GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The City of Grand Rapids has launched a pilot youth program called "It Takes a Village."
It's a partnership between the city and community leaders and organizers to help curb youth violence. The city says it came to be from recognizing that youth violence increases in the summer and that it's due to kids being out of school.
"We said we know we need to do something, right? It's a summer. We want to make sure that our students are safe," said Brandon Davis, Grand Rapids Director of Oversight and Public Accountability. "We want to make sure that they're thriving and we want them to understand that Grand Rapids is a place that they should feel safe and be safe at all times too."
The "It Takes a Village" initiative has already started and will run through the end of August.
It runs Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
There are two locations: Lifequest Ministries and Alger Middle School. Each location offers two different types of programming.
Lifequest Ministries is offering a program called "Night Quest." It's a sports-based program with activities like 5-on-5 basketball, dunk contests and more.
At Alger Middle, the program is called "City Vibes" with more of a focus on the arts, college prep and other non-sport activities like magic shows.
"We wanted to provide space for them to thrive in the way that they thrive," Davis explained. "This is about being a village that surrounds youth and helps them to be the best version of themselves. And that's what we're so excited about."
This is just a pilot program that will wrap at the end of this month.
When it's all said and done, the city and its partners will evaluate how the first year fared before deciding how to proceed next summer.
In the meantime, anyone 12 to 17-years-old can join. There's no registration required for either program. There is, however, a security check before you're allowed in. No backpacks are allowed.
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