>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Julie Philipp filling in for Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made in Ontario Beach Park, where last month more than 400 teenagers suddenly gathered on two occasions a day apart.

These were kind of like flash mobs arranged via social media, group chats, direct messages.

But flash mobs don't usually generate much concern.

Think 500 people dressed in Santa Claus suits suddenly showing up at the same time and place to sing Jingle Bells.

The gatherings at the beach in Charlotte on May 18th and 19th were not quite so benign.

Multiple fights broke out and law enforcement had to be called in.

Other people enjoying the beach reportedly fled, fearing for their safety.

The brawls disrupted businesses and traffic in the area.

I'm not sure where it originated, but there is a term for gatherings like this.

They are called teen takeovers, and they're not just happening in Rochester, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Washington, D.C.

And Tampa are just a few of the cities that have been in the news lately for these kind of events.

In a few of these places, the teen takeovers have involved shootings, even a homicide.

And one of Evan's guests earlier this week said that could have happened here.

I'd like to welcome my guests today.

Monroe County legislator Yversha Roman, whose district includes Charlotte.

She grew up in Rochester, and throughout her career, she has worked with young people and families at Monroe High School, the center for Youth Services, and a number of other organizations that engage with youth in our city.

Thank you for joining me.

And we have Shanterra Mitchum Program Director at center for Teen Empowerment and Freemonta Strong, who is associate program coordinator at Teen Empowerment.

Thank you both for joining me.

As you probably know, Teen Empowerment is an organization that engages young people in finding solutions to the problems that affect you.

Again, thank you all for joining me here today.

And I want to begin.

I don't think any of you were actually there, but but you've spoken to people who were.

We've seen the video.

Can you talk about what it felt like to be there?

Start with you, Legislator Roman.

>> Yeah.

Well, just to start off, I want to really thank you for having me here today and addressing the concerns of the community in regards to some of the actions that happened at.

>> Can I get you a little closer to your mic?

>> There you go.

Yeah, there you go.

>> People can hear you better.

>> All right.

So one more time, just want to say thank you so much for having me here today to really discuss and start to continue to address some of the issues and concerns the community has with occurrences that have happened at the beach or really in general.

Right.

I think a lot of the individuals in the community who have spoken against what has happened, occurred, continue to highlight the reality that it's not just happening at the beach, but one of the things that I want to ensure that we kind of convey today is that every public space should feel safe, and that's what we want to continue to do at the beach and every other community space in our, in, um, that we are of that we have access to.

>> Okay.

Thank you.

So, um, you know, we could probably spend a whole show with this on this next question.

And that's what's behind this.

You know, from the reports I've seen, most of the kids were running in the other direction when the fights broke out.

And Mayor Malik Evans said earlier this week that they usually, or at the time, rather usually pick a spot where they know police or other adults are going to intervene before things get too far out of control.

So I just want to go around the room here and help help us understand what makes teenagers want to do this, especially when they know it might not be safe for them.

>> Yeah.

I think, um, when we're thinking about what happened and I just kind of want to frame it this way, when you're talking about 400 young people coming together, um, it can be perceived as a crisis, right?

But that is also to me, capacity.

There's a capacity to be able to mobilize.

There is organizing energy that has not been claimed or tapped in yet.

Right.

And the desire to gather, the desire to come together that is a part of our human nature, right?

It doesn't dissipate or disappear simply because we ignore it, right?

As adults, as community partners and so on and so forth.

That energy has to be channeled or it will be wasted.

And I feel like what happened at Charlotte Beach was that energy, that desire to want to mobilize, to want to come together is being wasted.

Because we don't we have not set up, um, spaces for young people and everyone else to be able to feel safe.

Um, you know, young people say it often in the city, there is nothing for us here.

The other thing that we have to consider is that there is an infrastructure, a communications infrastructure that we have not been able to tap into yet.

Right.

Like this was a coordinated event.

You said it earlier.

You said that maybe through group chat, maybe through word of mouth.

Right?

This was a coordinated effort.

And so what are we missing?

Right.

And so for me, the desire is not to ask the question, how do we stop this?

The desire is, well, who's paying attention to what young people are already building what they are already doing?

And how do we then empower that network and infuse that network with things that are worth sharing?

And so that's my perspective of looking at it.

>> Okay, fine.

Uh, Freemonta, do you have something to add to that or.

>> Um, yeah.

Yeah, I'm glad that, uh, Shen spoke to, um, that portion of it because I feel like on the flip side, um, you know, we need we see 500 youth fighting, right?

But like you just said, um, in a lot of the reports that you read or seen, um, a lot of those youth were running the opposite way once the chaos, you know, broke out.

