PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philly Truce, a youth-focused anti-violence group, is leading a new training program to keep young boys of color off the streets and on a path to leadership.
The initiative, called Safe City Boys, features of series of summits designed to teach the young participants a new way of looking at conflict — and to not pick up a gun. Two dozen boys between the ages of 11 and 15 are currently enrolled in the program, where they also learn language arts and engage in behavioral therapy.
After graduating from the program in June, the Safe City Boys will serve as peer mediators in their communities all summer.
“We can definitely, along with all the other organizations in the city, begin to turn the tide of the violent conflict resolution that’s taking place in our city that we see happening every day,” said Philly Truce President Steve Pickens. “[It’s] giving them another option in order to be able to think things out in a better way other than just resorting to violence as the first protocol.”
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The program was born from Philly Truce’s middle school assemblies for boys. JoShaun Hollman, one of the program’s so-called pathfinders, said this is the right age to train them to be leaders of change.
“How to be at peace with another classmate, friend, associate. It’s too often that they resort to violence,” he said.
Former teacher and fellow pathfinder Leon Williams leads the language arts portion of the curriculum. “Once young people learn how well they can do academically, they get a boost in their self-confidence, so I enjoy teaching them.”
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Rev. Jackie Wilson’s 11-year-old grandson is in the program with his younger brother.
“He was chosen first because he has a lot of anger issues,” said the youth leader at Emmanuel AME Church. “He’s been getting in trouble within school, but his teachers and his principal, they really believe in him. He’s very bright.”
A few spots are still open for the Safe City Boys program. More information can be found at phillytruce.com.
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