In 2024, a fight broke out in the area that Donnell Gardner’s teams of violence interrupters and outreach workers oversee, off West Boulevard and Remount Road.
“We were able to interrupt that situation, get one (person) to a safe place until it calmed down and later to have those guys call a truce,” said Gardner, a program manager. “That’s very important. Without that interruption, so many things could have happened.”
Gardner’s teams — one working in the Beatties Ford Road area since 2021, and another near the West Boulevard area since 2023 — operate under Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. Young people get to participate.
The city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have supported the effort, which research backs up.
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice, an authority on criminal justice and violence, has found that the model YAP and Gardner use works. Most high-risk youth who get referred to a YAP program stay in their community and don’t get arrested.
“John Jay’s analysis indicates that YAP is successful at keeping referred youth in their communities, even those who experienced an arrest,” research has found.