Documentary "Rebounding From Loss" to air Saturday on WBAL; Baltimore basketball team's commitment to each other and reducing violence is an inspiring tale

Recently, I had the privilege of attending a private screening of a new documentary that will air on WBAL TV (Channel 11) this Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. It was a privilege because I got to experience the film with the young men who were at the center of the documentary.

“Rebounding from Loss - A Season with a 6^th Man” chronicles the basketball season of a team from Benjamin Franklin at Masonville Cove, a new high school in Curtis Bay. The players dedicated their season to a team member who died from an accidental shooting. WBAL's Deborah Weiner followed the team, chronicling their story.

If this was a movie review, the headline would read “You’ll Laugh, You’ll Cry - You’ll Leave Uplifted”. These are young men who are instantly likable and through the course of the documentary one gets to see them as the youngsters they are - playful and smart, yet very much aware that one wrong move could cost them their lives.

According to 2011 Neighborhood Health Profile data the Health Department released in December, the Curtis Bay/Brooklyn/Hawkins Point area is a part of Baltimore where the rates of poverty and single parent households are slightly above the citywide average and the rates of homicide and non-fatal shootings are 24% and 12% higher, respectively. What’s so uplifting about this documentary is that these kids and their community are not letting themselves be defined by the statistics.  

We often focus on risk factors for youth violence to the exclusion of protective factors. This documentary paints a vivid picture of the aspects of real life that keep kids and their communities safe. Some of the most important protective factors include:

• Good adult role models – their coach, their principal and their fallen teammate’s mom are top among them.
• Strong peer networks – it’s clear that these young men have goals and dreams (all the graduating seniors are going to college) and they are supporting each other as brothers would.
• Strong connection to their school.
• Involved in team sports – I can’t say enough about the discipline, focus and mutual accountability one learns from playing a team sport.

I highly recommend seeing this documentary with your friends, your kids and their friends and anyone else that can influence a youth’s life. It’s a perfect example of how we all play a role in reducing violence.

It's fortunate the release coincides with National Youth Violence Prevention Week. There are more than 70 events around Baltimore this week. Check out our Youth Violence Prevention Week webpage for a full listing of events and more information.

Take care B’More.

Reflecting on Youth Violence Prevention Week

As Youth Violence Prevention Week draws to an end, I am reminded of a site visit I recently conducted with one of our staff in the Office of Youth Violence Prevention, Lori Toscano.

 

Lori is the community liaison officer, and like me she is from New York. She has a long and impressive history working with youth including a stint as a probation officer. She’s a ball of energy who regularly monitors the two Safe Streets sites we fund to make sure they are meeting their benchmarks.

About a month ago, we visited both sites, one in McElderry Park and the other in Cherry Hill, where we are implementing the Cease Fire model developed in Chicago. It’s an evidence-based approach at reducing violence in neighborhoods by engaging individuals in activities such as conflict resolution and mediation.

As we drove I would pepper Lori with questions about the importance of the work and why we should continue. Without hesitation, she replied “I’ve been in this work a long time and I stay because no one else does it like we do and it makes me feel good when we show that we are getting results. We are demonstrating that we are reducing the amount of violence in these communities.” 

In speaking with the outreach workers, what struck me the most was the eloquence with which they spoke about how they came to this demanding work. Many of them have histories of “wreaking havoc” in their communities and see this as a way of making amends. Others see themselves more through the lens of a medical model and refer to the work they do as a “vaccination (against violence) that goes into a community and works with people to help them see that there are other ways to deal with issues.” What was common to both groups was their assertion that “everybody wants a way out” of a life of violence. What they provide is an invaluable and life-saving service to their communities oftentimes on a 24-7 basis.

I remember the story an outreach worker shared in McElderry Park of what his father said to him when he visited him in jail: “It’s time for you to put a stop to this. I was in your seat and your grandfather was in your seat. I failed you. You don’t have to fail your kids.”

These are powerful stories of individuals taking responsibility for their actions and contributing to the betterment of their communities, one person at a time. And that’s the message of Youth Violence Prevention Week – that we all can play a role in reducing and PREVENTING violence in our communities.

Youth Violence Prevention Week ends tomorrow, but our prevention work and that of our partners will continue until homicide ceases to be the leading cause of death for young people age 15-24 in Baltimore City.

Baltimore City Kicks Off Youth Violence Prevention Week

This afternoon, I joined Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young, Minister Cleo Walker, and many of our community partners in kicking off Baltimore’s celebration of Youth Violence Prevention Week. From March 21 – 27, 2011, activities and events will be held nationwide to spotlight the issue of youth violence, to identify strategies to combat this epidemic, and to promote the positive role youth may have in making their communities and schools safer. 

Youth violence is no stranger to Baltimore. While homicide was only the 15^th leading cause of death nationwide in 2009, it was the 4^th leading cause of death among Baltimore residents and the leading cause among Baltimore City residents aged 15-24 years. A report released in 2009 by the Health Department documented the trajectory of youth violence in Baltimore by looking at both victims of violence and perpetrators of violence. The study showed that 99 percent of the youth victims and perpetrators of violence interacted with one or more child-serving administrative agency in the time period preceding the violent episode. It concluded that greater agency cooperation is critical to formulating early interventions capable of effectively reducing youth violence.  

In a review of Baltimore juvenile non-fatal shootings that occurred between January 1, 2001 and March 12, 2007, 7%, or 22 of 319 victims, were either murdered or shot again non-fatally within 18 months of their initial shooting. In an effort to address this issue, the City’s Safety Protocol for Juvenile Non-fatal Shooting Victims was developed approximately three years ago. This protocol was created in an effort to prevent shooting victims from being re-victimized and /or from retaliating by assessing their safety and developing and implementing safety plans. Partners involved in this collaborative effort are the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice (MOCJ), the Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD), Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD), and the State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO).  

Recognizing violence as an important public health issue, the Health Department created the Office of Youth Violence Prevention (OYVP) in 2002. OYVP is dedicated to combating the epidemic of violence affecting our city’s young people through innovative public health programming and policy initiatives. The Office works closely with community stakeholders, state and local agencies, and public health experts on programming and citywide anti-violence initiatives to prevent youth from becoming victims or perpetrators of violence.  

The Baltimore City Health Department’s Office of Youth Violence Prevention, in collaboration with city agencies and community-based organizations, is using this week to kick-off a series of events, workshops and open houses to spotlight this issue, the work being done here in Baltimore, and encourage everyone to Stand Up and Speak Out against and provide our youth with the tools they need to be successful. There are more than 70 events planned for this year’s YVP Week, including an airing of the documentary, “Concrete Steel and Paint” on Wednesday, a recognition ceremony for adults and youth making efforts to end violence in their communities, the 3^rd Annual Playing for Peace Basketball tournament on Friday and a production of the play “Where Y’all At?” on Saturday.

For more information, contact the Office of Youth Violence Prevention at BmoreYVP@baltimorecity.gov or (443) 984-3566. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BmoreYVP.