, for those individuals. If there is an uptick in identified gang activity or violence in an area, we do have the ability to deploy resources to assist.

All right. All right. Thank you, Lieutenant. Thank you very much, Lieutenant. Yes, sir. So, next we have the YW.CA.

So, hi everyone. My name is Eve McCrae and I'm the violence prevention supervisor at the YW.CA. I'm with Michelle Huish who is a director of youth violence prevention and court support programs at the YW.CA. And then with Elizabeth Denine, who is CEO um for the YW.CA West Massachusetts. We're here to go over um our violence prevention program which is called the Here Project. It stands for healthy empowering relationship in education. We teach youth throughout Springfield 12 through 18. So middle school, high schoolers um three curriculums. So the first one is relationship relationship dynamics. So that we get our curriculum from one love which is a national um recognized organization that helps teens realize the dangers of abuse um in relationships. So, we go over the town on health signs and abusive signs in relationships. So, students can learn like, hey, I'm seeing manipulation. I'm seeing intensity volatility in my relationships. Um, I need to leave. I need to get support. And we're there to help them find that support. So whether it's in school with school counselors, principles, um even after school programs such as NNCC, Boys and Girls Club, Salvation Army, um just providing the resources like hey this are the warning signs of a domestic violence or any type of situation whether it's family um relationships or even friendships we talk about and here are here are some resources that are in the community and also how can we find your three PS we call it the three support so peers professionals um or I think parents was a third one so that's a relationship dynamics one we also have a human trafficking prevention curriculum that one we talk about online safety um a lot now and day I would say modern days a lot of kids um are on social

media whether it's Tik Tok Instagram Facebook Twitter um everything and sometimes people aren't watching ing what they're doing on it. Um, and a lot of times that's what traffickers and child exploitators, they take advantage of that. Um, which is very unfortunate, which is why we want to teach this program to youth to know the signs of, hey, someone's asking for private information on Instagram DMs or Snapchat. Um, how can we come up with a support system for you can tell someone whether it's not your parents or someone in the school. Um, so that's the human trafficking one. We also do safety planning too because students, our youth, they're going to do what they want to do unfortunately. Um, but having a safety plan, so making sure their phones are fully charged, making sure someone has their location, things like that to safety plan for them, so if they do risk behavior, people know where they're at. And then we also talk about exploitation and what human trafficking is as well. And our last one is bystander intervention. So that one kind of go go goes over what bystander um the bystander effect is. So primarily you're not helping in a situation where someone needs help. So we teach students to become upstanders in their communities. So um intervening if it's like a medical issue, a bullying in the schools, any type of violence, um helping them stand up for the victim in that situation. and whether it's getting, you know, the police or getting an adult um to step into the situation, that's still being an upstander. So, all three curriculums um they learn leadership skills um and they learn how to do good deeds and do things good for the community as well. And last year we served 620 youth um all last year through Springfield schools and after school clubs. And now this year in 2026, since January, we served 350 students. Um, so far more to come, but

we're really excited and we're really happy to be doing, you know, the work and meeting with the youth and seeing, you know, what they're seeing in their lives and everything. When we do tableablings, we actually ask students, um, write one thing that was said or done to you in a healthy relationship and write one thing, um, that was said to you or done to you in an unhealthy relationship. Um, I can pass it around as well, but a lot of the unhealthy ones, they talk about rape, sexual assault, um, violence, whether it's with their partner or their family member or just a friend, which is really sad to hear, but it just shows why we're out in the community and why we're doing this work. Because it's not we're not going there because just to go there, right? It's because teachers are emailing me. um students or or even parents when we go to tables like you know my kid is on is online and I know they're doing risk behaviors they're not listening to me I know you going in they're going to listen to you because you're a different face um we even had success stories numerous success stories um one we had was a teacher actually emailed me a whole paragraph um and was saying after the second day um of you going in and teaching my class one of the students realized that they were in a very unhealthy relationship with a boyfriend that they were with for two to three years. Um, and she broke up with him right then and there because she saw the warning signs. She's like, I don't want to go down the wrong road. So, it was really good to um hear as well. And we also have youth who if you could see on the PowerPoint that leave us you know really cute letters and everything and thanking us like so much for coming in and teaching them because a lot of times I would say sometimes they don't get the education on unhealthy you know relationships and human trafficking and bystander intervention because sometimes it might seem as a taboo subject but it's really good just to go into the community teach kids so they're aware of it because unfortunately it is happening. It's not something we can

kind of push aside and pretend like it's not happening because it is happening unfortunately. And yeah, and then that's my team up there. So I'm in the middle. Um should I move this one? This little black.

Yeah. So that's um my team. Um I'm in the middle. On the left of me um is Jasmine. That's one of my instructors. On the right of me is Jacqueline. Um and then the bottom picture is the three guys of our group we like to say. So we have Chris in the middle and on the right we have Matt. And on the left we have Gami. So some of you guys might have seen us in the schools or after school programs. We also go to C3 um community um meetings and also tableabling events. So you might see us around and everything. But overall we're really here just to make a difference and you know be that lifeline for youth who may not have that support. Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing. Yeah. I'm sorry. Oh okay.

Add something. Yeah. uh one of her staff members actually was one of our Shannon Grant participants when I first started with New North Citizens Council and it is wonderful to see that she was able to secure a wonderful position that she has now being able to give back to the same community that she came from. That's phenomenal. That's that's really great to hear. I'll just add her name her name.

Thank you E for going over that we are the prevention part of the Shannon. we are working directly and we are not only educating but spreading awareness so that the youth are able to identify um and before you know before changing or um what's it called before going deep into unhealthy relationships our goal is that they're able to identify and make a change ask for help ask for support or make a decision that says you know this doesn't feel right I'm not going to go to this party or this doesn't feel right? I'm going to call somebody for help. Um, and prevention is the first

kind of the first road on the safer side.

And kind of to add to Michelle as well, we have other programs at the YDCA that aren't Shannon funded related. Um, those are more of the interventions. So, like Michelle said for prevention, but we have um free and confidential counseling services for DV SA um situations. We even have um a full shelter on our campus as well that helps people who are fleeing from a domestic violence, sexual assault, or even human trafficking situation. So, we're really wraparound services at the YW.CA. So, even if we have kids um who have said they've been um abused and stuff like that, they're able to go to the YW.CA and get services for free and for confidential. And so ultimately at the end of the day what we're hoping is to prevent murders or human trafficking from occurring whether it's uh domestic human trafficking for work or dome or sexual human trafficking. So uh you know this has been highly successful and I thank the granters from the bottom of my heart for giving us money every year for this.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. I just want to share two sentences I open. So those are anonymous so it's confidential but uh write one things that are done to you that's unhealthy and most of the youth we serve is between 12 and 18. They're middle schools and high schoolers. A lot of them are middle schoolers. Um I got punched in the face and got a black eye. Um yeah. No validation of feelings. Use me for my stuff. Do what I say or I'll kill you. If we were both on that show and I saw another sexy man, I'm not picking you. I'm sorry. And they get worse. I've never read these before. Um, but I was told I need to go to the gym. Leave me alone. Getting beat by your partner. I'll stop there. Um, stop me and force me to do things against my will. So, youth in Springfield are saying these things and from our perspective, when we see those things, we are helping them identify that those things are unhealthy, but we're also helping them get the intervention part. Um, that's it.

Thank you. Next, I will yield to Anthony from Salvation Army. So, Kyle asked me to keep it under three to four minutes. So,

I'm just going to give you some main facts and I just want to touch on two things which I think are very important. Most of you know what we do. We've been doing this for the last 29 years. And there was a lot of comments on um Councelor Hurst page about Salvation Army. And the reason we don't advertise is because one, they're a church and they don't advertise. And two, we're a court diversion program. So we're not advertised if you're, you know, if your child gets arrested, come see us. So, but I think people know the work we do. So again, we are a youth diversion program. Youth are 12 to 18. They're mandated by the court to come to us. It's a six-month program. It's a educationalbased curriculum. Our success rate over the last 29 years has been about 82% of our youth have stayed school and not refunded. Once a youth completes our program, their records expuned. It's a second chance program. Our um youth are automatically Shannon eligible because every one of our youth have been arrested. Um you know um our program is now a national program for the Salvation Army all over the country. We are in the process of becoming an evidence-based program. For those, you know, it takes forever. It's so much work and so much money. Thank God someone gave us a grant to do it. Um, our program is holistic because we don't just deal with the youth, we deal with their families. Um, we give them food, we give them clothing, we provide fuel assistance. We are the Salvation Army and the Salvation Army, we get $67,000 a year. We get the most by far.

