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This article was published 29/11/2019 (302 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A meeting was recently held by African Communities of Manitoba Inc. (ACOMI) to explore the root issues that are causing some youth to become involved in gangs or caught up in the justice system.

Conversations at the meeting focused on determining the underlying circumstances that lead youth to participate in unhealthy activities and what can be done to prevent and resolve this from happening, said Mandela Kuet, acting executive director of ACOMI (421 Kennedy St.).

The Nov. 24 gathering took place at Knox United Church (400 Edmonton St.). In attendance were community leaders such as Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan and Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre), as well as ACOMI-affiliated members.

"Some of the challenges that we are facing are newcomers, young people, facing different challenges during settlement (in Winnipeg), including poverty, lack of employment, attachment to school… as well as underserved and underfunded programming that don’t really provide tailored support to those young people facing those challenges," Kuet said.

Resources need to go beyond after-school and drop-in programs, he said, adding that there is a need for day and weekend services as well.

Regular structured supports are often overwhelmed or hit capacity, and therefore are unable to provide all at-risk youth with the attention they require, he said.

"You’ll start to see disengagement and disassociation with regular structured programming and they start not spending time there; so once somebody doesn’t want to be in a space they often end up filling that time with something else," Kuet said.

ACOMI is planning to hold another forum in December, but this time for only youth "to hear them out, see what they say, find out some of their solutions and some of the things that they’re doing to help themselves, and what can we do about that," Kuet said.

The organization is working with a number of youth leaders to engage the community’s young population. A follow-up report will then be conducted and delivered to the broader community.

Kuet said ACOMI has also been in contact with civic leaders to continue this discussion and determine solutions.

"What we need to do is educate (youth) and prevent them from continuing to participate in that kind of activity and help them redirect their lives," Kuet said.

ACOMI is a non-profit group that provides programming and connects individuals and community organizations of African heritage in Manitoba.