Dressed in orange, and carrying signs often bigger than themselves, children and teens who participate in various programs offered by Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC), took to the streets on Friday, June 3, to mark the beginning of Gun Violence Awareness Month.

 

Departing from the MMCC venue located at 3450 DeKalb Avenue in Norwood, the group seemed adamant to raise their voices in protest against the ongoing gun violence that plagues their lives each day in The Bronx, as well as the horrific mass shootings that have recently occurred across the nation.

 

As of June 5, 185 shootings have occurred in the borough so far this year, and 216 shooting victims. In the 52^nd precinct, which covers Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Fordham and Bronx Park, there have been 16 shootings this year and 19 shooting victims.

 

Chants of “Enough is enough!” and “This is a school zone, not a war zone!” could be heard through the streets as the determined group, followed by program directors at and guided by a police escort, marched down East Gun Hill Road, over the Bronx River Parkway, past Gun Hill Houses along the 1.1-mile route, with Evander Field in Williamsbridge as their destination.

 

Some young people shared their reasons for marching with us. “We walk because we care about what is happening in my community,” said Jamar Benard, while Javon Humphrey said, “These shootings are scary; we can’t go to the park or walk to the store.” Another youth named Wassir said, “Gun violence impacts us all, not just adults or kids, but the entire community. We need stricter gun control.”

 

Fueled by what MMCC directors called the kids’ own anger at the ongoing violence all around them, the young protestors were encouraged to stand up for their beliefs. The directors said the kids hoped to use their voices to spark change within their communities, particularly around East Gun Hill Road, which has seen three shootings in the vicinity of the center in the last seven months.

 

“Gun Hill, itself, has been highly affected,” said Tara Palmer, youth director at MMCC’s Dekalb Avenue location, which intersects with East Gun Hill Road. “Since I’ve been working here the last seven months, there’s already been three shootings, one of which….a teen ran into our building, thinking he got shot and it really scared us.”

 

MMCC is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year and the MMCC team pride themselves on the work and the services they have provided at their various locations across the Bronx and Harlem to community members of all ages. They offer several different programs, catering especially to youth. Among these is the Advance & Earn program, funded by the center’s partner, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD).

 

 

The goal is to support youth aged 16 to 24 to obtain their high school equivalency, formerly known as the GED, while the Advance Training Track is designed for youth aged 21 to 24 who are interested in obtaining their commercial driver’s license.

 

 In addition, there are various afterschool programs, the Boys & Girls Club Teen Center, the Child Development Center, Saturday Academy, senior centers, programs catering for special needs, sports, youth employment, and workforce development & continuing education. In addition, the Train & Earn culinary program prepares students for entry-level positions in the food service industry. The Dekalb Ave center has also opened a food pantry for those in need, which was particularly busy during the early days of the pandemic.

 

Rita Santelia is CEO of MMCC and said, “What we noticed in the last few years is that many of our families would, when they were in crisis, leave us and be forced to go to Manhattan, for example, to get services. In the last five years, we’ve implemented the department of support services, and they no longer have to leave us.”

 

She added, “We help them with housing. We help them with free tax services, and in a couple of years, we are hoping to collaborate, and actually do supportive housing for kids who are aging out of foster care.”

 

MMCC partners with schools as well, providing “Cornerstone” and “Beacon” programs focused on local youth, along with other services. The Beacon programs serve children aged 6 and older, as well as adults, and operate in the afternoons and evenings, on weekends, and during school holidays and vacation periods, including summer, to provide academic support.

 

“We put up a community school in [P.S.] 86 [in Kingsbridge Heights],” Santelia continued. “We just got a grant. That was from a longtime partnership with the principal that we were able to get that grant.”

 

She said the center also infuses some of the high schools with its OASIS program which focuses on drug prevention. Some staff and attendees of MMCC programs offered outside of the Dekalb Avenue center participated in the rally as well. “We also go to some of our high schools and do some restorative justice work,” Santelia added.

 

According to Santelia, this work takes kids outside of their local communities and presents them with different opportunities. Many have been impacted by violence in their lives, either directly or indirectly and the program teaches them what they can do to plan a future path for themselves, whether that involves college or not.

 

The kids are taken to camps and restaurants and their educational path is discussed to see what is impacting upon it. “I mean, that’s probably why we’re doing this rally,” said Santelia. “From this level of interaction with them, they felt empowered.”