We took a 31% cut this year from what we did. The Salvation Army puts in about $200,000 of their own money every year because they believe in this program. So, we're not in it for the money. We're in for the work they do. They're a church and they're good people. They pay me to do what they do, but they do the work because they want to help youth and their people in our communities. In 2010, we were named the best juvenile program in the country by then Attorney General Eric Holder in New Orleans. There's two things I just want to touch on real quick. One is we have a clinical portion to our program. So we have a clinician in our program because our kids are coming in our program. A lot of them are anger angry. They're bitter. They have mental health issues, unresolved trauma. We don't want our kids to become SSYI clients down the road. That's why they're Shannon clients. We don't want them to become those kind of kids. The clinical person works with the kids. They work with their family. They go to the house. Something else. We started a new initiative in 2025, a gun violence awareness campaign with the district attorney's office. I hired a gentleman by the name of Rick Baron. I don't know if some of you know him. He worked at the sheriff's department for many, many years. Rick put that gun violence protection, gun violence awareness protect program together for us. We host workshops, educational materials. We have people from the law enforcement, the DA's office. We have past gang members come in and talk to the kids. We talk about deescalating tense situations. Um, you know, we work with the families to create support. We really try to give the kids the understanding that what happens, what gun violence can lead to. As Mr. Stokes is saying, we don't want to see our kids in that category that he just described to us. Um, good news, we have just received, we are now taking over the Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program from DY. We were awarded the contract. So now our program is going to change. It's going to be a second part to our

program where we're going to be working with the police department, clerk magistrates, another part of the divers of the district attorney's office where kids who really need help who are out there. They're going to be referred to our program. It's going to be a lot of clinical stuff involved, a lot of outreach involved, a lot of helping the family. Um again, schools, probation, clerk magistrate. I met with the clerk magistrate. She's so excited to have a program like this. The police department as well. Um, and then lastly, and I kept this short, Kyle. So, the other thing we do in our program is the kids come to us. It's a six-month program. They got us, they come to our program for three months, they got to stay out of trouble for 6 months, their records expuned. But we don't want to stop our work there. So, what we've done is we started an afterare program on Tuesdays and Friday nights. We provide transportation. It's just good clean fun. They come in, they eat pizza, they watch movies, they play basketball, they hang out, we get them off the streets on a Tuesday night, but more importantly on a Friday night because these kids, a lot of our kids don't have anywhere to go.

Um, we, like I said, we're really the only diversion program around.

Um, we had to stop taking referrals from probation because we have so many youth in our program now. Um, we do about 135 kids a year, which may not sound like a lot to some of the programs, but it's really an intense program. It's a six-month program. There's followup, um, you know, working with the families, the schools, getting kids summer jobs, just a lot that goes on. And like I said, you're you're more than welcome anybody to stop by and see our program. We just put a kids in our situation we believe and put them in a safe environment and surround them about around good people and it has seemed to work for and don't get me wrong we've had horror stories. We've had bad situations. We have had kids killed. We have kids killed people. They became you know but again we service thousands of kids over the years. So you know unfortunately we're not going to be able to get them all. But we do the best possible work we can do and we have an amazing staff and I'll stop right there.

Thank you. Mr. Yes, please. The Boys and Girls Club of Cruise Street.

Hello everyone. My name's Yeti Nano. I'm the chief operating officer at the Springfield Boys and Girls Club. And I feel like the Boys and Girls Club is known for serving youth nationwide, but here at Springfield, we do the same thing, too. But we also have a specific teen program. and that lends to our work that we do with Shannon, I guess that Shannon allows us to do. So, we have served this year thus far, just from January 2026, 167 teens specifically. That's going we'll cut we'll start that at 12.999, so almost 13 um years of age to 18 years of age. And our programs for the teens run Tuesday through Friday uh from 6:00 to 9:00 specifically because we do have child care in the building. So, we can't have it, you know, overlapping all the time. Um, but that's the time that kids need to be in a safe, comfortable, um, and secure place. And that's what we hope to be is a haven, um, for these teens. So, that is Tuesday through Friday. And then Saturdays from 1:30 to about 5:30, we have teen programs as well. Um, within our teen programs, we are doing a unity basketball league right now. It's been very successful with the, uh, Mass State Police and the DA's office. So, we're very grateful for that. Through that, we are able to feed the teens, have them come in, and that is a great way for them to come in for us to do the individual risk assessments for Shannon. Um, which, you know, you have to get I think something that's not um been put forth so far is that, you know, these aren't just like data points. They are confidential. Um, but you make sure that whoever is doing these assessments with um the teens themselves that they have a rapport with them. So, it takes a little bit of time to build that relationship and then from there um you know it's anonymous but they can share um their information and it might be accurate um and truthful but again they're teens and

they want to protect themselves too uh so they have that liberty. Um also while um we have teen nights we also have a summer camp that runs eight weeks long all throughout the summer and that serves ages 6 through 12. But through that we're able to uh provide youth staffing and job opportunities. So right now we are hiring for youth staff 18 plus. And then also something that's exciting that we're going to be doing is our job ready program that focuses on ages 13 through 15, which we find is a big I feel like we've all talked that's a big age gap where there's not a lot of services and there's a lot of lack um just of service and engagement with those type of teens um in that age range and they're left on the street. So we are giving uh teens the opportunity to have a job shadowing program, come into the club, get a stipen um for half the day and um provide them with mentorship, financial literacy. Um we partner with different programs uh through Shannon like the YW.CA for safe prevention, for violence prevention, child trafficking. Um, and then hopefully we send them on their way so that they're informed citizen, young citizens, and they just know that they have these resources and they make the right choices. But, uh, mainly the Boys and Girls Club hopes to just be a safe, uh, place for, you know, Springfield youth and we have been and we're continuing to be an only building and partnerships like this really help us to add to our programming. So, thank you.

That's great. Yes. And just to touch on, sorry, in the photos here, just so you can see, just to highlight and shout them out, the young man in the suit, uh his name's Gabriel Omar. Yes. And he was just uh awarded as our youth of the year for uh Boys and Girls Club of America. He was able to go to Gillette uh Gillette Stadium uh two weeks ago. So that was huge for him. Um he's also pitcher with some of the other gentlemen below that are part of our uh you know, basketball league's players balls. And then that those uh basketball action shots are from the Unity League um as well. And it just keeps them coming back and it's just nice to see that they're in a safe place like every single night till 9:00, you know? Right. So,

thank you. Thank you. The YMCA.

Uh yeah. So, the YMCA um our team program is called Y AIM. Um it's held at the North End, our North End, um youth center. just a couple of blocks from from Bay State. Um and so that's a program that we've been been running now for about 15 years. It's um a program that is f focused on the violence prevention and um dropout prevention from from the beginning. That was our our key focus of the program. So it's um an afterchool program Monday through Friday for middle and high schoolers at at no cost um to those families. And um we do variety of activities. We have partner with a local bank. They come in and do um financial literacy um with with the young folks. Um we also have a um college tours that that we do with them. We've taken them this this year. They they went over to to UMass and um took a look at the campus. We'll be doing some some more um over the summer. It is a um eightweek summer program as well. Um and then in the in the evenings after the afterchool program uh we also have sports programming basketball um that is also held held at the center um as well. So again, middle school and high schoolers uh started out as a high school only program, but we expanded into middle school about eight years ago, realizing it was really important to to get them early um because you you can already have lost so many of them uh by the time they hit high school. So um that's kind of our our focus.

That's great. I love the financial literacy and the college tours. Yeah, we've we've had great partners with with that. Right now it's Liberty Bank. United Way has been in to to do financial literacy in previous years. Um but the colleges have been great. Very very welcoming um locally and throughout the state. That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next we got the Dunar Center.

Yes. So excuse me. Last year was our first year uh joining the Shannon grant and so we designed a program uh particularly last year to focus I'm too white from the dumbar center. So last year we uh focused primarily on middle school girls and we looked at that demographic because we thought that was missing from the whole Shannon uh picture in Springfield and we created a program that focused on five tenants. leadership development, public speaking, technology, the arts and then entrepreneurship. So last year we designed um four sessions and each session had a deliverable. I'll say very quickly one session we taught them art and how to um do uh that kind of thing and it ended with their art being um featured at the Pamusa Gallery and they were able to see their arts on walls. So that was very good. Secondly, we focused on photography. And so they went around Springfield. They learned how to use cameras. Uh through another grant, they were able to keep their cameras and they were stipened as well. And then from that, um session, we developed a book for them to retail and market to their family for Christmas. So we produced an actual book. That's the entrepreneurship piece. So from our perspective, and then last year we did a a podcast. But those were the two things that I'm really happy for last year. From our perspective, we're giving them tools that they can use um to assist them as they're to assist them as they reach towards success in life. This year um we're focusing on podcast photography. Then we're adding a component for all genders, which is a summer basketball league. And so this summer, um, the intergenerational podcast is what's happening now. There are some photos of that. They're working with older people

because one thing that's missing within our community, well, that not missing, but one thing I want to highlight in our community is the power of generations talking to each other. And the more we speak and talk to each other, the more we understand that we are more alike and then we're able to assist and see how we can help each other um from the older person to the younger person and the younger person to the older person. We can all learn from each other. So that podcast is going to be great. Um, we're producing it now and uh it it's going to be phenomenal actually because the conversations that they're having uh is centered and what's going to benefit our community. Um, and then the basketball session, you understand what that is in summer photography, you understand what that is. So, that's the basic gist of our program.

