HARTFORD, Conn. — As neighbors in Hartford continue to mourn the victim of the city's 22nd homicide of the year, community leaders at the new Brother Carl Hardrick Institute are working hard to curb gun violence.
“How do we address crime and not run from it, but run to it? And what are the tools that we need?" said Brother Carl Hardrick, a longtime youth development leader.
The community center, located at the Wilson-Gray YMCA on Albany Avenue, is training neighbors as violence prevention professionals who can work with victims, families and perpetrators.
“What could we have done to keep you from going to jail and we can learn from them," said Brother Hardrick.
“Primarily their job is to when it comes down to at-risk youth primarily, making sure those young people have interveners in their lives, mentors that can actually meet them where they’re at," said Andrew Woods, the institute's interim executive director.
It is training by neighbors for neighbors, everyone from parents, nurses, youth development practitioners and community leaders.
“If one child is murdered on the street, he has brothers and sisters at home, so we have to interrupt it so the next young kid won’t go the same route," said Freddie Graves with Mothers United Against Violence.
It's a personal mission for Graves.
“I lost my great-nephew over 20 years ago to gun violence and his mother started Mothers United Against Violence to help save other people’s children," said Graves.
Generations of groups are now coming together to break the cycle.
“Growing up in the City of Hartford, a lot of communities deal with this as a normality of violence and trauma, and unfortunately I was one of the ones that grew up in those communities and I felt that this was a call of duty to get involved in healing our community," said Tyrone Bynum, Jr., a violence prevention professional.
The institute's Board of Ambassadors is made up of 30 local leaders representing various fields, including local health systems, non-profits and state government.
For more information, visit the Brother Carl Hardrick Institute's website.
Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
---
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
---
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.