A summit focused on empowering youth and fostering positive change in the community took place today, organized by Love, Hope, and Healing Inc. The event featured speakers who provided children with guidance on how to avoid trouble.
“We just wanted everybody to come out so we can all come together to stop this crime that’s going on in our community. We see a lot of it; in 2023, we had 3,800 kids get arrested from the ages 10 to 17,” said Donte Bates, co-founder and executive director of Love, Hope, and Healing Inc.
The seminar, titled “Stop Throwing Rocks at the Chain Gang,” addressed the issue of youth involvement in crime. The title serves as a metaphor for the choices young people encounter: “rocks” symbolize criminal acts, while the “chain gang” represents the repercussions of incarceration…