CLEVELAND — I was born in the neighborhood where tears flow.
Where peace seems impossible.
Where problems rise higher than skyscrapers that scrape the smiles out of our sidewalks.
We need change from the inside out.
Change is what Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance is striving for. By focusing on intervention and prevention, community restoration follows.
"I'm just a product of this environment. My family are still struggling with violent incidents that [date back] from the 70s and the 60s," said Myesha Crowe, Executive Director of the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance at a recent silent march for grieving mothers.
"The generational curse of violent incidents in the inner city continues and it needs to stop."
A long overdue call for peace springs out here, connecting those with broken hearts to better outcomes.
"Any high-risk young person who has many stressors, we want to be that organization that helps them and bridge them to other organizations that get them on the right track," said Crowe.
Between gang outreach, hospital-based intervention and the justice system, the team at the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance go above and beyond. It's all about meeting people in their time of need and see them eye to eye, says Crowe.
"You never know what anybody is going through, but it starts with relationships and it doesn't start with assumptions...we're not just going to read the headline, we're going to see the headline, we're going to show up and we're going to stay there until it's reduced."
This fight to reclaim community takes all of us because while a better path might feel far away it's our commitment to discovering that path that brings it closer.
"We can't stop violence like violence has been around before we were born," she said. "But what we can do is add a little bit more hope, give more resources, allow violence to not be acceptable, and be there to help reduce the stressors."
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