Awesome. Thank you, pastor. Thank you. Give music.

Hi, everyone. My name is Michael Grant. I'm the president and founder of Give Music, Inc. Um we have three main programs that we that we are providing right now. We've been providing one of them since 2022. Our partner is with Dys. So we go we've u gone into the DY directly into the lockups. 100% of young people we're working with there are DY involved. They are part of the Shannon program or Shannon eligible already. We've built 10 recording studios in the lockups from here all the way to Boston. And we have um artists that go in and work with those um with those young people. you can see in the bottom. Oh, so that's the second program. Actually, the the studio in the middle is one of our community studios. Um, so that is a studio. It's actually located in downtown Springfield on the corner of Maple and Union Street and a very active area for gang violence, drug is very active and we've built three of that style recording studio right in the community where they can come and work with us. The key here is that we're teaching them not just to come in and rap because everybody wants to come in and rap. That's not what we're actually about. We're actually teaching them workforce development inside of the technology side of it. So what we work with the young people on is recording studio technology and more importantly to us concert technology. The reason we're focusing so heavily on concert technology is because it gives them a chance to work with one the artists that they love but two it gets them out of the community the environment that might be causing them some difficulty. So we get them we train them how to become stage hands and or lighting directors. sound engineers and then through our interaction with the concert industry worldwide literally we help them get jobs inside that industry and the hope is that they'll go on tour that can make some real money that they can then bring back to their families and the hope is eventually that family can make enough money where the the the gang interaction isn't quite so appealing to them. What we're finding is that there's two things really happening for the young people that we're interacting with. They're

physically hungry. I mean, they are hungry. When they come to our facility, we have a huge snack space. They want to eat. The second problem we're seeing is that there's not enough money coming into their pocket on a daily. So, they do what they have to do when they have to do it. And sometimes that lands them with the sheriff's office and NDS and dealing with some of our programs on this on those sides. So, what we try to do is help them make some money and to literally feed them on a daily. Um, some of the other things we do is we provide concert equipment for other agencies. So, agencies here have utilized our services. We've partnered with Dunbar a couple times on the Spoken Truth podcast. That's our studio that the young people are actually being recorded in. Oh, cool.

That um NAACP event, that's a giant video wall that we provide sometimes free of charge to different other community services. So, we use the funding to support the other community members in this room. So, if anybody's in need of any concert based services, recording studio services, video recording services, we have that available for you and we're happy to help. And at the same time, we're hopefully doing some good with some of these young people that are out there in the community. Yeah, that's just in their defense, they had some more pictures. I just didn't have enough space. I do apologize. Also, this is our first year with Shannon. Um, we're one of the lower lower tiers, but we're excited to be here and excited to apply again next year. Hopefully, we can do some great work with everyone. That's awesome. Thank you, Michael.

Thank you. New citizens council. I yield to Jason.

Gotcha. So, good evening everybody. Before I get started with my little speech of some sort, I just wanted to say I was a Shannon youth growing up. Uh my two centers uh growing up with Boys and Girls Club on Karoo Street and the Salvation Army over on Pearl Street. So, of course, the work that Shannon does mean a lot to me because I was one of those kids. Uh but moving forward, thank you for being here and for taking the time to learn about the work of our programs uh are doing to support individuals, families, and neighborhoods impacted by gang involvement and gun violence in our city. My name is Jason Karatio. I'm the director of recreation enrichment at New North Citizens Council. Today I'm joined by my director and the director of NCNC's youth service department, Rick Santiago. Go ahead, raise your hand.

We have overseen the Shannon contract at New North for the past six years. NCNC's mission of vision is to provide advocacy, public and human services to preserve and support families resulting in the improvement of quality of life with an emphasis on the multicultural community. We run an afterchool program for youth and young adults ages 11 to 18 located in the north end of Springfield at Fort Bernie Avenue right in between Planefield Street and Main Street. We currently run Monday through f Thursday from 3 pm to 5:30m at our youth services center providing activities such as homework help, arts and crafts, podcasting, videography, team building, leadership development and advocacy workshops and field trips with additional days for later programming for open gyms on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until 8:00 p.m. over at Brightwood and Lincoln Elementary. Annually Ncc Shannon program serves 100 plus youth but due to recent budget cuts the state h to the state we had to reduce the amount of youth that we're serving. We are currently serving 41 young people and our Shannon program that come regularly Monday through Thursday andor Friday via open gyms. We connect youth and young adults to critical resources including education, educational support, job readiness, trainings, job internships, employment opportunities, mental health services, and life skills development. Partnerships and collaborations are the heart of everything we do. We work alongside the Springfield public schools such as Commerce, Brightwood, Chestnut Impact, and Legacy Academy. Community organizations we have partnered with include the Northn C3, the Springfield Police Department, the Henning County Sheriff's Department, and the YW.C.A. We've also worked with small business owners such as Angel Rios from the Rally Cry, Lenny Underwood from Upscale Socks, and Daniel Rivera aka Dan from the Field for those you guys who do know him. We also host community building circles with the Karuna Center for uh for peace building.

Our collaborative projects include violence mitigation during Chestnut and Brightwood dismissal, ensuring youth from both the middle schools and elementary schools get home safe or to programming. Our Northn C3 basketball league in collaboration with the sheriff's department, Brightwood and SPD has officers and teachers from the school coaching these kids on a regular basis. We've ran between my myself and Ed and uh Principal Delgado and the officers over at the North End. We've ran this league for about five years now in the North End and that totals up to like 10 seasons. So, it it's been amazing. It's been awesome and we of course love the work. Um, these are partnerships allow us to share resources, identify individuals in need of support, and provide a stronger safety net for our community. When when organizations come together with a shared purpose, we can respond more effectively, create more opportunities for youth, and strengthen the long-term stability of our neighborhoods. One story that I'm going to share uh that really reflects the impact of this work is about a young man who entered our program at the age of 12. He started his relationship with NNCC when we were uh based in the Horena Tunnel. That's when Durix was running after school programming. Um he would of course run uh be a part of after school programming from then on till he moved. So he was a part of after school program for seven years. At this time, he felt disconnected from school, his family, and was hanging out with youth that were involved in the Main Street gang. During COVID, he remained connected with NNCC via Zoom, uh, attending, um, calls with Durix and the team. And when we opened, he was one of the first youth back in our center. Through consistent mentoring, counseling support, and workforce training provided by our program, he began to rebuild confidence in himself. And then we connected him with employment opportunities that helped him develop positive relationships and long-term goals. Today, he lives in Florida, but he is employed full-time and has built stronger relationships with his family. His story is not just one success story.

It is proof that intervention, support, and opportunity can change lives.

Funding plays a critical role in making the work possible. The support we receive allows us to maintain trained staff, provide emergency assistance to families, expand youth programming, offer mental health services, and create employment and educational opportunities for participants. Funding also allows us to respond quickly during moments of crisis, or organize community engagement events, and continue building programs that address the root cause of violence rather than simply reacting to its consequences. Every investment made into violence prevention is an investment in a safer neighborhood, stronger families, and brighter futures for our youth. As we move forward and continue to experience funding cuts across the state, we remain committed to continuing the work with integrity, compassion, and collaboration. Together, we can create communities where young people feel supported, families feel safe, and hope become stronger than violence. Thank you all for the continued partnership, belief, and support in our program and our organization. Dean, Central City,

I am to God. I am I'm going to stand up with this. Okay.

Way too long. Uh, couple quick things. Good thing Eddie Eddie can fact check everything I say because Eddie's been he I'm not going to say it. Well, he's a little older than me, but uh we grew up kind of in the same thing. Uh little history about me. 15 years old I was homeless. I had no place to go. Um both my parents were alcoholics. I grew up uh 554 South Bridge Street in Hoyok. I'm not a Springfield guy. Um it was a boxing program that the coaches looked out for me. Made sure I made the right choice. And we have the same coach, Steve Snow, who's still around, believe it or not. Um he made sure I had a place to go. Uh clothes on my back, food in my stomach, and made sure I did good in school. Uh, by the grace of God, I graduated high school. I had no place to go. And, uh, Steve gave me some of the best advice ever. He said, "You don't want to get hit by a train. Don't stand on the tracks. And the tracks run right through your neighborhood. Get out of here."