Um, so what, what I wanted the message that I want to get out, um, is more so when we see the headline of 500 youth fighting, it wasn't really 500 youth fighting, it was just 500 youth to blame, you know, um, I also understand that, you know, we, we, we, we do need to intervene.

Right.

And, and in doing so, I feel like, um, it would be smart or strategic to, you know, um, meet those young people where they are, you know, meet those young people, you know, if we got to go out to Charlotte Beach and host focus groups, or if we got to go out to Charlotte Beach and do you know.

>> We'll get into some solutions a little bit farther in the program.

Legislator Roman, you've worked with City Youth for a long time, and families.

Do you have anything to add, like what would make these kids go out there and do this?

>> I mean, I think a little bit was mentioned already.

The, the desire to have the opportunity to be together, to connect, um, actually Legislator Frazier requested some numbers on the, the amount of individuals who rode the BTS bus, uh, those particular days.

And I do think it speaks to the power and the influence of young people.

And I love the, the perspective of being able to mobilize and organize themselves to, at this point, choose a gathering.

Right.

And I do not know how long the gathering happened and occurred before these incidents happened.

Um, but I do know that it wasn't, you know, 15 minutes, 30 minutes an hour.

It was an extended period of time where young people were enjoying the beach.

>> So they were at the beach and there were no fights happening at the beginning of the organization.

Yeah.

Okay.

So earlier this week on the program, Evan spoke with gun violence prevention specialist Justin Morris.

He's founder and CEO of Untapped Ministries.

And he said that that there are a lot of teenagers carrying guns, often for protection.

Um, and he said the mayor might have when he said the most kids weren't there to fight, you know, nothing was really going to happen because they knew adults were around.

He said the mayor might have underestimated how bad this could have gotten.

Um, let's listen.

>> I think the mayor speaks from a very informed standpoint.

Mayor Evans is from this community.

And again, a lot of people our age do look at it like that.

You know, I used to always look like, look at it like that.

Oh, these young people ain't really like that.

You know, they're in our culture.

They're fronting, right?

They're putting up a front and they want people to engage, which is all true until you get that member.

I said, it's ten of them who will change the whole dynamics of everything in this community who are like that.

Uh, so what if one of that ten is just takes one step and he pulls that gun?

And now guess what?

Remember, everybody else is holstered.

They just waiting.

They're playing offense.

So now you get one shooting.

You get a bunch of them shooting.

Uh, also in that press conference, the mayor said, you know, why aren't they going in alleys?

I don't think it's appropriate for us to be challenging kids to go in alleys.

And I know that's not what he meant when he said that.

>> No, I think I get what he said, but the point is, you're saying that was a powder keg that really could have blown.

>> That really could have blown up.

>> So we've got all these kids.

They're not all there to cause trouble.

Um, but according to Morris, just takes one.

How easily could this have turned into something more violent?

>> I think for me, it's very difficult for me to speak in hypotheticals versus what actually happened.

Right.

And what actually happened was that there were some fights that occurred.

No one did.

And I could easily say that when adults are gathering, that one person carrying can change the entire dynamic, um, of any event, right?

Because we know that just like a young people, adults also carry.

And so I don't really, for me like to speak in, in hypotheticals of what could have happened.

Um, all I know is what did happen and that now there needs to be a coordinated response and a proactive response so that things like Justin mentioned that it won't happen in the future, um, that they won't break out into fights.

And so that's where I kind of want to focus my attention and my efforts to, right, how do we create a presence at these different places so that the individuals who know the individuals who may be carrying are there and that they are credible enough to say, hey, not here, not in this space.

Right.

And I think that is where my mind goes to.

>> Do you agree?

>> Absolutely.

>> Yeah.

Okay.

And I want to get to the a lot of the coverage of teen takeovers, um, sparks discussion about stereotypes about what we fear and what we think.

What do you say to people who say, you know, kids in the suburbs don't do this?

And they're implying, obviously, that white kids don't do this.

>> Um.

>> I don't know.

I mean, I've, I've, that's, that's.

>> That's a tough one.

>> That's a tough one.

Because realistically, right.

It's like, well, we got doors on our bathrooms in the, in the inner city, right?

In the schools.

Right.

We got metal detectors at entrances in, in our schools.

But when stuff happened, it's not like, oh, yeah, well, you know, that's the, you know, that's like a finger pointing game.

And instead of pointing fingers, let's just create a solution and really get to the bottom of it for real, right?

Because realistically, we could say the same about some of the stuff that happens, you know, but we don't we try to figure it out, you know?

>> Mhm.

Right.

And anything to add to.

>> Yeah.

The only thing that I would add, um, is that what you're looking at is really different backgrounds and also how young people are treated very differently, right?

To Freemonta point, um, when school shootings were happening in suburban and rural areas, the response though, was to put metal detectors in inner city schools.

Right?

