A group of about two dozen Connecticut volunteers are taking up the longtime work of Hartford community activist Carl Hardrick: advocating for peaceful resolutions to conflict and an end to gun violence.
On Thursday in Hartford, they became the first class to complete a new four-day training program, Brother Carl Hardrick Intervention Specialist Training.
"What we're trying to do is teach people other ways of solving their problems," says State Sen. Doug McCrory (D-Hartford), a program sponsor. "It gives them a hand-up, not a handout, so that they can change the course of their lives, and when they change the course of their lives, they change the course of their community."
The program is offered by the Brother Carl Hardrick Institute for Violence Prevention and Community Engagement (BCHI), based at the Wilson-Gray YMCA on Albany Ave.
"I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be in a situation where we're being seen," BCHI Co-Chair and local investor JoAnn Price told volunteers, "as a serious group of people that are here for no other reason than to save and improve and allow our communities to be healthier. That's it. There's no other reason for us to be here."
