The Conversation article Interrupting Gun Violence

Over the past 11 years, we have been working on the South side to reduce gun violence and its impact on youth and families.  I published this article in The Conservation to share part of our experience with the world.  Please read.  https://theconversation.com/faith-based-violence-interrupters-stop-gang-shootings-with-promise-of-redemption-for-at-risk-youth-not-threats-of-jail-142449

BTN-Live Big -Growing Hope and Opportunity

Growing hope and opportunity with Ohio State’s Urban GEMS: BTN LiveBIG

Growing hope and opportunity with Ohio State’s Urban GEMS: BTN LiveBIG

In some of the most distressed, urban communities in Columbus, Ohio, something hopeful has taken root. It’s leafy and green, flush with life and promise, sprouting out of verdant towers from which it basks in the light of opportunity.

Quite literally, we are talking about the nutritious vegetables being grown by the Urban GEMS(Gardening Entrepreneurs Mentoring Sustainability) program, a positive youth development initiative founded by Dr. Deanna Wilkinson, a professor at The Ohio State University. In a broader sense, though, this program is growing so much more.

“I developed [the program] two years ago, to work with young people in these communities to grow food,” says Wilkinson, an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, “but also to teach them about leadership development, entrepreneurship, academic enrichment and to add a youth component to this holistic community approach that I have been working on for years.”

As designed, Urban GEMS aims to reduce high school drop-out rates by increasing access to educational, personal development and career opportunities for students placed at-risk by their circumstances. By teaching them how to operate aeroponic gardens, which are vertical beds that use artificial light to produce food year-round indoors, the program is engaging the students in active and experiential learning that seeks to address their basic needs.

The students who participate in Urban GEMS come from some of the most economically-depressed areas of Columbus; areas which are plagued by crime and gun violence and which are often food deserts. In settings such as these, children often see little hope for advancement. Urban GEMS is countering this trend in myriad ways, says Wilkinson.

“They’re learning about nutrition and how good they feel when they eat healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables. They then share this with their families and communities. They also do art projects around some of our outdoor gardens, such as mosaic tiles, stepping stones and peace poles. They’re learning leadership skills, responsibilities, how to advocate for themselves and how to advocate for food justice in their communities.”

Individual Urban GEMS groups, which operate out of community centers in Columbus, are structured much like 4H clubs, with students electing officers and holding meetings to make important decisions. The food produced is sold by the group, providing both access to healthy food for their communities and a chance for the students to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Wilkinson’s inspiration for the program came from her own experience with aeroponic tower gardening. Looking to counteract the effects of seasonal depression, she purchased one of the devices to inject some life and light into her home during the gray and gloomy months of the year, and soon realized the broader utility in the garden’s therapeutic qualities. “I thought that if it helps me, maybe it can help people in the community.”

While reducing high school dropout rates is the immediate goal for Urban GEMS, the broader objective, says Wilkinson, is to make sure that all students have equal access to the kinds of opportunities that will fuel their minds, expand their horizons and strengthen their communities.

“I hope these kids get a chance to follow their dreams and get exposed to different ideas so that their dreams grow bigger. I hope that they’re healthy and that they live a long life and that they will take some little piece from this and give it back to their community and to the world.

Growing Healthier Lives – OSU Insights

https://insights.osu.edu/life/youth-urban-farming

Deanna Wilkinson can’t help but smile as she looks around the room: The program she started in 2015 is flourishing, and today a group of kids is harvesting crops and learning about healthful diets.

Wilkinson, an associate professor in Ohio State’s Department of Human Sciences, spent two decades studying gun violence among urban youth. But she eventually wanted to focus on prevention, leading her to start Urban G.E.M.S. (Gardening Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability), a program that focuses on teaching inner-city kids how to care for and harvest gardens.

Here, she explains the secret to the program’s success.

The Urban G.E.M.S. project in Columbus, Ohio, is making a difference at families’ tables and in the community at large.

NBC4i summer program coverage

Summer Program Providing Positive, Safe Activities For Children

Posted: Jun 02, 2014 12:02 PM EST Updated: Aug 25, 2014 12:02 PM EST

By: Marcus Thorpe – email

COLUMBUS, Ohio –

It was a violent and deadly weekend in portions of the City of Columbus.

Following in the words of Mayor Michael Coleman, who spoke about violence in the community last week, one group is pushing hard for change.

Monday marked the kickoff of the youth summer program at Missionary Family Baptist Church.

“People get shot a lot, and hurt a lot, some bad things,” Jayla Payne, 11, said.

Payne and more than 100 others are signed up for the summer long boot camp program at the church.

“We try to make sure that they know the community loves them and wanted them to succeed, it is our job as adults to find resources for them,” Deanna Wilkinson OSU Associate Professor said.

One of the main components for the program this year is providing a daily planner for the young members of the Columbus community.

Making sure the kids have a plan, chart their goals and follow through is a big part of growing into good productive citizens as they get older.

“Having schedules, planners, and journals keeps track of what they do each day,” Wilkinson said.

This is year four for the program, and each year they seem to get stronger, and see real changes in the young people who sign up.

“We have seen some students who had been suspended 14 or 15 times, come here and they don’t get suspended anymore and make the honor roll,” Benjamin Price with Family Missionary Baptist Church said.camp picture 2014

 

http://www.wric.com/story/25669790/summer-program-providing-positive-safe-activities-for-children

Front page story in the Columbus Dispatch 5/18/12

Study backs tougher sentences

By  Theodore Decker  and  Alan Johnson Friday May 18, 2012 6:14 AM

Backed by a new study showing that a small group of repeat violent offenders is responsible for a third of all violent-crime convictions, Attorney General Mike DeWine will propose legislation to keep such felons behind bars much longer.

“We cannot afford not to lock up a three-time violent offender,” DeWine said. “We should always have room in prison for someone who might kill my daughter.”

DeWine said the study was prompted by the 2011 Dispatch series, “Target: Gun Violence,” that looked at the problem of repeat gun offenders in Columbus and statewide.

In the series, police complained that repeat gun offenders should face steadily escalating punishment, similar to drunken-driving laws.

DeWine, a former U.S. senator and county prosecutor, said he will work with Gov. John Kasich’s administration on legislation to be introduced in the General Assembly this fall, although he wasn’t specific on what might be in it. State Sen. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus, is among the lawmakers who might sponsor the proposal.

The study was done at DeWine’s request by Deanna L. Wilkinson, an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Ohio State University. Wilkinson tapped crime statistics from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation database and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for 1974 to 2010.

She found that 230,288 people, or 2.62 percent of all Ohioans, were charged with violent felony offenses in Ohio over 36 years. continues….

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/05/18/study-backs-tougher-sentences-for-repeat-offenders.html

DISPATCH EXCLUSIVE on GUN VIOLENCE 5/2011

Target: Gun violenceA 3-part Dispatch special report

Crimes involving firearms cut a deadly path across Ohio’s largest cities. Ohio law allows gunslingers to churn through prison and back to the streets to do it again. And police are shifting their focus from collecting guns to removing the bad guys from the streets.


 

Series articles