That was the response, not that that was happening.

Um, at a large level.

And so oftentimes our young people are criminalized and treated in a certain way.

And, uh, you know, psychologically, historically, we know that when young people, when you are treated a certain way for a certain amount of time, you begin to believe and respond in the way in which people are treating you.

And so it's not that, you know, these things aren't happening in the suburbs.

I would even go as far to say that what our young people are carrying is very different from what suburban young people are oftentimes carrying.

Right.

And so that's why for me, it's the idea of creating a trauma informed framing of what happened at the beach and what happens in our communities.

Um, on different occasions, young people are carrying economic pressures.

They are carrying grief, they are carrying, uh, unprocessed stress.

And their children.

Right.

There's a poem that we just did at one of our local events where the young lady said, and we all are just kids.

And when you think about that, then for me, it's like, well, how do I, as an adult respond?

Understanding the trauma that these young people are oftentimes carrying, the desire to want to connect with other young people.

How do I respond to that?

What how do I engage these young people in a way where we can uplift them and say, not, what's wrong with you, not what happened to you, but what is right with you?

Right from an asset based framework, instead of a deficit based framework.

>> And I would add, what do you need?

Yes.

And I think one of the things that you led off with was that these are the realities of stereotypes and oftentimes stereotypes are formed by individuals who choose not to engage with the population that they are talking about.

Right.

And I think that is one of the biggest, uh, situations here.

And I really want to help to lead an effort where young people are a part of the solution on what is happening at the beach.

>> Mhm.

So, you know, we, we are talking right now about teen takeovers, the one on Ontario, the two of them on Ontario Beach Park.

Um, my guests this hour are Monroe County Legislator Yvonne Yversha Roman and Shanterra Mitchum, program director at center for Teen Empowerment and Freemonta Strong associate program coordinator coordinator at Teen Empowerment and to your, um, you brought this up the Youth Risk Behavior Survey of Monroe County shows a youth in our city, black and brown youth primarily are much more likely to have seen, witnessed, or experienced violence, neglect, um, all kinds of economic issues related to poverty, um, that do shape their behaviors.

And I think it's really important to bring that up.

And again, we could spend a whole show talking about that as well.

The root causes of this before we, I know everybody's eager to get to solutions.

What do we do about this?

But before we do that, we do have to acknowledge, um, that it is difficult for the people who live or run businesses in places like Charlotte, um, that they've had enough, they're kind of fed up.

So how is this affecting them?

And is this a lasting thing?

Are people going to be afraid to go to the beach, afraid to go to Abbott's for an ice cream cone?

I mean, what's happening up there for the people who live and work and run businesses there?

>> With that being said, I want to make sure that folks continue to understand and recognize that many events are happening and occurring at the beach that are safe, that welcome families and many individuals go to the beach to patronize businesses.

However, it does cause a fear and concern for certain individuals.

Um, but the shore, the, concerts at the shore just occurred on Wednesday, a beautiful event.

Thousands of people in attendance.

It was completely safe for the community.

And today at the beach, I don't think we've heard any incidences.

Right.

And we're talking about two days out of a calendar year that historically have happened.

And it's something that I that's been very interesting in the conversations that I've had.

People said my kids 30 years ago were engaged in this behavior.

There's something about the psyche, and I think it happens to adults, too, when it gets warm.

You've been pent up all winter long, and this is not an excuse by any means.

People want to go to beautiful places and enjoy their time in outdoors.

Um, and unfortunately, we have historically seen this type of reaction at the beach.

Um, I know that business owners are frustrated.

Um, it is not, it is not a good look for them.

Um, in the community for other individuals to have fear to go down to the beach, um, so with that being said, there have been some implementation and there will be implementation and investment into the beach to make it.

We don't really want it to look like it's safer.

We still want it to feel opening and welcoming.

Of a balance.

Yeah, there's a balance to that, but there will be investments to ensure that there are, um, certain things like surveillance, maybe even drones that might be in the air to help prioritize safety, um, for better response times.

If a situation were to arise, um, and there's been the dedication of, of more officers, um, however, there's also the realization that officers are not the only response to ensuring that that space continues to be safe.

And this goes for our festivals, our beaches, there are other beaches, not just, um, Sherlock Beach that faces these types of disturbances.

Um, and festivals as well.

And we want to make sure that they all remain safe.

>> Yeah.

What comes to mind when I think about this is spring break.

I mean, you think what happens in Florida during spring break?

It's a little bit crazy, but, um, yeah, so when you hear her saying, you know, we're going to be implementing these things, but we don't want it to, you know, look like it's that much safer.

Is that part of what you're saying that, that you're already experiencing in the city?

Metal detectors, you're being, you're, you're seeing things that make you may make you feel criminalized in a way.

