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History:
In 1997 this work was started out of a home, in the Center of
Norfolk, mentoring difficult youth one on one and in small
groups. GXG started in a living room where youth, at-risk to
gang violence and a myriad of other challenges, gathered weekly
for in-depth, personal discussions about the unforeseen dire
consequences of gangs and the growing gang culture.
Those original encounters led this team to become a point source
of support for many org. in the H/Roads area. Teams found, that
angry youth would/could discuss their life styles and work out
behaviors, to include: economic disparities, police contact,
school truancy, racism, at risk behaviors, and acts of crime.
The attendance grew to 40-45 youth, weekly, causing them to move
to a nearby church’s social hall in order to accommodate the
size.
As the GXG participants learned to express and come to terms
with the consequences, and available options of their complex
and painful life experiences, many times the poor behavior of
these at-risk youth subsided. Youth want to be heard by someone
they respect and see is really listening to them, and will be on
their side as an advocate to address their perceived problems.
THAT is a starting point, and validation is a key to open up
cleansing to those who are angry and complaining
that no body listens to me.
As an outgrowth of having life transformations, these ex-gang
members began exploring their own
effective ways to recruit at-risk youth for the GXG violence
prevention meetings. This work grew to include a stage team of
graduates, who developed an “edutainment” troupe that uses there
stories of successfully changed lives, music, dance, and
dramatic skits with anti-gang, anti-violence messages that are
culturally relevant to today’s at-risk youth.
These youth were invited to and have spoken with at-risk youth
in seminars, school assemblies, Boys and Girls Clubs, Multiple
State Functions, Youth Detention Centers, large outdoor park
events, trailer park’s, Apt. complexes Community centers,
neighborhood community centers, libraries, community partners,
and public housing project events. The audiences have been
predominately African Americans, Latino Americans, or
Asian-American youth.
Our training stage show and the success of these edutainment
performances and youth violence prevention programs brought GXG
into partnerships in presentations with various state programs,
to include: violence awareness clinics, bully prevention, date
rape/peer violence seminars, fatherhood, abstinence, Right
Choices for Youth, Independent Living seminars, probation
programs, boot camps, school assemblies, Va. State Gang Task
force, U.S. Dept of Juvenile Justice Conferences,
and the U.S. Surgeon General's report on Youth Violence.
GXG’s violence prevention messages targeted youth and family
strengthening events throughout southeast Virginia and had
expanded into Richmond where GXG received statewide exposure in
2000. According to the Partners in Prevention, the Dep’t of
Health’s newsletter, “Community Organizations around Virginia
are encouraged to reproduce the successes that God’s X Gangsters
has demonstrated.” Through this delivery method, originally
gang related violence in VA was significantly reduced and was
noted by Former VA Attorney General Mark Early saying that,
“This organization, God’s X Gangsters, has helped to
significantly reduce juvenile crime in the state of Virginia”.
During the last 5 years, the GXG Stage Show Training Team was
invited to and served thirty-one state and city government
events. Attendance ranged from 50-1,500 at-risk for gang
violence participants. *Our edutainment program is an
introductory agent to other teams programs and as an entry
point, has recruited 8,000 at-risk youth into Va. Programs from
1999 through 2005.
Atachment(’s) 2 Fatherhood, Right Choices For Youth, Abstinence,
Violence Prevention, Substance Abuse Prevention, Gang Task
Force, (Generally-regional DOH meetings), as well as local Bully
Prevention, Date Rape, Gang Awareness, H/Roads Youth Leadership
Training. |
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All Rights Reserved. This
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confidential, and/or otherwise exempt from disclosure under
applicable law. Any disclosure, dissemination, distribution,
copying, or other use of this communication or its substance is
prohibited without specific written permission. If you believe that
you have received this communication in error, please contact the
sender at godsxgangsters.org for its return at our expense. All
Rights Reserved. GXG Inc 1999 - 2008 |
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