SAN ANTONIO – After a slew of violent crimes in the last couple of weeks, non-profits across San Antonio are joining forces to prevent violent crime, and they believe it starts with young people.
The San Antonio Coalition Against Youth Violence believes community issues deserve community solutions.
The chairman Lloyd Patterson said the UTSA violent crime reduction plan isn’t an effective method because hotspots do not always predict problem areas.
Patterson believes violence prevention starts with multiple groups across the city consistently teaching grade school kids about gang violence and gun safety.
“That guy didn’t get killed on the east side. He was killed in a barbershop. He got killed in the area where it was highly unlikely that this type of violence would take place,” Patterson said.
Violent crime does not appear to be in one part of the city. Instead, it spreads throughout. That’s why the coalition is focusing on every part of San Antonio.
“Neighborhoods don’t commit violent acts. People do. And people are fluid,” Patterson said.
That’s why the coalition uses different non-profits to create partnerships in each quadrant of San Antonio.
For example, Rise Recovery will listen to concerned parents or teenagers from the southside and take their concerns to other area resources and potentially the rest of the coalition.
“They bring them to the greater whole, to the bigger table, where we can all sit and discuss not only the problems that covered San Antonio as a whole, but what’s individually identified as a problem within that particular community,”
Communities in School will be the hub for the Northside. Big Mama’s Safe House will be the hub for the East side. Youth of Christ will be the hub for the West side.
“If it’s a problem at the community level. The solution has to be generated at the community level,” Patterson said.