So, I took his advice, went down a recruiter, signed up for the army, left for 10 years. Spent 10 years on active duty, did three combat deployments, got out of got out of the army, went to college, got a bachelor's degree, got on the police department. I just retired last February after 25 years as a cop in the city. Uh, I know what's going on in the street. I've been there. Okay. I know what's going on. I know what these kids are going through. Um, back when when Eddie and I were a youth, uh, the Golden Gloves was a big, uh, staple in oil for a lot of years. Gave kids an outlet to get off the streets and something to strive for. The Golden Gloves had left when Nick Cosmos passed away um, in ' 03. Uh, Eddie was one of our first guys that came up and helped us bring the Golden Gloves back. We got that program back to try to create the funding to open up the programs. Unfortunately, uh the price of doing business was just too high. So, uh I took it upon myself to uh and I try to be humble with this, but uh I sold pretty much everything I have to open that gym. I took a call in Wford Terrace for a 16-year-old kid that was shot in the neck. And I'm sitting there giving this kid CPR wonder why he's going through the things that he's going through. Why is he here? And I'm the guy. So, and I'm I'm I'm upset he left, but you know, when when he talks about guys going to the funeral, I'm the guy giving the 15y old kid CPR. Okay? I'm the kid that's got to go and tell his mother why why her son's not making it home tonight. Okay? I don't want to be that guy anymore. So, uh, we started a gym, um, out of my own pocket. We tried to get funding. We couldn't get funding. We got the 501c3. Wasn't working out. Whatever. Um, thanks.

My program now still we just continue to to grow the program. We're on Birkshire Aid, a 17,000 square foot training facility. I I service over 300 kids a year. Okay? My program is not like other programs. I have no paid staff, including me. Okay? I don't get paid. Okay? None of our guys get paid. Um, and I I'm proud of that because the guys that are in this program that volunteer with these kids, they're there because they want to be there, not because they're chasing a buck. Okay? And there people that came up through the program. Okay. Right now, um, the way our program is situated, we have four teams, A, B, C, and D. Everybody that comes in off the off the street goes a D team. D team is a developmental team. Has nothing to do with with boxing. One of the biggest things we do in input. Every kid goes through an interview with me before they come into the program. I explain the program. I answer any questions they have. They have to abide by my rules. Okay? I tell them straight out, I'm not welfare. I'm not DCF. I'm not here to give you free stuff. What I'm here to give you is opportunity. You're going to have to work for it. Okay? No one's going to bang on your door and give you a good job at a nice house and a nice car. You want it, you got to go get it. And and I'm going to give you the tools. My job is not to make them a professional boxer and try to make not make them the world champion. What I'm trying to do is get them to extract the principles through boxing, through that training, knowing that if you work hard, it will show in the end. Okay? And and try to extract them principles into giving them the tools that they're going to be need to be successful in life. One of the things we have, we have, unfortunately, we lost a lot of funding this year. Uh, it is what it is. One of the programs that we had through Libertas Academy, we had a tutoring program. So, when every kid comes into the program, they get two forms, a records release form and a student communication form. The records release form, their parent or guardian signs, it gives us the right to pull their MCAT scores, pull their their report cards. And then, uh, we have a student communication form where each teacher that they have, they bring a form to school. Each teacher fills out a block with their name, the subject they teach,

the email, and their email address. We reach out to the teachers. We say, "Hey, this kid's part of our youth development program. We want to take action on his learning process. We want to get daily emails on effort conduct tendency and miss assignments." They're placed in one of three categories, red, yellow, or green. If they're they got A's and B's, they're green. They only need to see the tutors once a week on a progress report. If they have anything lower, a C or lower, they're yellow. They need to see the tutors once a week. if they have crappy attendance or any anything lower than a C, they they're red. They need to see the tutors every day. So, they come in. Our tutoring program is from 3 to 5. Um, practice starts at 5. Uh, we don't have the tutors anymore, so a lot of it I pick up or luckily I have other kids in the program that that are exceptionally bright kids that can go out there and a lot smarter than I am to be able to help these kids with what they're doing. But when these kids come into the D team, um, the D team is just strength and condition. It has nothing to do with boxing. Up until this year, um actually up until this week, uh we had a program through Springfield College where we paid Springfield College to give us uh two graduate fellows who would manage seven interns, five undergrads and two graduate students with Springfield College um who have degrees in in exercise science that will come out and do all the nutrition counseling um all all of the uh strength and conditioning stuff to keep the kids straight. uh it got too expensive. I can't pay the bills anymore. And uh we had issues with because we're a community- based organization. We deal with kids in this area. And and I if I offend anybody by this, I apologize. Um a lot of the kids that we get that are interns from Springfield College do not understand the dynamics of the kids that we're dealing with on the street. Okay? They come from a different environment. They don't understand why these kids act the way they do. Um so it really wasn't working out. So, we've been able to uh I

guess push k guys that are in our our adult program into the youth program, guys that have came up through the youth program. And now we've been around long enough, 2015 we incorporated. We've been around long enough where uh we have those older guys that have have come up through the program. So now they can mentor those younger kids and show them that if you work hard, you can attain things in life. Um so every month we have a PT test. Everybody goes through the PT test. I could tell you what it is, but it probably make you sick to your stomach. Okay. 2 minutes of push-ups, 2 minutes of sit-ups, 2 minutes of squats, 2 minutes of planks, a pushpull carry of your own body weight, and then 8 400 meter sprints. You have to pass the PT test to get into the boxing program. They are not going to pass the PT test out of the gate. What what's going to happen is in order for them to to pass that PT test and get into the boxing program, they have to work hard. Okay? If you don't show, I run the place like a job. You don't show up, I fire you. you don't produce, I fire you. If you're lazy, you got to piss every 15 minutes, you got an excuse for everything, this is not the place for you. Okay? I tell them straight out, and most of these kids, and I will tell you, and it is bad to say, but kids are like dogs. They're loyal as hell, and they see through the nonsense. They know if you're legitimate or if they know that you're just there trying to buy time. Okay? We got a great group of kids. It's not for every kid. I'm not going to say that it is. Okay? We've had um Have I attended funerals? Absolutely. I've attended funerals. Okay? Um, and I hate to do that, but you know, when when a lot of other people punch out of their clock at at 5:00 and go home, I'm the one sitting there writing grants. I'm the only guy. I'm the only guy I got. I'm writing grants. I'm doing paperwork for the state. I'm getting text messages at 2 in the morning from a kid. Hey, coach, I need somebody to talk to, you know, and and my the hardest thing for me, I know that when these kids come out of school, we give them a little bite to eat. We have a good practice. We sit down together as a team. We talk about our days. And then I have to bring them home. I know what they're going home to. I give a lot of these kids rides home and I'm like, man, you know, when when

you or I think we're having a a bad day. Listen to some of these kids. All right. Your day ain't that bad. All right. The stuff that they're going through and unfortunately a lot of it is generational. And we have to break that cycle. It's just like the domestic violence cycle. If you grow up watching certain things happen, it's going to continue. If we could break that cycle and get these kids, unfortunately, now in today's time, we have this group of kids that are so entitled because they've been given everything their entire life. I want this. I want that. I want that. Well, Central City ain't that place. You're going to have to work for it. Okay? You got to work your way through the teams. You get different different things when you get to different milestones. If it's not for you, no problem. Okay? I I want to channel kids, but the the biggest thing that I think the strength of our program when I sit at my desk at three o'clock and these kids are starting to come in, I know every kid that walks through that door.

Okay, right now we have 106 in our youth program. I know every kid that walks through that door. I know their their mom's name, their dad's name, where to go to school. I know when they walk through that door if they're having a bad day. Okay? And when I bring them in there, they'll talk to me. They'll tell me what's going on. Okay? That's the strength of our program where we're family based. we get the families involved. Um, some of these kids, a lot of times there's no dad. A lot of times mom got a substance abuse issue. So for a lot of these kids are fighting for a little bit more than a trophy or belt. Um, so we got to get these kids off the street. It's very difficult for me because I'm a retired police officer. I make about $70,000 a year. I can't fund that thing out of my pocket. I can't I can't do it. Okay. Um but uh the Shannon grant was able to help us as our first year with the Shannon grant um to be able to get them in and and try to get get us some kind of funding. I mean we don't get funding like you know we have a lot of private funding but I'm the guy at 3 in the morning I'm you know grants what's out there you know. Um but if anybody has any questions I'm going to leave uh some flyers out here from our program that kind of detail what our program does and uh like I said I mean we have kids from all over all walks of life. Uh, you name it, we got it, man. And what I tell a lot of the kids, and and again, if this offends you, I apologize. I tell kids when they come in, I don't care what color you are. I don't care what religion you are. I don't care what language you speak. And I certainly do not care about your diagnosis. Kids come in here, I got ADHD, I got OD. No problem. I'll run that right out of you. You will sleep like a baby. Promise. Okay. And a lot of these kids like that structure. They come in here, they know who I am. They they know and I'm not your stere and Eddie can contest I I ran a gym for 10 years. Nobody knew I was a cop. I'm not that guy. I'm crazy tattooed. I talk I got gray hair. I don't care. I'll And these kids recognize that. Okay. So, that's probably I I'm passionate about what I do. So, Eddie Eddie's just as passionate. Don't let them fool you. A lot of the a lot of the youth development stuff we got from his

his basketball program, which I I can't say enough for. But I'll leave these flyers flyers out. If you want to take a look at it, you're all welcome to come by. We start practice at 3:00. stop by. Thank you. And thank you for your service. Thank you. I might have to go to the gym myself. Obviously, that's all right. That's all right. Turn that around. But you know what? That's the same thing that these kids do. I'll go in the gym. I'll do this. I'll do I'll put the work in. Sure. You know what I'm saying? You got to put that work. Donuts. Sorry. You don't got to ask donuts. I don't have a sona. YOU DON'T GOT DONUTS. DONUTS. Talk about donuts. Is that what happened? No.

