Mayors find common ground on youth gun violence

Region initiatives like community policing, summer employment, night rec centers helping

In Hampton Roads, elected officials from the region’s 17 localities come together monthly to discuss economic, environmental, housing, transportation and other planning issues that have a regional impact. On Monday evening, the mayors of the region’s seven largest cities came together to address another issue that impacts all of our communities — the increase in shootings among our youth and young adults.

My counterparts in Chesapeake, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach and I are not alone in having this problem, but we may be unique with our mayoral discussion about policies and programs, as well as our commitment to regional solutions.

The forum was virtual and attracted a wide audience on Facebook Live. With more than 500 comments posted during the 90-minute discussion, there were two forums going on — one among our concerned citizen, and one among our mayors. We were joined by Anthony Smith, executive director of Cities United, whose mission is to help mayors disrupt the cycle of violence and create safe, healthy and hopeful communities for young Black men and boys, and their families.

Nationally and regionally, young Black males are disproportionately affected by gun violence. It is the leading cause of death for Black men and boys ages 15-34. There are numerous factors cited as causes of this violence with the main factor being our flawed structures that cause family breakdown; violence in the home and/or community; gang affiliations; poor academic achievement; poor employment prospects; lack of positive role models; unresolved trauma. The list goes on.

During Monday’s conversation, we all shared examples of initiatives that produce results: community policing, summer employment for young people, community engagement, opening recreation centers late at night, working with the faith-based organizations, and jail programs that prepare people for jobs when re-entering the community, to name a few.

“Measures like these reduced violence in Norfolk,” Mayor Kenny Alexander said. And then COVID-19 hit. “This pandemic has worsened many of our underlying conditions in communities of opportunity: violence, poverty, unemployment. It has laid bare the food and housing insecurity, and inequities in health care.”

Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer agreed. “Look at the collateral consequences of COVID: increases in depression, suicide, alcohol abuse, drug abuse.”

Everyone’s desire is to live in a safe, healthy and hopeful community. As Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover aptly stated, “We’ve got to look at this as a public health crisis.” We need to look at the root causes of the violence which have been generational and which these communities have been dealing with for decades.

We have far too long relied on law enforcement, jails and detention centers to provide solutions to this issue. Instead, we need to put resources behind strategies and solutions we know will work for everyone. Cities United has done the groundwork in this area for the past 10 years. In addition to utilizing their best practices, we need to tap into the hosts of individuals and grassroot organizations that are willing to be enlisted in the efforts to keep our children safe.

Our citizens have told us that reducing the gun violence in our communities is a high priority, and something they expect for their tax dollars. We know that investing in prevention and in our youth is an investment that will yield dividends — in dollars, in safer communities and especially in lives.

Monday evening’s conversation among the seven mayors was the beginning. We realize that there must be — and we plan to have — more conversations. As the policy leaders for our localities, our challenge is to build momentum around policy development and funding that supports violence prevention and reduction.

We need to provide hope — for those young people in our community who have none, for those families who have lost loved ones, and for those who have grown weary or fearful from the sound of gunshots.

In the comments made by those who viewed the presentation, one thing was clear: our residents are not only looking to us, but they are also looking at us.

View the entire forum with comments at facebook .com/HamptonVA/ videos/450814542871334 or watch the video at youtu.be/ mQCqksEmOyE.