Indianapolis leaders create 'Safe Havens' for at-risk teens
Hours after yet another fatal shooting in Indianapolis, dozens of teenagers filled the Friendship Baptist Church to participate in a youth activity night hosted by city leaders.
In an effort to improve the quality of life in the city's six most crime-riddled areas, the Department of Public Safety partnered with the Rev. Charles Harrison of the Ten Point Coalition to cull young men and women from the designated hot zones and present events that would potentially stem the violence and bring about positive changes in the affected Indianapolis neighborhoods.
The Rev. Charles Ellis, pastor of the 25th Street Baptist Church and Ten Point Coalition board member, told The Star that when kids hear the words "safe," "safe haven" and "safe place," they're more eager to come and join in the activities because "they know they don't have to keep looking over their shoulder."
Back in October, Mayor Greg Ballard announced a "more holistic" approach to crime fighting in the city. Along with Public Safety Director Troy Riggs, the mayor's office identified six target areas that are home to 4.7 percent of Indy's residents, 27 percent of the homicides and 30 percent of the non-fatal shootings.
Intersections at West 16th Street and North Tibbs Avenue, West 29th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, West 34th Street and North Illinois Street, East 38th Street and North Sherman Drive, East New York Street and North Sherman Drive, and East 42nd Street and North Post Road have been labeled Indy's most challenging areas.
As a part of the new approach, DPS officials said they reached out to communities to provide evening activities for youths in the danger areas.
Friday night's events were the second of two nights of planned functions, which ran from 7to 11 p.m. at Friendship Baptist, 1301 N. Goodlet Ave., and Fervent Prayer Church, 10512 E. 38th St.
"It's pretty nice over here," said 17-year-old Augustine Anderson, who came to Friendship to get to know kids his age. Anderson, on a break from one of the pick-up basketball games that had broken out in the church's indoor gym, said he wanted to interact with different people and to get to know the community.
"I had a friend, a girl, who died two days ago; she got hit by a car," said Anderson. "But I'm still out here trying to shape up and keep my promise I made to her to do that."
Each activity night location is able to host 250 area youths and features pizza, sodas and a live DJ. All the events are free and organized by DPS, Ten Point Coalition, the Central Indiana Community Foundation, Marion County Health Department, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Constance Clay, a 14-year-old Ben Davis High School student who was brought to the youth night by her mom, sat at one of the many tables in the gym laughing with her friend as they shared photos on their cell
"It seemed like it was going to be fun," said Clay, who thinks her neighborhood is safe, but agrees that the events are a positive place for kids who feel unsafe on the street.
The challenge, Ellis says, is that it takes a lot of time, effort and resources to pull together these types of events. Youths are called to the streets by quick money and the promise of nice things; hard work is much less appealing, he said.
"We are sensitive to the fact that those places where kids can go hang out are shrinking," said Ellis. "We have to do some things to create places for the kids that are saying 'Where can I go be a kid? Where can I go be a teen and just hang out?' "
Call Star reporter Michael Anthony Adams at (317) 444-6123. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelAdams317.