So, those of you that don't know, we uh I I I offered to host the the um Shannon Shannon Grant and the first one that I went to was at at the Salvation Army, which was great. I mean, they put on a great and the whole thing in my head, I'm like, "Oh my god, I got donuts." And I go, "We're not doing donuts. We're doing vegetables. We're doing fruit. We're gonna do something healthy. If we could have had a little stretching uh there, but I don't think Well, thank thank you again, Dean.

Thank you. Please leave those flyers. I'm also leaving my business card. Sean, our um employee here at the city council office would kind grab them. So, if anybody wants any follow-up questions or comments or updates, please feel free to to grab them on your way out. So, yeah. Thank you. Yes. Well, Eddie Casease from the Hamn County or the Criminal Justice Organization of Hamn County to you.

Thank you, Francis. Yes. So, my name is Eddie Casease and we started this program. It actually is with the Ham County Sheriff's Office. We use the criminal justice organization as a 501 C3. Um, I do want to give credit to Lavar Click Bruce and Carlos Gonzalez the second. They're the ones that actually drive the programs in Springfield. I've been focusing on Holio for the last 15 years. Um, but what I want to say about the basketball league like Dean uses boxing as a vehicle to get the kids in and then to do wraparound trying to build those youth up. For us, it's the same with basketball is we just use it as a vehicle to get the kids in. But it's all about intentional mentorship, intentional character development, taking advantage of teaching moments and then our volunteers actually modeling good behavior. So it's done through partnerships. I mean, we we are just targeting the C3 neighborhoods in Springfield, so the four C3 areas. Um, we partner with the New North Citizens Council with the schools in the neighborhoods with the police. So, like Jason said earlier, our coaches are the teachers, they're the police officers, sheriff's office staff. So, different agency partners come in, but it is all about for the kids, it's about basketball. For us, it's about building up little people and two developing relationship with the parents. I mean, when you hear some of the C3 police officers talk about responding to a call and because the people in that on that call knew them from the basketball league, it just changes things. So, that's really the work that we do and it's really all about being intentional with developing the youth and families in Springfield.

That's awesome. Thank you. Karen Ford on the I'm in on Zoom. Can anyone hear me? Hello. Yes, thank you.

Hi, good evening. Um, so I'm Kronford. I am the director of youth programs for MLK Family Services. Um, want to thank everyone again for the continuing support um through the Shannon Grant funding. Um, for our program, Nightspot is our evening program for teens and young adults. And on the surface, it looks like open recreation, basketball, volleyball, gym that stays open typically Monday through Friday, 6:00 to 9:00. Um, but for us, like some others shared, recreation is mostly an entry point. So the deeper impact really comes from the relationships, the mentorship, the conversations, and the consistency that happens once young people really walk through the doors. So one of our biggest strengths of our programming is really continuity. So we're able to provide that we're able to provide the youth over the time. So many of our young people first come to us through after school programs and we've been really intentional about building bridge programming that keeps them connected as they grow older instead of aging out of programs and then disconnected from the positive um support systems that we have. So that continuity really allows us to build on the relationships that already exist with the youth and the families. So staff know our young people, they know their strengths, their struggles, their personalities, and their growth over time. And we've been really intentional of keeping these kids as they're leaving after school programs, getting them into other programs in the evenings, getting them into all of these other opportunities and continuing to retain them. So during the school year, a lot of youth are engaged with us from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. between after school and night spot programming. And in the summer, we'll have a lot of campers that stay for extended night spot hours. So, we extend to run 5:00

p.m. to 10:00 p.m. during the summer. So, some of our campers will come to us for summer camp and it'll open at 8:00. And if they're night spot eligible, then they're with us maybe until 9 10:00. So, we do have some young people that are with us throughout the entire day from morning to end. Um, and I think that that really speaks to the structured environments and being surrounded by really trusted adults and positive peers. Um, we're also really passionate about creating non-competitive spaces for sports. So, where youth of different skills and abilities can feel comfortable participating, so not every young people person is going to really see themselves as athletic. And we intentionally try to create spaces where our young people can learn. they can fail, they can grow, they can build confidence, and they don't really have to be embarrassed. So, we run sports clinics where we'll have older youth mentor some of the younger participants. And some of the most some of like the best moments that we might see coming out would be youth of different ages and abilities, playing side by side every night and really building and really encouraging each other. Um and uh a lot of the really deeper work that we have will be through our no cap bro and no cap sis programs. So these are really spaces where our youth can have honest conversations about violence in the community, about grief, about retaliation, about depression, about family instability, about substance abuse and decision-m and these are really spaces where they're not lectures, like we're really having intentional and meaningful conversations. Um, and what's really impactful about it is that we create an intergenerational piece. So, we're bringing in mentors and professional and just regular everyday community members and we're always looking for people to really come in and have honest conversations, not of I've achieved, but like we've had people come in and talk about being incarcerated and talk about

teen pregnancy and talk about these things and being able to have our teens understand that we're real people. You're a real person, too. and we can talk about these experiences and maybe something from my hurt can help you um not roll down and not make some of the same mistakes. So, that's been really beneficial. We're housed in the community center, so that gives us opportunity to connect youth and families to additional resources they might need like our food pantry or any other family supports. And over time, a lot of our youth have the opportunity to transition from night spot into our Springfield empowerment zone stipen leadership programs or our youth mental health beat the odds um program cohort which is funded through the office of problem gambling. So, I think at the end of the day, violence prevention isn't just about really responding after something goes wrong, but it's also creating spaces where our young people have trusted relationships and opportunities and accountability and support and really somewhere positive to go before situations reach a crisis point. And I think for us, that's what Nightspot and our No Cap programs are really about.

Awesome. Excellent. Thank you very much. Right. Is Randy on All right. Do you want me to just switch to the next one since they're not Oh, yeah. That'll be is I'm sorry. I can't really see the comment at the bottom of the Zoom there, which I have to jump off. Okay. Yeah, no problem. Lieutenant, thank you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Lieutenant. Yeah, if you wouldn't mind just going to the next slide, see who's available to speak? Sure. KJIC. is a Reverend Talbert Swanon. Okay,

Latino Economic right here. Thank you. Um, got

I am Francina Bry. I am the the executive director of Families Against Violence and the Latino Economic Development is is the legacy economic development. So, they changed it and they're not Latino economic development anymore. the legacy economic development and they are our sponsor. So they sponsored us so you know so that we can be able to give get the grant but we have been doing the work out here. Um I am the executive director of families against violence and what we do we support and advocate for families who are victim or has um been affected by some type of violence. Um I have been dealing with youth and I have been deal dealing with family for many years. I had two sons that was murdered in 2006. Um, one was 2006 and the other one was um, 22. Um, and I have been doing the work ever since 2004. Um, when um, Miss Shep Sheila Shepard, her two sons or her two twins was murdered. And, um, I didn't know anything about what was going on. Only thing I knew was just I needed to be there for her. Always had a heart and a passion for for people and for youth. And um at when I where I lived um because I I went through a lot of a lot of um a lot of things going in my life but what I did my passion was with youth. Um um I had I have six kids and I six kids I end up gaining a hundred kids because of the passion that I have. So in what my house was end up as a was a safe haven spot for kids that was out in the streets that they were calling itself as gang members or crew members. They wasn't calling gang members. They were just crew members that was hanging around each other where they played basketball. What they doing? They used to go to boys and clubs um um on Karu Street. I know the Shepherd boys and my son the Narcissist boys used to be on on up on Karoo Street. That's where they play ball. Um, so after that they will come down. They won't sit there, but they knew when they came to

