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DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — A new program in Decatur is getting personal with its anti-violence approach. Instead of keeping kids busy in the community, it’s going to where the problems usually start.
The city said it’s just one more way to help the at-risk youth of Decatur and achieve Victory Over Violence.
While other programs are doing activities in the community, Old Kings Orchard’s director said the focus is on what happens when they go home.
“We have to hear everyone,” Devon Joyner said. “We have to make real solutions. But if you don’t have people come to the table and talk to them, you’ll never get true solutions.”
Old Kings Orchard Community Center is using the phrase ‘it takes a village’ as the backbone of its new program.
“So we’ll talk to them about their barriers,” Joyner said. “What has occurred, whether it’s been educational, not being able to get a job and then we’ll see what we can do to help them get over that hump.”
They’re looking to turn people who could be negative influences into positives ones with the launch of OKO Peace.
“They have to know that they count,” Joyner said. “Again, you have to get people to work within their element, that come from that element,” said Joyner.
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He doesn’t just want to give young people something new to do. He wants to get to the root of why they do what they do.
“That’s where the confidence will build. That’s where the integrity will build,” Joyner said. “You have to show people that they can do something different.”
The program will bring in trained interrupters and influencers to change behavior leading to anger and violent incidents.
“It’s not enough just to provide activities,” said City Manager Scot Wrighton. “We also have to really get into the soup of their lives, if you will, and ask the tough questions and provide alternatives.”
He said this will allow for people to express what they need instead of organizations telling them what they offer.
“You have to understand the experience to formulate anything to make a difference, to change what’s happening,” Joyner said. “And that’s going to be the main point.”
Joyner said it’s a process that will take time, but he believes the benefits of this approach will make the work and the wait worth it.
