When asked about reaching East End youth and breaking the cycle of violence, Jose Diaz of the Homewood YMCA said there is a need to create safe space. Not far away in Larimer another institution is working to do that on multiple scales: The Kingsley Association.
Kingsley, under the leadership of Executive Director Malik Bankston, has developed partnerships and designed programming designed to improve Black youth, Black families and Black communities.
The facility itself houses a state-of-the-art swimming pool and gymnasium to address physical wellbeing, education and training programs, and family services to address mental and emotional wellbeing, and is playing a key role in redeveloping the entire Larimer community.
It is a holistic approach.
“Oftentimes, it’s not easy to see how all these aspects of people’s lives are connected together. People tend to address issues in silos—jobs, housing, education, violence,” Bankston said. “Part of what we’ve been trying to do is draw those connections, in all those aspects. I think you have to, if you’re going to make an impact.”
Bankston said making a meaningful long-term impact also requires cooperation and building relationships with the community, again on multiple levels, from individuals to community groups to educational entities and all the way to federal funding agencies.
“We’re just trying to develop the partnerships—that’s what I’d emphasize,” he said. “Let them flourish over time, so they are not just events but have long-term viability.”
Some of those Kingsley partnerships directed at reaching vulnerable youth include an Urban 4H initiative through Penn State University, a robotics program, originally started with Carnegie Mellon University, that last summer included a two-week camp with Temple University and the U.S. Navy, and another project that granted memberships for youth at the TechShop at Bakery Square.
“We’re also involved with a hospital-based violence intervention program developed by Richard Garland at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health,” he said. “And of course we have our job skills programs to help people take advantage of opportunities at the neighborhood level through our Family Service Center. And we’re constantly meeting with residents who will be affected by the Larimer Plan revitalization.”
None of these programs involve membership in Kingsley, although some have resulted in people joining, Bankston said. The key to Kingsley’s approach is to constantly maintain efforts to improve people’s wellbeing on multiple levels.
“It’s not sexy, but when has anyone seen a program that came out of a headline that lasted. Slow and steady wins the race,” he said. “We are persistent and consistent. We’ve been working with Operation Better Block about engaging young people—look at their mapping program, there’s nothing sexy about it, just organizing block by block. Just get out there and do it. Presumably, over time, you’ll experience more success than failure.”
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