my house, they knew to respect it. They knew there wasn't no gang activities or whatever the case may be. All that stuff was going on, but they knew they got fed. They knew that that when their mothers when they wasn't um being obedient to their parents, they knew where to the point that they came if they came to my house, they knew I was calling their parents. And nine times out of 10, their parents didn't have didn't want to have anything to do with them and or way too much they didn't know how to handle them. So, I was able to be that mom figure to them. And I don't know, it's because of some of their their um trauma, the parents' trauma that they've been going through, but they wasn't able to take time with these youth or, you know, understand their youth. And a lot of them they are going through some childhood trauma. Um, a lot of them where they've been abused, a lot of them have they been physically abused or a lot of them where they are being bullied where to the point they talk about it to me. they these kids have to have they have to have a relationship or to be able to trust you in order to be able to to talk to you or they to get out what you know some of the things that they're going through and that's where um when we was mothers on a mission and then when we came up we was families united and then we're to point I got tired of it because of some fact I was tired of every time I turn around burying children or going to their funerals um every time there was a someone that was getting shot I was at the the hospital I I was at Bay State where I was the first one there. Sometimes I would beat their family there and I was there, you know, advocating for families. I was there supporting them when they seen me because of my I lost my first one. When they saw me coming, they was like, "Oh god, here she come, oh God, did my love pass away?" I said, "No, we here for support." We we sat them, we support them, we guided them, and we we guided and helped them and supported their funerals. So anytime that there was a a funeral service, we let them know that there is a funding out there where the city pays $13,000 for a funeral, people didn't know that. So they when they when

they're going to the funerals, they're lost because they don't know what what can we do to um bury our loved one. So I would help them to guide them through their funerals and sit down with them and and guide them they step by step with their funerals and then I would take it to the funeral because nine times out of 10 some funeral homes went to the point they're not telling them about their funerals where they feel that they have to come out of pocket. So a lot of these families don't know that they don't have to pay out of pocket because the city will pay for the funeral. So I' I've done all that and then but say then I got up because it was overwhelming because every week I was going to a funeral from 2004 to 2000 to now I've been going to funerals and still are. Um so now what we do with um so and then um I end up in Boston where um Aaron Hernandez had killed um Odin Lloyd. I went up there cuz I got away moved away went up there and helped and supported that family as well. Um, I thought I was getting away from all the all the the gun violence here and end up going to Boston and going through more gun violence because it was more and more gun violence there than it was here. So, I end up um I end up coming back coming back and still dealing with the same thing because now families are calling me. We don't know what to do. What do we do? What we do? And then we're to the point that you where they're getting locked up, where I will go to the juvenile court, where I will go and advocate for them, where I will go to superior court, or when I go to district court, I will go and then where I will go and and and um matter of fact, one of our um commissions um Jonathan Demar, he was one of um he was on on the um Zoom, but he had got off because he had another client. So um where we would go and advocate for these youth to keep him out of out of out of jail. So the judge will not give them give them all the you give them three years or five years wear one time and we did go in there into the court and um and I asked the judge can may I say something he

said yes I said and I told him who I was so and letting them know that we are here to support them um and we able to give them community service where these kids are from juvenile court until um at the age of 24 25 and some older where we was giving them community service. They was coming to our place for community service where we would have to um write a letter or we would have to prove to the courts that they was coming to our our our space to get services. So those are some of the things that and even though that um I wasn't getting any Shannon grant, I wasn't getting any funding but I was doing it from the kindness of my heart. I was doing it because of the simple fact I had a heart for these kids and um I was taking a lot of the money that I was getting was from my out of my pocket like um u Mr. Boxer said um um a lot of the funding where I was I had became homeless where I have became homeless because I was paying for funerals. I was paying for to um to help kids on the along their way and then to keep food in their in their mouth not even just feeding my six kids but to feeding other kids as well. So then this this year and I was blessed to to thank God that we was awarded with the Shannon grant not enough but at the end of the day I can deal with what I can deal with and sometimes you got to make ends meet make it meet or you know to where it stands. So now what we doing now is um we having group sessions where these gang now I say I won't say gang violence because I don't consider them as gang violence I mean gang members where these young young men and these young women where they need this help and they need the support. They need someone to talk to. They need this mother and this father figure. So that's why I reached out to a lot of these organization leaders and and now partners with some of some of um our partners here to come in and talk with these youth and to let them know that they are programs out

because the um the ones that's out here that's doing the the shootings and doing all they are they need that help and they know they feel that they can't feed themselves, they can't feed their families, so they go do the crime. They they they keep food in their mouth or or to have a roof over their head. So these are some of the things that that we done and also get them the mental health support because the mental health is out here is real. If you don't get them the mental health support all the getting a job that's not going to help them at all because they can't focus. So in order for you to get them you got to get them some some mental health support. Get them support. Get them something that they can have they can at least depend to say well you know hey I can I can you know I have I could come in and I could talk about some of the things that I'm going through. And then and then I said, "Hey, let's go find a job. Let's go help you fill out the application with them." And some of them if they know that these people out here, we out here and they know that we care for them instead of always want to lock them up cuz that's not the case where we want to lock kids. We want to see kids do better, but some of these kids are too far gone.

But my thing is if we can help one and we can say one, then we can do good. So no matter what, we can always try. Someone may say no, someone may refuse, but it may be that one out of that game. And there's been 10 times that when when we had about right on Eastern Avenue, right on Eastern Avenue, we went over there was about maybe like 10 of them. They were sitting right there, right there. And we went over there and we talked with them and one of them said, "No, no, no. We don't want to." But the main leader came up and said, "Can I get your card? Can you help? We need some help." We just right here recently there was a a young man because he had a gun um um he got charged with a a a gun possession which we know that's automatically 18 months. So and but before he went he came to us for help and support. We helped him get a job. We helped him get a job. He worked at the I forgot the name place. I'm sorry. Uh we helped him got a job. He So he worked he worked until it was time for him to go and serve his time. So until that the judge did say because of what you're doing, you didn't put yourself into a program where the program is helping you and we gave him a letter. We did all what we supposed to do. Soon as we gave him that, next thing you know, so he did a little bit less, not is 18 months, but they reduced his sentence. So that's that's some of the things that we are out here. So yeah, we are mothers who have or fathers who have been affected by gun violence, but we are out here trying to do the job. And now we starting another program um called Men Speak, Young Men Speak. And these are where the young men, they come in to share their stories where to the point they never have the opportunity to share and talk about some of the things that they're going through. So now we're here, we're hearing them out so that they can be able to move forward. So we right now so far maybe like 15 young men so um so far has signed up. So, and like I said, I was trying to um you know, get

some of the partners um to come in and let's talk to these young men and and that's what they need. So, um and um the um basically the counseling is what they need because the support is what they need. Um and just sitting here listen to them and hearing them out and get them help. And now we are we just we just recently um had a young lady where she's 15 years old where now um she's coming in for support because of her past trauma or things that she's going through. So and also I just came from from Min John school out there in Wherham where 18-year-old committed suicide. So now God bless you. Um now so when that and now all these kids that that in that school have been affected by what he had done that he committed suicide. So now they're affected. So I went out there and sat in a table just like this and sat down and talked with it five youth five youth that's just traumatized going through the loss of their friend. So and they can that they that's what they want to do. Well my friend lost his life so I don't want to live anymore you know um because he shot himself in the head. So my thing is that at the end of the day these kids are and these um not even just the kids but the teachers was affected by it. So that's some of the things that that we do. And then just the PFA trauma um I am PFA trauma um in um

Sure. Yes. because I'm talking too much. But um I am um trauma response trained and also you know um so that's how we was able to sit down and just talk with some of some of these youth and um I just think that we did get another grant and the grant that was is to help families um to get you know help them with furniture. We do Bob's discount furniture cards so if they need furniture if they need food I give them cards. So if they need um food we do give out gift cards. So um so that's some of the things we do. It's on and on and on but that's some of the main points that we do. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining.

The Boys and Girls Club Family Center is Dr. Jada Waters on

South End Community Center. Is Tony on? Tony, if you're there, feel free to speak up. No. Okay. Greater Newle, is Jackie there?

