CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you live in the Beatties Ford Road area and have been concerned about the increase in violent crime the city has seen, you now have a chance to get directly involved.
A new violence interruption program is looking to hire six people in that community to help stop crime before it happens.
The program is called Alternatives to Violence, and anybody in the Beatties Ford Road and LaSalle area who wants to be a part of this team can apply.
Mayor Vi Lyles said they're bringing this program to this area first because it's historic, it has been a problem area with crime, and she believes the community is ready to get back to the way things used to be.
“Many of you remember the glory days of west Charlotte,” Lyles said.
The glory days, according to Lyles, is when it was a thriving area for the African American community.
“I remember when Beatties Ford Road was a neighborhood made up of middle-class African Americans,” Lyles said.
Now, it’s more associated with crime.
“Nobody’s forgotten last time when we had the Beatties Ford Road cars and the killings along Catherine’s,” Lyles said.
Lyles is referring to the four people killed and 10 others injured last June when 181 bullets were fired in the street after a Juneteenth celebration.
“I mean that’s just not acceptable,” Lyles said.
“We strive to bring an end to the violence that is plaguing our neighborhoods,” said Mecklenburg County board of commissioners chairman George Dunlap.
On Tuesday, Dunlap announced the county and city have joined to fund an alternative to violence program to the Beatties Ford and Lasalle area.
“Strategies of interrupting violence before it happens and hopefully keep violent acts from reoccurring,” Dunlap said.
Youth Advocate Programs will be facilitating the program, and president Gary Ivory explained it’s a community effort.
“Our model is by hiring people within the neighborhoods we serve, and partnering with all of the indigenous people in that neighborhood,” Ivory said. “The faith community, the nonprofit community, the business community.”
Ivory said they’re now in the process of hiring six people to join that team.
“We like to say from GED to PhD,” Ivory said. “We’re hiring people that are change agents that have a big heart and want to help improve their communities.”
Ivory said the team will help connect people to resources that may be contributing to crime and interrupt violent acts.
“We’re going to be on call 24/7 so that any time there is any incident that occurs or we can prevent it, we’re going to have staff that is going to be available,” Ivory said.
Ivory said it’ll take 4-6 weeks to train those six chosen community members and that it’s a full-time job. He hopes to be ready to get to work in July.
Contact Lana Harris at lharris@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and on Instagram.