Community partners are One Lexington’s ‘special sauce’ in fight against gun violence

In the struggle to prevent gun violence among young people in Lexington, One Lexington Director Devine Carama said community partners are the “special sauce” that keeps the government agency going.

“A lot of people don’t know the great work that’s being done under the radar,” he said.

From contracting with people who help with in-school mentoring and respond to crises after a shooting, to working with nonprofits that align with One Lexington’s work, Carama said getting help from others is key.

It’s in the mission of One Lexington: to “coordinate, leverage and mobilize city government and community resources to reduce gun violence with youth and young adults ages 13 – 29 in the city of Lexington.”

Carama said community-based organizations have the experience to know what the community needs.

“It’s not re-inventing the wheel,” he said. “It’s not government coming in and saying, ‘We’re gonna do this. We’re gonna do that.’”

Lexington has seen an increase in deadly gun violence in recent weeks: Prior to press time, the city had reported five homicides since April 20, including three that involved victims under 25 years old.

One Lexington recently hosted a gathering of Black Men of Lexington United to call on Black men to step up their community service work during the summer months, a time when gun violence among young people typically increases.

With the happy shouts of kids on the playground ringing out behind them, scores of men circled up on the lawn of William Wells Brown Elementary School in Lexington’s East End.

There were moments of silence for shooting victims known to many of those in attendance. There were also prayers and personal messages of encouragement by men who are working in the fields of re-entry and mental health.

One Lexington shouted out the work of organizations like New Vista, which offers mental health and substance abuse services, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bluegrass, which has a long waiting list of boys seeking mentors.

Afterward, some of the group walked over to the 400 block of Chestnut Street, where two people had died after a shooting a few weeks before, to hand out bags of produce grown by Black Soil.

“Brothers, we gotta step out. We gotta get active,” Carama said.

‘These are our issues’

In March, the city formally recognized the work One Lexington’s partner organizations are doing by giving $100,000 in grants to 15 organizations that are helping the cause.

“They’re involved in mentoring, art, coaching, education, counseling and much, much more,” Mayor Linda Gorton said at a news conference announcing the grants. “The government needs to help them grow so they can work with even more young people.”

The Lexington Ravens Football Organization, which provides opportunities for under-served youth to play football while also learning values like discipline and respect, received one of the grants.

“The resources from this grant is going to provide more opportunities,” said Ravens president and coach Terry Hicks. “So many of our kids are impacted by gun violence. We don’t want that to become the norm for them.”

Doyle Lee runs H.E.A.R.T.S., an outreach mentoring program for young adults and at-risk youth, which received a grant. VOYAGE, an effort run by Terry Dumphord, also received a grant. Both men also work together as mentors for One Lexington’s in-school “It Takes a Village” mentoring program, and Dumphord is a crisis response advocate as well.

“A lot can be accomplished when the people in power empower the actual people,” Dumphord said the day the grants were announced.

He said it’s important for the city to look to the communities where the violence is happening to find solutions.

“These are our issues. These are our babies,” he said.

In practical terms, stopping gun violence is a bigger job than a single small government agency like One Lexington could do alone anyway.

One Lexington, which operates out of the mayor’s office, currently employs three people: Carama, Community Outreach Advocate Kenneth Payne and Community Response Coordinator Larry Johnson.

Payne leads One Lexington’s crisis response efforts. He also helps coordinate community partnerships and is responsible for expansion of the summer mentoring program, among other duties, according to a news release issued when he came aboard with One Lexington in January. He previously spent 13 years working at the Kentucky United Methodist Children’s Home and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Johnson said he spends much of his time focusing on addressing substance abuse and domestic violence problems. He also does more of the “in house” work for One Lexington, and he was responsible for coordinating with the Community Action Council, which administers the grant program.

Carama said he’d ultimately like for One Lexington to have a staff of five people, but having three full-time employees is a good start.

“The first nine months, it was just me,” he said. “Each year we’re getting more and more funding. ...We’re building up slowly. The mayor and previous council ... have been supportive and helped us build our capacity tremendously.”

The mayor’s budget allows One Lexington to pay a stipend to One Lexington’s mentors and crisis intervention advocates for the work they do. Carama said even guest speakers receive a fee, and that’s something he feels strongly about.

“We have to create a model of compensating peer support,” Carama said. “These are the people who are on the front lines. ... Anybody we are relying on, we want to give a stipend.”

Sometimes, he said, the people providing the services are hurting too, and he wants to alleviate this: “I’m giving food away, (and) we’re broke.”

Carama is also quick to give credit to “the streets” at every opportunity.

He said those are the people who are often holding down multiple jobs, maybe with a criminal record, who are working in their homes and neighborhoods to make things better.

“They’re using their life experience to mediate conflicts,” he said at the press conference when the grants were announced. “They’re able to be in spaces that we can’t be at 24/7.”

“You can’t have successful reduction in gun violence without the streets,” he said in an interview. “They are literally out there saving lives every day. You just can’t do this work without those connections.”

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