Social justice
Streetworkers do their part to limit gang violence
PBN PHOTO/MATTHEW HEALEY
TENY GROSS, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, talks to Institute “Streetworker” Larry Davis, right, and Brandon Ferrell.
By Denise Perreault
PBN Staff Writer
Barry Preston, managing director of the Armory Revival Co. on Westminster Street, credits a dedicated group of young people with improving the safety of what was a tough part of Valley Street in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood.
“Four years ago, we renovated an old mill there, in an environment that was not thought to be safe and we were concerned about that,” he said last week. Col. Dean Esserman, Providence’s police chief, referred him to a group called the Streetworkers. Preston said his business then teamed up with educators at the Oliver H. Perry Middle School to find the funds to bring the Streetworkers to Olneyville.
“We have a very safe campus [at the renovated mill], a very safe environment, since the Streetworkers have been there,” Preston said. “I also think it’s been good for Olneyville to have that capability and that presence there.”
The Streetworkers program is comprised of young men and women of all
ethnic groups, who work on the streets with gang members to reduce
violence 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are part of the
Providence-based nonprofit Institute for the Study & Practice of
Nonviolence. Their efforts were recognized last month when U.S. Reps.
Patrick J. Kennedy and James Langevin presented a $352,000 federal
grant to the Institute to continue the Streetworkers program. The group
also has been recognized by Citizens Bank, Lifespan and the MetLife
Foundation.
Esserman has nothing but praise for the Streetworkers. “They are truly the unsung heroes of this city,” he told the Providence Business News. “They are one of the most important partners we have. They are an extraordinary resource for the people of this city.”
Esserman pointed to the fact that the city’s murder rate was cut in half, from 22 murders in 2005 to 11 in 2006 – the lowest rate in 31 years, he has said – and of those 11, none of the victims was younger than 20. He said the Streetworkers deserve some credit for that.
The Institute began in 2001and today works out of the third floor of St. Michael’s Rectory in South Providence, but has no affiliation with the parish.
There are 12 Streetworkers, who are paid employees of the Institute; many of them have been gang members themselves and some have spent time in prison for drug-related and violent crimes. They know what it’s like to live on the streets and they reach out now to intervene wherever and whenever gang violence is likely to happen. They work in seven neighborhoods, Chad Brown, East Side, Hartford, Manton, Smith Hill, South Side and West End of Providence.
During a recent wide-ranging interview with the Providence Business News, Teny O. Gross, executive director of the institute, stressed how important the support of the business community is to what he and the Streetworkers do to prevent violence.
“The cost of violence is just phenomenal,” he said.
He estimates that taxpayers pay a total of more than $150,000 to educate a child for 12 years only to see that investment too often lost due to violence.
In Boston, Gross spent 10 years as a youth worker when the nationally acclaimed “Boston Miracle” significantly reduced street violence in the 1990s. He said the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston led the charge, eventually resulting in approximately $32 million in federal funds for youth jobs and job training during Bill Clinton’s years as president.
Participation of the business community is “integral” to reducing violence, Gross said, because business people generally are “result-oriented, organized to take action [and] they understand the allocation of resources.”
Clearly, the idea that Providence is not safe would damage the city’s renaissance by keeping out-of-town visitors away, especially at night, and, Gross suggested, could affect parents’ decisions about sending their offspring to colleges and universities in the capital city.
“I feel my mission is most aligned with the Chamber of Commerce,” he said. “This is not about charity, it’s about self-interest.”
He estimates there are approximately 18 to 20 youth gangs in Providence, with roughly 1,000 members.
The Streetworkers try to reach those kids who have had contact with gangs or violence. They meet the kids on the streets, in inner-city schools, in court, in the hospital, in the recreation centers, anywhere these kids are. Aware that one act of violence can spark a series of worsening retaliations, they try to intervene and mediate disputes as soon as possible.
“You’d be surprised how many of these kids don’t have even one positive person in their lives,” Streetworker Sal Monteiro Jr. said.
Gross’ solution would include more summer jobs for youth _ he noted that the Institute already is the third largest summertime employer in the city _ and “long-term, high-quality” recreation centers throughout the city.
Roni Kabessa, owner of Décor Craft Inc., a gift design business on Westminster Street with 18 employees, said he became involved with the Streetworkers because “one of the concerns I had was how can we create a better environment and a better Providence.”
A member of the institute’s board of directors, Kabessa pointed to the work the Streetworkers have done at Kennedy Plaza, where arrests have dropped by 95 percent thanks in part to their efforts. “I wish more business owners would become part of it,” he said, noting that the city has many doctors and lawyers who often are targets of violence.
Preston agreed: “They are an enormous resource for our city,” he said of the Streetworkers. “They really are deserving of the support of the business community, especially in the areas that are redeveloping.” •
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