Stopping violence and crime starts by focusing on Toledo’s kids, community leaders say – WTOL

TOLEDO, Ohio The double homicide of Laura Luckey and Natasha Carlisle in the 800 block of Vance Street this past weekend is just one more case of deadly violence on the streets of Toledo.

Shay Bankston, a licensed trauma therapist and social worker who has been actively working in parts of Toledo struggling with violence, says the cause of gun violence can be traced to one major issue.

"Our kids really don't have anything to do, and it's essentially like we have a parentless generation and our kids are raising themselves, and they're very angry and they're very numb to it all," Bankston said.

Bankston says government projects like the war on crime and the war on drugs have caused generations of children to grow up with parents or relatives in jail, creating a system where the children have learned to fend for themselves.

"Because a lot of our youth have been left to their own devices, they're going to do whatever they feel they have to do to have just some very basic and essential needs met," Bankston explained.

Bankston says the best way to prevent kids from falling into that lifestyle is to offer them afterschool activities to keep them productive and creative.

Douglas Jones, the owner of Pride of Kids United, an inner-city youth program at the Frederick Douglass Center, agrees, saying that kids need to be taught to channel their boredom and connection to their neighborhood into something productive.

"A lot of these kids want to claim a 'hood. The neighborhood is going to be there whether you're there or not," Jones said. "If you're going to do something for the 'hood, do something positive. Bring some positive recognition back for the 'hood."

Jones says afterschool programs have never been more necessary than now, giving kids a safe place to be instead of out on the streets.

"It's better for the kids to do that, and we can actually tell where they're at, cause everyone comes from somewhere different every day, and the answer isn't cursing and beating and slapping around," Jones said.

In his Toledo Recovery plan, Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz outlined the need for more inner-city youth programming, which Bankston says is the first time any mayor has done so in recent memory.

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Stopping violence and crime starts by focusing on Toledo's kids, community leaders say - WTOL