Akeim battles his grief to help fight against gun crime
WHEN Akeim Mundell was just 13 years old, his close friend Jessie James was shot and killed as he cycled through a park in Manchester’s Moss Side.
The teenager’s murder hit him hard. He was angry, upset and unsure what to do next.
Some of his peers wanted revenge, but Akeim instead chose to dedicate his life to putting an end to gun and knife crime in his community.
A decade on, the now 23-year-old has been recognised for his efforts having been nominated for a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award, run by the Manchester Evening News’s sister paper.
He already boasts a Manchester Be Proud Award, having bagged the ‘Unsung Hero’ award in 2015.
Akeim, who lives in Whalley Range, is a teaching assistant and IT lead St Mary’s Primary in Moss Side, which he used to attend.
He is also the founder of an online group called Manchester Job Opportunities, spending three hours each night finding and uploading local vacancies to the site for its 20,000plus members.
If that wasn’t enough, he also volunteers as a mentor for youth group Community On Solid Ground in Whalley Range - and hosts large scale community events.
“Jessie and I had been close throughout primary school and stayed close when we went to high school, said Akeim.
“Losing someone so young to gun and knife crime, I didn’t really know what to do.
“Some people wanted to go down the road of revenge, but my parents told me if I wanted to stop things like this from happening, then I should try to do something positive.
“I got in touch with the police and council and they brought me in for a meeting and gave me funding to run my own projects.
“I started organising regular meetings with young people in the community to find out what they wanted, which was something to do during the school holidays.
“That’s when I began the under-18 events, celebration parties.
“It brought people together from different areas – Moss Side, Whalley Range, Longsight.”
Akeim later focusing on hosting events for the entire community, launching the first ever Manchester’s Got Talent in 2014.
He also works hard to help get people into employment and is passionate about his group Manchester Job Opportunities.
Akeim says that although he hasn’t managed to help stamp out gun and knife crime completely, he knows it has gone down.
Speaking about his nomination, Akeim said he has no idea who put him forward for the awards.
“I thought it was a prank I first,” he said.
“I was sitting in the barbers when I got a call from a guy saying I’d been nominated. “It really does mean a lot to me. “Often when you do a lot of voluntary work it can be tiring, and sometimes you do think, ‘should I keep it up?’
“But it’s things like this that show you that the hard work you are doing out there is being recognised and it is appreciated.”