Tackling Crime Among Youth: Alderman TJ Mayfield’s Community Meeting

Alderman TJ Mayfield held a community meeting at the Youth Development Center on Mission 66 to focus on crime among the young people in our community.

Ward One Alderman TJ Mayfield and a few community members met to discuss what can be done about crime among our youth. Mayfield primarily wanted to focus on the 18 to 25 age range.

Mayfield opened the meeting with the question, “What will reduce crime in this age group?”

Ernest Galloway, who has led sports programs for years, talked about his work in the community. Eros Smith was also at the meeting and made the point, “Kids are raising kids.” Smith went on to talk about his experience working with young people and declared that they need a mentor.

“There is a broken level of trust between that age group and adults,” said Smith.

Mayfield then asked, “How do we get more mentors in the community?” To which Smith immediately replied, “We’ve got to step up.”

The conversation shifted to how to bring everyone together and the need to do it with consistency.

“I think that’s the most important thing, the consistency of it,” said Mayfield in a conversation after the meeting. “My number one thing is going to be consistency. If I tell you I’m going to do something, I’m going to keep doing it and I’m going to be honest while I’m doing it.”

Other topics discussed included that most of these kids don’t have anybody and in a lot of cases are raising their younger siblings. One of the young people in the room also commented that schools are teaching the wrong things. They, for example, wanted to learn how credit cards work. Another mentioned that the kids don’t know how to fill out scholarships. One of the most impactful comments was from a youth who said they didn’t have anyone to talk to about these or other issues.

It was also mentioned that kids don’t know how to do some of these things and then get embarrassed and harassed for their lack of knowledge. The need for technical skills training along with financial literacy was also reiterated and discussed some more.

One of the adults said, “We put a lot on schools, but they can only do much.” Another chimed in with, “We have to take accountability and it starts with us.”

“There was a lot of passion in the room,” said Mayfield. “There was a lot of great ideas. Now we just got to put them to use.” Mayfield will meet with the community once again at 6 p.m., on July 18, 2024 at the Robert M. Walker Annex building at 1415 Walnut. The public is invited.

The Youth Development Center is hosting a August city wide mentor training event.