 

Tashan Dawkins, director of youth services at the center, was at the forefront of the rally, giving the kids the tools they needed to support a cause which has triggered strong feelings within them.

 

Both Palmer and another director said the kids were really traumatized by the recent wave of national gun violence, adding that they wanted to come up with a rally or walk, and had used the word “walk,” in particular. “Then, the young people developed the entire thing, what they wanted to see, how we wanted it to be executed,” said Dawkins. “We were just the adults to say, ‘Hey, we believe in you! We believe in your passion; we’re going to support you’.”

 

According to Dawkins, there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare for the rally because the idea sparked the day after the May 24th Uvalde school shooting in Texas in which 21 people, including 19 children, were killed and 17 injured. Dawkins also stressed the importance of safety during the event.

 

“We just want to make sure that the young people are safe, and that they’re sending their message that, ‘We are here. We are trying to take back control. We want stricter gun control’,” she said.

 

The directors assisted the group in creating a petition, both on paper and on their social media platforms, the goal of which was to garner as much support and help as they could to raise awareness of the issue.

 

MMCC relies heavily on funding from federal and State programs, which provides an income to those working at the center and also provides funds for individual programs. According to Santelia, this can be an issue, when they don’t have enough funding.

 

On May 4, at MMCC’s virtual gala celebrating its 80^th anniversary, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) confirmed funding of $250,000 for programs combating drug use, gun violence, gang activity and others, saying, “The work that you have done has literally helped tens of thousands of people in my district and around The Bronx and you’ve made a huge difference in the lives of so many people.” Despite this, more funding is always needed.

 

“It would be amazing if the fairy godmother comes down and gives us an endowment or gives us money to be able to open up additional facilities like this one, just so that we can actually keep up with the demands of the community that we’re serving,” Santelia said, adding that the demands are great.

 

Nonetheless, the rally was a success, especially in the eyes of the directors who were impressed with the “kinetic energy” that pulled all of it together in a little over a week. They said it was a “hands-on” initiative, with the entire team working with the kids to make it happen.

 

“It is giving the community a little more awareness of what we do at MMCC,” said Dominic Smith, OASIS program director, who is also involved in the restorative justice program. “I’m super impressed with them [the kids], and it was little guys, like a kindergartner who was with us; they get it,” he said.

 

Dedric “Beloved” Hammond, a director at the Manhattan-based nonprofit, Living Redemption Youth Opportunity Hub, was a partner of MMCC’s for the event, and spoke to the kids at the end of their walk. The nonprofit helps at-risk youth as well as youth in gangs, providing them with money for self-care, education, and food.

 

Hammond began with the ARCHERS program, which helps people on probation. That transitioned into the Next Step program which helps people rediscover their identity and provides Metrocards and a hot meal to participants.

 

“We do know pain,” he said. “We know hurt people hurt people.” Hammond once lived on the streets, but now makes it his mission to hear people and be there for them, without any prerequisites or judgment. “I’m also a hospital responder. So, when I go to the hospital, I respond to people that got shot, badly beaten, assaulted, stabbed, and my job is to talk them down from retaliation,” he said.

 

Because of his knowledge of street life, Hammond said he’s able to connect with affected youth and act as a guide for them. He said, he doesn’t generally work with the police unless they reach out to him for help and added that the district attorney supports his work.

 

“We get a chance to take them [the youth] out of town,” Hammond said. “We give them retreats. We take them to camp. We allow them to go fishing. We allow them to go bowling. We take them to great adventures, to museums. We do all the things that we know that will change a person’s mind, once they see the community for what it really is.”

 

For Hammond, the community is really the world, and he emphasized the importance of getting youth to give back to the community by encouraging them to volunteer. “They get a chance to see themselves, and they start realizing that they’re not so bad off after all,” he said, adding that he’s shows them they’re loved and worth something.

As reported, since the rally took place, new gun legislation has been passed at both State and federal level. At the end of the rally, after some final words, and on instruction from the directors, the group, in unison, released a flurry of individual balloons high into the sky, a small tribute by each youngster to individual gun violence victims, either known or unknown to them.

 

“I really hope that community members really take that in,” said Palmer. “It’s really affecting the kids. They should not have to endure the pain of getting shot, of being killed early. They should not have to die young, and their parents shouldn’t have to be burying them.”

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.