Community Activists to Speak to Middle School-Age Kids, Their Parents
Verge Alliance is teaming up with The King Center to host an Emergency Anti-Gang Community Intervention (EAGCI), an event aimed at deterring middle school-age boys from joining gangs.
The event will take place this Sunday, October 23 from 5:00-7:00PM ET at The King Center, located on 449 Auburn Ave NE in Atlanta.
“What do we know to be true about gang violence? We know we will fail as a community if we don’t address the issues,” said Tekeshia Shields, an event speaker and Founder of non-profit Mothers Against Gang Violence.
Georgia is in a state of crisis due to violent, criminal street gangs. Communities are living in fear and our youth are being lost. Just this past August, a metro Atlanta district attorney reported that a gang is using a cluster of Cobb County elementary and middle schools as its primary recruiting ground.
The EAGCI event will bring together the only people who know first-hand the innerworkings of this epidemic and what’s at stake – former gang members turned community activists, all with nationwide respect and recognition.
These leaders will speak to the youth and their parents from high-risk neighborhoods in the Atlanta area, warning of the dangers of gangs, how to avoid this path, and the way to a better life.
The full speaker lineup includes Nate Pirtle, Founder & CEO of Work With The Coach, Jimmy “JimBob” Chris, co-producer of FX TV series Hip Hop Uncovered, Courtney “Bear” Sills, Founder & President of Bear Strong, Inc., Tekesia Shields, Founder of non-profit Mothers Against Gang Violence, and Omar Howard, Founder of Freedom Is A Choice, Inc.
While our school system has anti-gang programs, they need the community’s help and parental involvement to be most effective.
In addition, The Confess Project (TCP), a mental health non-profit, will provide vouchers for free haircuts to the first 100 kids in attendance.
The YMCA of Metro Atlanta and Bearings Bike Works will also be onsite to share information and sign up kids for programs.
For more information about this Sunday’s EAGCI event at The King Center, please Email Verge Alliance at field@vergealliance.com.