Um, how important is it to, to have a balance like that at the beach?

Right.

>> Um, yeah, absolutely.

I feel like it's, it's very important to have that kind of, um, presence at the beach, but that balance as well.

Um, because, you know, just like, like we said at schools, you know, you don't want to, you don't want to feel like you are, um, under surveillance or like you did something before anything could even be done, you know, um, yeah.

>> I think just to go along with that and, you know, I know Yversha, you know, that focus has to be okay.

There are people who are being harmed, right?

Who and who need to be taken care of.

Um, and again, I don't necessarily believe that the only solution, right, is more policing, more surveillance.

We know that black and brown communities are already overpoliced and over surveillance already.

Um, what I do believe in though, is presence.

And I think presence changes things.

Not as a surveillance, not as intervention, but as resources, right?

So when we're talking about resources, fun affirmations, meeting young people where they are those credible messengers, those peer leaders being at the places where young people are gathering to be able to create an environment where young people feel safe, where they can have a good time, where families can have a good time as well.

I think that that is the answer, right?

That is the response.

Our presence being there.

So, you know, around the community.

We are always hosting different initiatives.

Um, where orange is today, I invite people to come out downtown right at 4:00 today on parcel five.

How amazing would it be to take this coordinated effort?

Right?

Because it's multiple organizations that pulled this initiative together today to take that, replicate it, and plant that at places where a young people are already gathering.

That is what I want to see because what we show young people, the message that we send when we only show up because they're fighting, is that we only care or you only matter when you are perceived as a threat.

And that is not the messaging that I want.

Young people in our community to feel nor believe.

So I believe, yes, we have to do what we have to do so that those businesses and those folks can feel safe.

But the larger response and it's been proven that if you want to deescalate that, it's more likely to have a credible messenger, a peer leader, de-escalate something than someone in a uniform.

And so we have to utilize the organizations, the groups that are already out here that do this work, that are connected to these young people.

We have to utilize those, those individuals and say, okay, where are the young people gathering?

What is happening?

And then how should our response be?

Who has the reach?

Who has the connection on the east side, on the north side, on the west side?

Who are these folk, and how do we make sure that we are coordinated so that we are not starting from scratch every single time something like this happens?

>> Okay, I do want to get into some solutions.

And also the issue of accountability, who should be accountable and how we do that.

But first, we're going to take a short break, and when we come back, we will continue our conversation with County legislator Yversha Roman, along with Shanterra Mitchum program Director at center for Teen Empowerment and Freemonta Strong, Associate Program coordinator at Teen Empowerment.

We'll be right back.

I'm Julie Philipp filling in for Evan Dawson today.

Coming up in our second hour, it's the weekly news roundup with the WXXI News team.

This week, we analyze Monroe County Executive Adam Bellows, state of the county address.

We'll talk about a freeze on large data center projects and what it means for New York State and celebrating the nation's 250th birthday.

That and more coming up in the next hour on Connections.

>> Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from bond, Chinook and King, a multi practice law firm in Rochester with offices across New York State serving business, health care and educational institutions online at be sk.com and Mary Cariola center.

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More online at Mary cariola.org.

>> And this is Connections.

I'm Julie Phillips sitting in for Evan Dawson.

And today we're talking about the recent teen takeovers at Ontario Beach Park.

Uh, we do have an email from Linda in Rochester, and it gets into the next issue that I want to talk about is who should be held accountable.

The kids, their parents, government, the community as a whole.

Um, she says, I have worked in both suburban and inner city schools.

The cultures are completely different.

The issue with fights in Charlotte stems from the culture and families that the individual kids fighting have grown up in.

Where were their parents?

And then in parentheses, she says, they may have been working.

Uh, what do you say to that?

Where were the parents?

Is it the parents that we should be holding accountable in, in part or in whole?

>> Yeah.

So, I mean, I, I actually issued a statement around this.

Um, but before I get into that, I'll talk about the culture of schools and the reality of, of being in multiple systems.

So I did work at the center for Youth Services.

And my last role there was I was assistant director of school based programs.

And at the time we had partnerships and collaborations with about 60 different schools.

Um, I had oversight of schools in Canton, Tonawanda, Buffalo charter schools, Rochester City School District schools, and I can tell you every single school is different.

Um, but what remains the same is that kids are kids.

Um, and unfortunately what they are affected by is the reality of their home life.

Sometimes their communities and their neighborhoods.

Um, and there is science behind the way in which poverty affects young people and the way in which, uh, the frontal cortex is created.

Aces.

We can talk about all of that for a really long time.

>> 2 or 3.

Shows or 4 or 5.

>> Um, but I believe the responsibility is of the community and the response can come from every single entity.

What we talked about law enforcement, we can talk about parents.

