“My goal was to crash the party:” addressing youth gun violence

The Marion County Public Health Department hosted over two dozen community organizations for an event to address youth gun violence. Half an hour into the meeting, Kareem Hines brought a group of teen boys from New B.O.Y (Breed of Youth), a mentoring and youth development program and sat in the back. “My goal was to crash the party,” Hines said. “I didn’t even know about it until the last minute. I wanted to bring the kids here because I knew that they weren’t invited.” RELATED: Locking up kids is traumatic. Indianapolis looked for alternatives The event was a follow-up conversation from last year’s call-to-action on youth gun violence. Youth gun violence “I want people to say, ‘Oh my God, actual kids,’” Hines said. “It’s about the kids, but there are no kids in the room. So now I’m trying to put my kids at different tables with adults from different organizations. Not only am I educating the kids, but the adults too.” In collaboration with IU-Indy assistant professor Lauren Magee, the Marion County Public Health department did research that showed from 2020-23, 16 to 24-year-olds were the most at risk for firearm injuries. The research found that African American Marion...