Brittany Horn

The News Journal

The Spiritual Healing Campaign will last from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Seventh and Pine streets.

The #ItsNotOK! event will last from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Fox Point State Park on Hay Road.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Two community events Saturday will try to bridge the gap between young people in the Wilmington community and anti-violence resources.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. city organizations including Churches Take a Corner, Cease Violence and Wilmington Peacekeepers will kick off the Spiritual Healing Campaign at Seventh and Pine streets, which community activist Debro Abdul-Akbar said he plans to continue throughout the summer in Wilmington.

The event will bring together vendors from around the county, as well as employment and health resources, anti-violence campaigns and local community leaders. Following a higher-than-average number of homicides for the year and the brutal death of Amy Inita Joyner-Francis in a Howard High School of Technology bathroom, many local groups have called for major change in the community. But they say they can't do it alone – the only way to enact change is to work together.

"We want to make ourselves and organizations known to people so they could access us before resorting to violence," Abdul-Akbar said.

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Elder Ty Johnson, founding director of Churches Take a Corner, said the conversations aren't new to the city and have been ongoing for years. But as the temperatures begin to heat up and school years wrap to a close, Johnson said those active with Wilmington youth know the options are limited when the school bell rings for the summer.

By moving throughout the city's hot spots or areas most prone to crime, Johnson and his colleagues hope to make a dent in criminal activity while lifting up the quality of life in Wilmington.

"We want to focus on parents and put a focus on the target young people who are doing these things," Johnson said.

Through efforts like these, organizers hope to reduce the number of shooting victims in the city. Already this year, 42 people were injured by gun violence. Nine people died from their injuries.

Ronald Brown, the interim project manager at Cease Violence, said those numbers would be larger if it weren't for the work of his violence interrupters, who inject themselves into conflict and talk down those leaning toward violence. Recently, Brown said, the organization began a bigger push for partnership and marketing to get its mission heard by people in the community and groups who can support it.

"The real problem is that everybody wants some credit but nobody wants to do nothing," he said. "If you're coming out, come out because you care, not because you want to be seen. ...We need as many people to be on our team as possible because we can't do this by ourselves."

Joey Harrison has a similar mission. He's been leading a crusade, #ItsNotOK!, after losing more than 50 friends and loved ones in the city over his lifetime. From noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, he will host a community barbecue and balloon release at Fox Point State Park on Hay Road to honor those who have died in Wilmington, but he needs the community's support.

Harrison reserved the park to offer families a safe place to come out and for kids to play. He believes that if community and police can come together, arrest rates may change and families may get the closure they deserve, he said.

But Harrison is insistent that the community must take ownership of the problem.

"If we are not a part of the solution, we are a part of the problem," he said. "I decided to stand up and do something to make changes in our community. It starts with us."

Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.