Jackie and gratitude. So that's all the partners and one of the I'll just I don't know if you want to make a closing. One of the things is you know I'm the researcher for this grant you know I helped provide some of the numbers but everybody has all these numbers you know statistics and all of that the one thing that it's very important that we understand is that each number represents a person and it sometimes gets carried gets taken away. It's like oh this percentage and that we helped 6 those are 620 people we helped. If we can reduce the violence that's even on like you said one person that has a ripple effect between brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters, everybody. And that's you know we do this work to help people but unfortunately

they don't always see the good stuff. That's why we had some quotes up there and some reactions from the participants from the different programs because the thing is we know when we apply for funding they just want to see numbers and stuff but the thing is as you've seen today this has real impact on real people and you know there's a lot of positive stuff going on. So it's important just to remember you know that you know we are helping people. So,

if I could share one, I'm going to share a story real quick. And if you guys don't mind, I know we've been here a while, but you you and I'm not going to mention his name because some of you might know him or the his family. Um, like I said, I was a police officer for 25 years. When I sat in roll call on the midnight shift, there was a big board with all the gang members in the city. And there was one spec I don't know why he drew me drew it to me but he was one of a big eastern a guys um gang guy drug guy um bad bad kid. I used to look at his picture standing a roll call every day. I'd look at him and I'll be like that's the bad guy. That's that's who we got to go find. Okay. Um I I went into street crimes units. I I I spent three years in a street crimes unit chasing this guy. I went into Nars. I did three control buys out of his house. Hit his house with a warrant. got guns and drugs out of it. Okay. Bad guy. One day this is later when I opened a gym. My first gym was on Belmont Avenue. Right on the corner of Belmont Locust. I was coming up Belmont Avenue. We get a call for a home invasion which really wasn't a home invasion. It was a guy going to collect money. Guy opened the door. He punched him in the face, took his money, and walked off. They gave the description of the guy. I'm coming up the street. Here's a description. Here's the guy walking down the street. So, I get out. I say, "Hey, just let me see your hands real quick. just come over and talk to me. So, we started talking. Soon as he turned and looked at me, I said, "This is that cat. This is a bad guy." Okay? I said, "Listen, before you do anything, just let me pat you down. Make sure you don't have any weapons on you." So, when I patted him down, he had a a big stuff in his pocket. I reached in and grabbed his pocket. He had like napkins, earbuds, and believe it or not, what he had in his right pocket was my business card from the gym.

And I looked at that. I said, "Where did you get this?" He goes, "I got it from the gym down the hill." He he obviously didn't get him from me because I'd have known exactly who he was when he came in. He must have came in while practice was going on, got a business card and walked out. I said, "Do you know who this guy is?" And he reads, reads it and he's like, "Dan." I'm like, "No, it's Dean, but that's me." He goes, "That's you." I said, "Yeah, yeah." I go, "Why you want to get into boxing?" He said, "Listen, I'm not going to I'm not going to lie to you." He said, "I've been hustling. I've been on the streets since I was 14 years old. My girl's pregnant. I'm gonna be a dad. I don't want this no more. I want to get off the streets." I said, "Come down and talk to me." That kid came down. He I shouldn't even say this. He was living in our gym. Okay, I took that kid for we we took his permit lesson. He took his driving test on my truck. Okay, this is a guy that I locked up. Okay, when you sit down and listen to these kids, a lot of these kids you you look at them on paper, they're knuckleheads.

But if you just sit down and listen to their story, they're not a bad kid. They're just trying to make their way through play. And that same kid, he was in my gym for almost a year. Um, one day he didn't show up for practice. said that's not like him. So I went to his house. The baby was born. We actually got little onesies with our logo on it and stuff.

Uh he I had helped him get an apartment up on Kensington A and I I knocked on his door and I'm like, "Hey man, how come you're not at practice?" He co he said, "Coach, I'm not going to lie to you. I got to pay bills, man, and I'll make more in a night than than you make all month at the gym." And he's not wrong. Okay? He's not wrong. That's a kid 6 months later was shot and killed. Okay? Now, did that sit tough with me? Yeah. Could Could there have been something more that I could have done to try to keep him still here? Now he's he's got a daughter that doesn't know doesn't even know who he is. Um, terrible terrible scenario, but my my point to telling this story is, and you have talked about it, we got to get these kids before they make that turn. Okay. If you look at that that that

drug uh addict prostitute in the south end. We all pass judgment, but that same girl was a a vibrant little girl and she might have sat next to you in the fifth grade and she had dreams and aspirations. It wasn't to be doing what she's doing now. We we got to get these kids before they turn that corner because once he turned that corner to get a little taste of that street life, you're not going to bring them back. I wish you could, but you can't. Yeah. All right. Can I say something? Yeah, go ahead.

Hi, good afternoon. My name is Rhonda Lady. I'm a public citizen. I just came here because I heard about the grant and I wanted to get information on it. But I've been hearing a lot about Eastern Avenue and Pilton Avenue. I grew up on Milton Avenue. I'm a retired Springfield public school teacher with 25 years in the system. Um I'm also six years in the United States Army. So in a little history about Pilton Avenue and Eastern Avenue, we grew up on there. My parents, the Wickfall, the Johnson's, everybody on that street knew each other. The Wickfalls from where they lived all the way to Eastern Avenue and Pilton Avenue. Every one of those fardens, some of the most beautiful gardens you can ever see. We had peer trees, bean cherry trees, we had grape vines. People used to come into the community and get fresh fruit and we would share our vegetables. The city came in and took all that property by imminent domain, destroyed the gardening and the food supply that was free for the community and put up those playgrounds. So to hear everything there, we were not gang members. One of her friends I know who grew up there, her her uncle was Dizzy Gillespie. He used to come to the community every year. We had all kind of stars coming through. Malcolm X and everyone. So to hear this when I came back from the United States Army after serving four years in Germany and came into this crack situation back in ' 84 is when I saw this city decline greatly. And for guns to get in our community, it's not that easy because you have to

have special paperwork, you have to have um security codes and everything. So, it's just not the community that's the problem. And there was great people on Pton Avenue that became your Springfield public school, teachers, principles, and one of them even wanted to run and become the superintendent for the Springfield public school. So, I just want to set that clear that we were a thriving community

and the government, local government put that out of the city. And I worked with a number of students that were identified as gang members and were not gang members. They were children that grew up in the community and protected each other. So when you want to talk about weird stuffs with children, think about the words you say and what you label them as and the opportunities that you take from them. Everybody wants an opportunity to make it. Nobody grows up and say, "I want to be a drug dealer. I want to be a murderer. I want to go to jail." That is not the aspiration. So please keep that in mind.

I think I want to say that no. Um, everybody's not labeled as gang members. My thing is there are kids out there that want that street life. There there's kids out there that been in that street life. My kids grew up around sycamore. That's what that that's who my kids my kids and those all these sycamore people, Bristol Street. And what makes I want to say that too, there are a lot more gangs because now these kids now they added more gangs. They they're calling theelves different names. So they're more than 10 15 gangs out there because they're now they adding theyel as to because now they've considered theirself as not street but they got their little other names with them themselves. So all these other I dealt with all of them all of them. And my thing is that no some of them they do not want to be out there doing that but someone has to have their hustle. But some of they get caught up out there because oh because you had a beef with this person or you touched my girl or you mess with my girl. So now this person has a beef with that person that one has a beef with that person. It's not the point is and nine times out of 10 some of it's drugs because if they're not making it what they going to do? They're going to go and rob because they heard somebody from sycamore and then got oh he's making money over there. So because of that he's going to go over in sycamore or because some fact he made a beat about me or he said said something about in his words but he was rhyming about me but so now here go the beef coming so it's not I've been around a lot of them a lot of them and send around but no everybody does not want to be gang members everybody that there are even um on um um Bay Street on Bay Area they did some gardening over there as well. So there are some different communities that are guarding, but there are some kids out there and we have to tell the truth. Tell the truth and not shame the devil because we know how our kids are. We know. So I'm not going to sit there and and pretend and say my

kids was was perfect. I know that. But I can say my c my kids didn't shoot nobody. I know that. Only thing I say my kids went to the they went to the point because some he had a a beef with someone else. So now all of a sudden now they want to come over there and start trying to jump my son and half of all these kids my kids are related with half of the people from the from the a my kids are related with somebody FROM BRISTOL STREET. MY KIDS related with but then next thing no when my son goes over there next thing they all want to try to jump on my son. No. And and that's where a lot of so it's not it's not weird to the point that um that these kids out here wants it because they're not they some of them are they're too far gone in the street where to the point that they don't want to hear nothing we got to say nothing. So, but but to but to there are like now all the older people it's like where they everybody's hiding in the house now. Nobody wants to go out because now these and I just dealt with a family where to the point that about 10 or 15 boys went into her house and she didn't ask no question. They went in her house started spraying up her house because they was looking for her daughter's boyfriend and the daughter's boyfriend was not there. So they went in and shot up shot up her whole house and then went upstairs on the fourth floor and shot up their house. So what can we do to to you know with that?

Were there any questions from the counselors? Yes. Thank you. Madam President Woodfield, you had your hand raised first. Would you like to speak?