Um, and I received so much feedback about, we need to say that parents need to have conversations with their children.

Um, everything begins in the home.

Uh, no matter what the home looks like.

Right?

Sometimes the unfortunate reality is that young people are raising themselves.

But what we do know is that all a young person needs to be able to achieve a little bit more is to have one adult in their life that is truly invested in them.

So for me, it's a conversation.

Absolutely.

Adults, parents should be involved, but I think we all need to recognize and realize that we can impact the life of the young people in our communities.

I that sounds, um, pie in the sky.

That sounds, um, I don't know, I don't, I don't know what people will think of that, but to me, I truly do believe that we all need to invest in our young people.

Um, and vice versa.

Without it, there will be no change.

Um, parents, uh, have a lot going on.

If they were working quote, unquote, whatever was said that that's phenomenal.

I mean, people unfortunately have to work two and three jobs in order to get by in our community.

And that's not even for individuals who are in the low income bracket.

I, I don't know, a month ago, I think I, I said out loud, I work two jobs, right?

As president of the legislature, I also have another job.

Um, there are many people in our community who have to work multiple jobs in order to get by.

Um, and sometimes what we sacrifice is our families in order to do that.

Um, but that doesn't mean that our children are not raised with morals and values.

And, um, as was mentioned before, right.

Uh, there were about 500 young people gathered on two separate occasions.

Um, and I don't know how many people were actually involved in the fight, but I mean, we were talking about 20 people.

Um, who, who actually, uh, start, you know, actually probably started with two people and escalated to 20.

>> Right, right.

What do you think about that, that, that the parents should be held accountable first and foremost?

>> I mean, I agree with what Yversha just said.

I don't know if I can say it any better than what she said.

Um, the one thing that I will say is, um, you know, just growing up in the environment that I grew up in, um, it takes a village and the village is not just the parent, right?

The village is the organizations, it's the faith community, it's the city entities.

And so this is much larger than just putting the blame on the parents.

I do feel like parents need to be in the room and engaging in these conversations, not to be blamed, but to be educated and equipped.

Right.

Um, on how to handle things like this.

And there's a, a West African proverb that says, a young person who is not embraced by his village will burn it down to feel its warmth.

And that goes beyond the household that goes to the city as a whole.

And so the question becomes, are we truly a village?

How are we all, um, rallying around our young people?

And so to a certain degree, we are all accountable for the outcomes.

And what Yversha said is so beautiful.

All it takes is one.

All it takes is one.

I grew up in a real difficult background.

I came from a real difficult background, but I had folk at Teen Empowerment and other elders in my community who rallied around me so that I can feel the warmth of my village.

And that is the same approach that I desire to have for every young person.

Um, that is living in the city of Rochester.

>> Mhm.

So there are people who say that the kids themselves, the ones that were actually involved in the altercations, should be held accountable.

Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter says that we as a society have, quote, created a culture of lawlessness among young people.

He says his deputies hands are tied because there's no teeth to the laws governing teen behaviors like these.

There's no real consequences, he says.

It's madness.

And on the other hand, we have some evidence from places like the Sentencing Project and others that shows that harsher responses are actually more likely to lead to reoffending because they don't confront the underlying issues that led to the lawbreaking in the first place.

Um Freemonta, how would stronger, tougher penalties for the young people involved change or not change?

What's happening?

>> Um.

>> I feel like punishing them, punishing the youth for the behaviors, um, really wouldn't make a difference.

I feel like instead of punishing them, we need to, um, kind of just like they both said, you know, come together as community, right?

And rally around them.

I feel like if they're educated versus punished, um, it'll be easier to, you know, get the message across to them to the point where now I'm educated on it enough to where I could go and start educating my peers on what it's like to now walk this new life.

You get what I'm saying versus okay, yeah, I did X, Y, and Z, and now I'm going to jail or I did X, Y, and Z, and now I got to go clean up the beach or I did.

You know what I'm saying?

I mean, it don't get me wrong, of course.

Um, you know, uh, you do wrong.

You, you you do the time, right?

But also knowing that it's different ways that we could make that time pass, right?

It don't always have to be in a negative setting or a negative atmosphere.

We could, you know, bring you together and we do a thing called artivism, right?

Where you could, you know, sit back and talk about your feelings and things like that in a way that you're, you know, promoting, whether it's, uh, singing, rapping, poetry, you know, now you're, you're un un, now you're undoing, um, childhood traumas and things from your past that you probably didn't even know that you were carrying.

>> Mhm.

So undoing childhood past, that's not what you, what, what is accomplished when you have harsher penalties?

>> No, I think of course there are consequences.

Right.

Um, but I'm a parent and I can't give my children a consequence without providing them with the resources and the opportunities to be able to do good and to thrive.

