It’s a lively August afternoon at the True Reformer Building on U Street, where youth aged 14 to 24 are sharing all sorts of skills and talents: they’re on stage, moonwalking to Michael Jackson, rapping, leading their peers through breathing exercises.
They’re celebrating their “graduation” from TRIGGER University, a six-week summer violence prevention program for D.C. youth. The program, an initiative of the nonprofit the T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project, gives them access to paid summer jobs, and they also learn skills like meditation and conflict resolution.
At the ceremony, Onesti Hill, 19, recites a poem she wrote: “The little Black boy from 1st Street.”…