BUFFALO, N.Y. — As concerns rise over the increase in violent activity in Western New York, community and faith leaders are stepping up to make their voices heard, calling for more action and more resources than ever before.
As a result of the COVID pandemic, many organizations saw a decrease in volunteers and donations, not to mention their inability to personally touch lives due to the lockdown.
Pastor Kinzer Pointer leads Liberty Missionary Baptist Church in Buffalo and says he's very concerned, given the amount of youth that will be returning to in-person learning, about the quantity and quality of safe after-school locations currently open, and available for young people.
"When you close up places where young people would be able to go and they would be able to play basketball, they would be able to engage in some kinds of social activities, you leave them bottled up with a lot of pent-up emotion that has no where to go," Pastor Pointer says.
Without the appropriate skills and a lack of guidance, to manage trauma, hardships, and stressors, Pointer says, it's natural to assume young people will find a place to go where they feel accepted and heard - which is often times the street.
That is why the need to safely open existing community centers and training centers and build even more is crucial.
"We would do well to make these places safe, get them open, welcome more young people, and give them really viable opportunities to express themselves to experience those kinds of outlets where they can run off some of their pent-up emotion," Pointer expresses.
Bishop Perry Davis is the founder of Stop The Violence Foundation and has been doing is part to help young people throughout Western New York for over sixteen years.
"When kids have no where to go after school, that's when a lot of bad things happen," Bishop Davis says. "More community centers need to come up, more training centers need to come up, you know more things to do for everybody, not just for the youth, but for adults who are sitting around doing nothing right now."
Bishop Davis calls the lack of safe spaces for youth, whether due to COVID, finances or otherwise, a problem that needs immediate attention.
"I try to, you know, talk to them and try to console them and tell them retaliation is not the answer," Bishop Davis said.
One thing is certain: both men agree that when it comes to violence, there is a direct relationship with unresolved trauma and pain that requires resources, professionals, and supportive outlets that without often times leads to disaster.