And I feel like when we have consequences without all of the other elements that young people need, then what you create is a powder keg that is going to implode at some point, right?

So when you have young people speaking out and saying, hey, we need mental health supports, we need more things for young people to do in our community.

And if we're not responding to that in a way where we're creating that, then those negative behaviors will continue in our community.

So I feel like, yes, of course, there has to be consequences for what happens in our community.

But I am not a fan of giving consequences or punishing or being punitive.

And especially if I am not then doing and providing and giving an opportunity for young people to then be their best selves.

And I think that is what's missing from a lot of these conversations is like, well, whose fault is it?

Who do we blame?

Who do we punish?

The young people, the parents, whomever?

But then we're not looking at the larger picture.

And I'm very much a big picture person.

So, okay, all of these things are happening.

They're rooted in something.

The fights at the beach are a symptom.

What are they a symptom of?

And how do we get down to the root causes of what is happening in our community?

And how do we then make a concerted effort to address those root causes?

>> Anything to add?

>> Um, so one of the things that I just want to point out is that, um, in Monroe County, the recidivism rate of young people reoffending is actually, um, decreasing and declining over the last several years.

And in the state, we have, um, a much lower recidivism rate.

So we are doing something that is right.

Um, we are counterbalancing the reality of what has happened over the last decade, but we are going in a direction that includes more young people being a part of the solution, even when they are a part of the juvenile detention situation.

Um, and that is causing a change and a shift in the way in which, um, whether it be consequences or the conclusions of those consequences are kind of being rolled out.

So I look forward to continuing to sort things like our program, because it's doing that.

Um, we also have a program that our initiative that allows for officers to mentor young people.

Um, and I'm just going to say this, I had a dear officer when I was in like third grade, I should even backtrack more.

I grew up on North Clinton and Clifford Avenue.

I am a product of and, um, it was supposed to be the stereotype of what you're, you're, you're mentioning, um, when people think about the individuals that grew up in the community that I thrived in, right?

That I survived in, um, and, uh, with that being said, it was that one person or those two people, the loving family that helped to support me.

And one of the things I'll walk away from this conversation hearing, and I hope everyone else does here is what was shared, that if anyone is not loved by their village, it does not feel the warmth of their village.

They will burn it down in order to feel that warmth.

And it is a reaction to an action that has happened that has caused these young people or anyone to respond in a way in which they are responding.

Um, so I do respect the, the sheriff.

Um, but I really want to highlight the fact that the work that he's doing alongside his team, the work that we're doing, um, alongside law officers is creating a change, um, within our young people in the way in which not only we respond as, um, lawmakers, but the way in which young people are being able to see that there are consequences.

And I don't think many people walk around our community thinking that there's no consequence for my action.

>> Mhm.

So maybe the, the things that are in place now are going to take a little more time.

You're starting to see results.

But but patience might be the answer here.

Um, before we get into some, some more specific, um, ideas and solutions, I'm hearing all of you say that the community itself, the kids, the families, the people within the city, um, grassroots level need to be involved in the, the solutions and the responses to this.

Do you feel like you are being involved like that?

There is an avenue to have a say.

>> I will say this.

I do believe that we are all being involved in it.

Um, I do believe though that oftentimes we work in silos, so we all might be responding to something that is happening in our community, but not in a collaborative effort, in a coordinated effort.

And I think that for me is the push that I would like to see in our community where Teen Empowerment is aware of something, they're responding to it, but also the county knows what's happening and the county is communicating with Teen Empowerment so that we can all respond together.

So I do believe that we're involved.

I just know that we can't do it if we continue to operate in silos.

And I feel like that is like the cliche thing in Rochester, like, no more.

>> I've been in this business for a long time, and we've been talking about silos the entire time.

>> So my and I think that's the charge, right?

The charge is how do we actually make that happen?

How do we break down those walls?

Because it's not my young people.

It's ours, right?

Like it's ours together.

We are the village.

And so how do we actually break those walls down and reach out to one another and really create a safety net for the young people in our community?

>> You're the.

>> President of the legislature.

How are you inviting the community in?

>> Oh, I love that question, actually.

And to me, it starts at the top of the governing bodies of of the city Council and the school board, of which I've already had conversations with both presidents about how we as a collective will help to respond to these issues and these situations in the community.

Um, we will be having listening sessions.

We've been talking about the way in which we will collectively do work.

And it's not just focus on what happened in Lake Ontario Beach Park.

Um, we are, we are going to, we have created focuses in which the three of us will help our governing bodies to ensure that we are no longer working in silos.

It's the first time in a very long time that the presidents have met with each other.

And I'm really excited about what that will do for our community, as we all stop working in silos that have happened and occurred over the past decades.

