Meck County commissioners approve $2M for juvenile crime prevention programs
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Close to a dozen programs will operate through the next year with a grant from the N.C. Department of Public Safety, which specializes in finding solutions to curb juvenile-related violence.
Tuesday night Mecklenburg County Commissioners approved more than $2 million for the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council and the 11 organizations which comprise it.
The money will be used for staffing, equipment and the hiring of mentors over the next year for these operations to continue.
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For the Struggle – Salute U founder, Alesha Brown, she’s eyeing a growth year for her group.
“You can’t fight violence by just punishing students,” Brown explained. “You have to get the root of the problem.”
Alesha began For the Struggle in 2019 with the mission to help senior adults in food deserts across the Beatties Ford Road corridor. It’s an initiative she will be expanding this month.
However, she quickly turned her focus to creating Salute U to help juveniles with a legal record or who’ve had disciplinary issues at school.
Last spring, that idea began with 13 students and has grown to help 21 students.
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Alesha said her organization will use the money for these initiaives:
Maintain staff wages;
Fund learning opportunities for the teens;
Pay teens $20 an hour for helping the organization with food delivery to senior adults; and
Hire mentors with life experience similar to the teens with which they’re engaging.
“[Learning about] some of the issues they’re dealing with on a daily basis,” she said. “Then, we went in and said, OK, we’re going to offer mentoring, but we’re going to make sure it’s someone who has a history with being incarcerated.’”
Learn more about how to get involved here.
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