“We do know we need to intervene in this and stop it before it spreads,” Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver said of the rash of gun violence that has hit Atlantic City’s youth especially hard.
Six people have died in shootings this year, the total number of homicides for all of 2018. Five of the victims were 21 or younger.
Oliver and other members of the city’s Executive Council discussed ways to tackle the problem Tuesday.
“We know we have to address the violence but it’s more important that we address if from a social aspect,” Mayor Frank Gilliam told BreakingAC.
He lauded the state’s support in helping cull from programs that have seen success elsewhere and looking to modify them for Atlantic City.
A main focus, the mayor noted, needs to be on mental health.
“If adults have a death in the family, we get bereavement days,” Gilliam said. “But children just go back to school. They’re thrown right back into their regular life. We need to ask, ‘How are you feeling? What can we do to support or help you?’”
The schools play a big part, the lieutenant governor noted.
“Curriculum is focused on getting that test score, so we’re losing the ability for social and emotional learning,” Oliver said. “We have to incorporate that into the curriculum.”
She said the superintendent has been a big supporter.
“Challenge one is to deal with the immediate crisis,” said Jim Johnson, special counsel to the governor.
Action came a week after the last homicide, when an 18-year-old mother was gunned down in her own home.
It was the culmination of an eight-day span that saw three people die. The youngest, 16-year-old Quran Bazemore, was allegedly shot by a 15-year-old now charged with murder.
“It is horrible when a 15, 16-year-old has no sense of humanity,” Oliver said.
Before a week passed, there was a new program in place to help the most at-risk youth in the city, whether the risk is to becoming a victim or a perpetrator.
The supervised employment program is a cooperative effort between the Fellowship of Churches, Joe Jingoli and the Hard Rock, and Atlantic City police.
It was to start with 10 kids ages 14 to 20.
But when they held the first day, 20 kids were brought there by family and others concerned for their future.
“We asked for additional funding, and the Hard Rock agreed,” said the Rev. Collins Days, who heads the fellowship and is pastor at the Second Baptist Church.
The kids have been divided into groups, with Days’ Vision 2000 taking six, Asbury Baptist Church has four and Grace Family Church has five.
Atlantic City Police Chief Henry White agreed to have the remaining five kids work with his officers.
The kids are from all different sections of the community, which sometimes can cause problems as neighborhood beefs work their way in, Days noted. But all the participants have been getting along.
On Tuesday, Days said he actually worked with a group of 11, who came to his farm in Mays Landing to work with the animals.
In two days they worked with about 500 bales of hay, he said.
“So they’re tired when they get back home,” he laughed. “The work ethic has been surprising.”
Johnson said often mass school shootings get the attention. As undersecretary for the Treasury Department’s enforcement, he oversaw the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms when two teens opened fire on Columbine High School.
“But some of our communities have little Columbines happening over a series of weeks or months,” he said. “We need to get to a point where safety and security is something all community members share.”