Um, so that is one way and one of the reasons why it was important to all of us was that in this particular situation, um, I wanted to make sure that young people were a part of the conversation.

So, um, that's why the district made sense, right?

I mean, that is where the young people are.

Um, so as president of the legislature, what I will do and continue to do is provide opportunities for feedback, provide opportunities for collaborative, um, collaboration, um, with members of Sherlock, um, members of the school district, members of the community.

Um, and one of the things you talked about responsibility, like who can fix this?

How can we fix this?

You know, at the beginning of your question, I really wanted to say that each of us continuing to attend festivals, events, gatherings helps the response running away.

Um, saying it's, it's too violent or I can't go to that place allows for the negative behavior to continue.

Um, a lot of our festivals that have, um, if you want to call it a mandate on family members being, there are a lot more safe because if your grandma is there and I feel like I said this last year when we talked about the same incident, if your grandma is there.

>>, better behaved.

>> You, you're.

>> More likely to behave.

>> So yeah.

>> Um, so I just want to read a comment actually before we do that, read this comment from Freemonta.

I wanted to ask you, do you work with teenagers at Teen Empowerment?

Do they do you think they feel that they're part of the solution to the problems like this one?

Um, that they're being invited to the table?

>> Um.

>> Yeah, I feel like.

>> Um.

>> So like we, we, we have a location.

Um, north side, east side, west side.

>> Um.

>> And with that, you know, we're constantly doing events.

We're constantly bringing young people in and just empowering them and letting them know like, hey, you have a voice, you know, you, you, you are important.

Um, educating them on, you know, their background, their history, the history of Rochester and then just seeing how, you know, they appreciate themselves more.

Um, they appreciate, you know, their surroundings, their neighborhoods more.

Um, and, you know, things like that.

I would, I would definitely say, yeah, it's, it's starting to pick up more and more now.

Um, and it's not, you know, just Teen Empowerment.

It's also, you know, um, other youth in the community.

Um, we got, we, we, we do open mic nights, um, in the town.

Um, so you see like $5 open mic nights and it's actual young people in there, right?

Who's probably came to a Teen Empowerment event but never really worked at Teen Empowerment or things like that.

Right.

Um, and they're in there, they're spreading love, they're spreading positive messages and awareness and things like that, you know?

Um, so yeah, I would definitely say it is young people who are hip, who are aware and who are also spreading that awareness.

>> And they're great at organizing and social media.

>> They are, yes.

>> Way better than.

>> Us, right?

>> Way better than us.

And I don't know how many of them have been asked right about what happened, what occurred, how can we fix it?

What do you need?

We've talked about a deficit of recreation in northwest forever.

Is that is that a solution?

Um, those conversations, to my knowledge, haven't happened and occurred.

And I think they do.

They need to happen in order for us to truly figure out how to reach a solution, right?

>> You have to center youth voice.

Like you have to not as an afterthought, but in a really intentional and strategic way.

Like from the very beginning, we should be engaging young people in the dialogs and in the conversations, um, and not further down the line.

That's the only way.

Right?

And that's Teen Empowerment model, right?

That's the only way we're going to be able to create that change that we want to see in our community as it pertains to young people, we have to engage and center them and their voice in the conversation.

>> Okay.

And the minute we're going to talk specifics, but I just want to read this email from a listener, she says.

I worked closely with families in Pittsford for over two decades and learned that parents in the suburbs are not inherently better.

I've seen numerous affluent parents who had absolutely, absolutely no clue what they were doing, and their kids had run ins with police or school or drugs, alcohol, tobacco.

The difference is they have a larger margin of error due to their family Connections and wealth, yet they tended to be more than happy to denigrate urban kids.

I'm assuming you will all agree with that statement.

And and disclosure.

Um, I live in the city now, but I did have a son in the suburbs and I did not know where he was at all times.

And he did.

One night he and his friends decided to run to Wegmans in the middle of the night, and the police stopped them on the way back.

And they only had groceries in their bags.

But but it happens.

And we just don't hear about it.

So yeah.

All right.

So I want to get to, um, we have about ten minutes left, a little bit less Monroe County.

Um, has proposed spending $13 million on improvements to Ontario Beach Park.

Um, not all of it on security measures, but a lot of it, some of it would be permanent fencing around, um, the park, closing the pavilions off, especially at night, more lighting a PA system.

Um, I want to go around the room and if you had millions of dollars to throw at this problem, how would you spend it?

Anyone want to volunteer to go first?

No, I'm going to pick somebody.

>> Yeah.

>> Um.

>> I wouldn't only, you know, secure it.

I would also make it, um engaging.

Right.

I know it's that big stage.

>> Closer to your mic.

>> I wouldn't also, I wouldn't only make it, you know, more secure, but I would also add a little bit more engagement to it.

Right.