Yes. Thank you. Just real briefly, I just want to say I'm proud of all the organizations in here and the work that you're doing. Um, I asked Jerry to host this meeting because of a post that was made by councelor Hurst. A lot of people were saying negative things and that the organizations weren't doing anything as it relates to um the Shannon grant and I knew different. I'm also proud that I was the one who advocated for a open Shannon grant process and now more organizations are getting access to the Shannon grant. I do I am sorry for those that are getting less but I think that more the resources need to be shared more broadly so that more organizations in different communities um will have access to the funds and continue to do the great work that they're doing. So I do want to commend all of you and say great job on the work that you are doing. I want to also um note that these are small dollars and if you look at the dollars they can't even pay someone's salary. And so, um, when we talk about where this money is being distributed, it's going right back to the kids and right back to food and right back to, um, things to run the program, but it's definitely not enough money to pay for anybody's salary. It might be able to complement salary, but it definitely cannot, when I looked at the numbers, cannot cover anyone's salary. So, again, I just want to thank you all for the great work that you're doing. continue the great work and I know a lot of you have come out of the pocket to do this work and do it for free before getting this little bit uh I'm not gonna say this little bit before getting this um Shannon Grant um hopefully there will be more funding opportunities where you can get more and continue to work and hopefully um the funds will also open up to other organizations doing great work and so that they continue to do the work that you that you're doing. So I just wanted to um make sure that you know that I have been here for these two hours but I am hanging up now

and I thank you all for the work. All right, councelor Hurst.

Yeah, thank you and thank you Madam President. I see uh my my post caused a lot of stir uh the last time I think it was about four maybe maybe six years ago. I actually think uh Madame President Whitfield had many of you all who are doing the great work that you're doing before us and gave us you know a snapshot of the good work that you're doing very similar to similar to what you did today. Uh and I just want to be clear my post was not an indictment on any organization. It was merely just to make sure that the community knows where the money is going. uh as we come into the spring and the summer months, uh we know that there's going to be an uptick uh of gang and gun violence. And so people need to know where to point people uh to in the event that they can provide assistance. Um one of the things that you know I wish we could do more of uh as a city is advertising a lot of the programs and opportunities that you all are offering. uh I don't know uh if there's a mechanism in which we can do it but I know that there probably are a lot of young people that are being left out and so to the extent that you know uh obviously we'll share what it is that you all um you know that you all have expressed today you know but I think of even like the the Salvation Army when you think of um you know the Salvation Army that's not what it is that you know what you explain today is not what it is that your your average person is going to think of and so if there, you know, if there are opportunities that our young people can take advantage of, uh, we certainly want to share that information. So, to the extent you all can get us that information, uh, it it it would be even better. Um, what I would like to know, and certainly not for this meeting because it it these typically, uh, do take a while, um, but the it's good information. Uh, I would like to have access to the applications uh just to make sure that uh folks are

doing what it is that they say they're going to do. Um, I know uh many of you all in this room uh are doing what it is that that that you say you're going to do. Uh, but I do think there ought to be some sort of checks and balances and I I think the community uh ought to to to be the one to conduct those checks and balances as well as the city. Um, so, uh, that would be nice information, Jerry, if we could get and just the other thing that I'll say, um, and again, the overwhelming majority of those who have applied for the Shannon grant, I know are doing good work, uh, but there are one or two that I know aren't doing the work. And, um, you know, my frustration is that some of you all could be utilizing that money, especially considering that uh, there were cuts across the board to the Shannon grant. And I think I see Kareem uh from the wake up movement in the back. But uh that is one of those organizations that I know uh and is doing good work and that advertises the good work and ought to be a recipient of the Shannon Grant. I'm hopeful that you know if you didn't apply that you do apply. Uh but it nothing frustrates me more uh as a former educator when folks aren't pulling their weight. And if you say you're going to do something that I want to see you doing it. Um, and again, I don't want to cast any expersions on folks in this room. Um, and you know, I I I also won't highlight who it is that I know is not doing the work, but there certainly is one or two organizations who are not doing the work, and it's not fair to everybody who is. So, with that being said, thank you, Jerry, um, uh, Councelor Martin for having this meeting, and thank you to all of you for the great work impacting our youth. As a former educator, I know, uh, what it takes. Uh, I know it's not easy. Uh, and you're often not thanked for your efforts. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I want to say ditto on Kyne. Um, ditto. Yes. Ditto on Kyne. And also, yes, the accountability piece is very much needed. And good night everyone.

I'd like to address counselor Hurst. Um, I I think when you put a post out like that, I I would respectfully ask that you think about how it's perceived by the people in this room that are doing the work. My name is Liz Denine. I'm the CEO of the YW.CA. Um, and I can tell you sitting in this room for the last couple of hours, I'm in awe of what these different agencies are doing. Um, and it it it felt as though we were under attack by you. Um, and quite frankly, uh, I didn't like it. So, I came down to support my team because I'm incredibly impressed with the work they're doing. But as I sit here and I listen to what the Boys and Girls Club's doing, what all the other organizations in this group that are still here are doing, I'm in awe. Uh so you and I um are in agreement. I think what folks are doing uh is great work. Um what I don't do when I post um is take into account um individuals who may take it the wrong way. Um I do the best I can to put what it is that that I see out there as the truth. Um and give it to the community. uh if there's additional contacts um you know that that may be needed, I'll certainly be the judge of it. My post was not an indictment on any of your organizations. Uh in fact, I support many of your organizations and talk very highly of the work that it is that that you're doing. Um so, uh you know, I I I appreciate the feedback. Um you know, but that certainly isn't going to dictate what it is that I do in the future.

Yeah.

Hi Rmer, grant administrator over at the police department. I have been the grant administrator since August 26, 2025, less than a year in this position. From when I started, there were no partner meetings. There was no accountability on what work they were doing. Since I've started, I have spreadsheets of things that I have asked certain partners. I've expanded the program from 13 partners to 17 as well. Yes, we got cut this year, but we could have not included anybody and kept it the same. I wanted to expand it to the there were five new partners this year. And as you saw, there are partners that did not attend this meeting. They do have programs that run at this time. And as we've seen, it is short staffed. So they all hands on deck. I do I acknowledge that some partners may not show the work that they do and I am aware of that and I am keeping record and I am holding these partners accountable. So in the last eight months, I have really tried to turn this into a program that is recognized in the community as a success. And I want partners here that are actually willing to do the work and step up even if

it's a meeting like this on a random Thursday night so the community can see and hear what's going on. You're doing a terrific job. Keep up the great work. I think you're you're doing an excellent job. And if who is here and the programs that they're putting out in the community is a reflection of that, uh then then you're doing a phenomenal job. Thank you. Great work, Caitlyn. Great work. Yes. All right. Uh councelor Dav you have a question or

uh thank you Mr. Chair uh well join my colleagues by saying there was an absolutely wonderful presentation by all the players and all the stakeholders involved. Uh I realize that we as city council do approve a lot of Sharon uh accept a lot of the shon grand money which in turn is distributed to you guys and having a little bit of a check and balances is not a bad thing for anybody. Uh I also want to make sure that um I recognize the great work that you all have doing and somebody made a comment a little while ago. Even if we just impact one person and we say one life uh is very worthy. I know I want to say briefly that myself by profession I'm a full-time paramedic and I have been in some of those shootings I have been the medical providing in those scenes. So I'm very aware, very familiarized with the trauma uh that happens. Um and we we this is going to be ongoing fight to save and the city. But later on, if I may, Mr. Sher, maybe perhaps the young lady from the police department uh can provide me more information because I just have to one question, one clarifying question. Did you guys say that we have 1,200 known gang members in the city? Is that correct? at the beginning of the meeting

approximately that we don't have the exact number but it's approximately between 1,00 and 1200 gang members in the city okay and I believe you said somebody said what between 10 to the age of 10 to 24 years of age 10 to 24 is the age of the Shannon youth right I have programmer to work with the youth from that age

yeah I have a book full of questions but I'm going to ask you one question uh can you send me some data has some information. What are we doing? What is the Sharon Grant being used specifically to target the 10 years old? I heard a lot of generalities and a lot of good stuff, but I specifically want to know I want to know what are we doing for the 10 year old? What program specific uh approaches are we doing with them? Um is there something, Mr. we can kind of coordinate with the PD to get that information.

Yeah, I'll get um K's information and see if you know I can either get the you know proper channels and talk to the the recipients of these grants. All right. Uh thank you Mr. Chairman and again everybody from not only as a city council but also as a resident thank everybody for the work you guys done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. So just to reiterate a lot of the same points as uh my colleagues. Um, I I again came into this meeting very um uneducated on a lot of the on a lot of the work that you guys do. I'm impressed with each of the organizations that came and and took the time to to really, you know, lay it all out there for the uh the community and uh the public safety committee. Um I did pass out my cards and my information. So, if anybody ever wants to have a follow-up meeting or to let us know about anything that's going on in the community, please feel free to reach out and contact myself or any of my uh any of my colleagues. Um, I do also want to thank Councelor Whitfield for, you know, putting the bug in my ear to to hold this meeting and um or President Whitfield to hold this meeting and to uh to see all of all of you and to meet all of you and to hear all of your wonderful stories. So, thank you again.

Thank you. So make a motion to end the meeting. So moved. Um it's 7:01. She ask.