Um, I know it's like that big stage in the, in the middle of, you know, Charlotte Beach, right?

I would try to, you know, figure out ways to rally young people around that, right?

Whether it's, um, you know, those focus groups that we spoke on or if it's, you know, I know music is something that brings a lot of young people together.

So maybe having a positive music fest or something like that, or, you know, just trying to figure out ways to, to engage the youth.

I know it's a park there, but we talking about, you know, older, older youth, not like my kids.

Right.

Um, so with that being said, like, how could we, you know, bring the fun back there for them, you know, not just, oh, yeah, we're going to put, uh, here and, you know, but more so like, hey, let's, let's, you know, make it more fun.

Let's, let's bring the basketball courts back or something like that, you know, um, let's, let's make it engaging.

>> Mhm.

So when they organize and they show up, they actually show up for a specific purpose.

We're all going to play basketball.

We're all going to enjoy the music that that, that might be a good solution.

Okay.

>> Yes, ma'am.

>> Yeah.

I think, you know, uh, security fencing, banning, those are very fear based responses.

Um, and, you know, if I had millions of dollars, I would be pouring it into some of the things that Freemonta said, engaging these young people, employing these young people, employing the individuals have relationships with them.

Right.

And so, um, my idea would be to activate Ontario Beach Park, right to activate that space and infuse it with very structured positive, um, events and initiatives.

Here's the thing.

Teen Empowerment throws events and parties all the time.

We don't have fights.

Are there potential?

Yes.

Do things get a little crazy and we have to quell it?

Absolutely we do.

But because we have brought in the right community partners, because we are creating a very engaging background, because we've hired young people with credibility.

They say, this is my event, right?

And what you want is you want buy in, you want ownership.

I am less likely to come in and destroy or mess something up when I feel like I own it, when I feel like it's a part of me, right?

I take pride in this, and so I would use that money to be able to activate that space, to have resources.

And if we know that young people are going, hey, let's go there and create something for those young people.

So I don't want us to just respond out of fear and say, more cameras, more band than young people keep them from coming, because that also leads to displacement.

And for the people out there, they might say, yeah, go somewhere else and do it right.

But if you really care, I don't want young people to go from Charlotte Beach to an Airbnb.

I want to create something where they are drawn to that space, but they're drawn to that space for positivity and not negativity.

And that takes intentionality and strategy.

>> Mhm.

Mhm.

>> I, yes, I agree and right.

Yes.

And, and I think one of the things that is vitally important to hear here is the engagement part.

Um, that, that is a part of the conversation that I think continues to be missing.

We, we invested in a beautiful spray park.

My six year old loves it, loves it when he's 16.

He's not, he just, he's just not right.

So he's gonna have to find something to do in the same space.

What are we doing?

And how can we ensure that everyone has something to do?

Um, to preoccupy themselves while they're at the beach?

Sure.

The water is great.

The spray park is a phenomenal investment.

It is used year over year.

I'm in complete support of that.

Um, and we made upgrades to the playground.

We continue to make great investments in the park.

But as was mentioned, things like the basketball court focused.

>> More toward the younger people and younger children and families.

>> And families.

Um, but I know if Joey was here, he'd probably say make investments in the stands that are there.

Um, and provide opportunities for young people to work there.

It's something that I believe in as well.

How do we continue to allow individuals, whether it be young people, to be invested in our beach and to have that sense of ownership so someone can say, not, not here, because that basketball court is where I come every day.

So not here.

Um, or, you know, this is where my job is.

So not here.

Um, and that is the kind of investment and buy in we need in that space to engage young people in positive activities, um, that are recreational.

>> So more purposeful activities, events and people with credibility who can sense when things might go astray and be able to step in and squash it pretty quickly.

Okay.

We just have a about a minute left.

I want to give you an opportunity to talk about your shirts.

>> Oh.

>> The orange shirts together and we can end gun violence.

What's happening?

>> Yeah.

So.

>> Um, I believe it was, um, a young lady out in Chicago.

Um, and she, she was killed.

Um, I believe by.

>> It was gun violence.

And so out of response, the orange shirts is what is what hunters wear so that they're not shot.

And so, um, Rochester adopted this movement a few years back.

And so today is the event that's going on downtown at four.

>> Okay.

>> And anyone's welcome what's happening at four.

>> So there's performances, youth performances, activities for the entire family.

There's a stage, there's face painting.

It's going to be super fun.

4 to 8.

Bring them out.

>> Okay.

Sounds awesome.

We are out of time.

I would like to thank my guests.

We had legislator Yversha Roman Shanterra Mitchum, program director at center for Teen Empowerment and Freemonta Strong associate Program coordinator at Teen Empowerment.

And I'd also like to thank our production team and our listeners.

I'll be back after the news.

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