@ Muhammad Ali Center - 8a

The City of Louisville, Kentucky has been making great strides in its efforts to uplift Black men and boys. For the past five years, it has served as the host city for the Open Society Foundation’s “Rumble Young Man, Rumble” convening, and continues to demonstrate a steadfast commitment to advancing and promoting the field. Click here for a glimpse.

In hopes of addressing community violence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded the University of Louisville School of Public and Information Sciences a $5.7 million grant to establish a Youth Violence Prevention Research Center. The Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods serves as a key partner in establishing the center and will continue to serve on the steering committee. On Nov. 20 UofL and Mayor Fischer introduced this exciting news to the Louisville Community. Various partners at the press conference  included UofL, LCCC, and the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods.

REImage is a program set to help young adults in aspects from continuing their education to getting a job to coping with drug and alcohol issues. The Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods supplies support for REImage as it falls under the One Love Louisville Community Plan for Goal 13: Improve Outcomes for At-Risk Youth and Citizens Returning from Incarceration. One hundred local young adults will get a second chance at success through this new city initiative.The REimage program will target young people, ages 18-24, who are facing adult misdemeanor charges. To learn more, click here.

Saturday November 14, YIT members met with several LMPD Majors and Chief Conrad to discuss ways to improve communication between youth and officers. During the meeting, Chief Conrad was given insight and ideas on ways for police officers to interact with youth at early ages such as a resurgence of the D.A.R.E program, having Student Resource Officers in schools, and information sharing with the community. A follow-up meeting is being discussed to take place with Chief Conrad and his Youth Council.

November 7, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention held its' annual Out of Darkness Walk at the Great Lawn. Louisvillians gathered to remember loved ones who had fallen victim to suicide, depression and other mental illnesses. Strangers exchanged hugs and held hands during the walk to celebrate the lives of loved ones.

On November 5, many UofL students and community members gathered at the University of Louisville to discuss problems and solutions within Jefferson County Public Schools' classroom settings and systems pertaining to students of color. Presenters included Dr. Cherie Dawson-Edwards of UofL school of Law, John Marshall, Equity Officer of JCPS, and Quaniqua Carthan, Program Coordinator of Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods.

 "Police officers should only be in the schools for crime, not discipline" 

- Dr. Cherie Dawson-Edwards

Community Plan Updates

The One Love Louisville Community Plan was released in January 2015. The 13 goals and 42 initiatives are owned and lead by various community representatives, community organizations, agencies, governmental departments and houses of faith. 

Data Plan: Currently under review based on the information gathered at the Data Summit on October 9, 2015.

Goal Report Outs: One Love Louisville goals 4-8 were last reported out on November 13, 2015. Initiative leads provided current progress, actions and next steps. For more information on these report outs, contact, here. 

For more detailed updates, please join us at this

month's Implementation Team Meeting on Friday, December 11, 2015 @ Kentucky Youth Career Center 9 - 10: 30 a.m. 

MBKLou Updates

Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods and Mayor Greg Fischer released their One Love Louisville My Brother’s Keeper Plan (MBKLou) to the White House, MBK Alliance and community on July 20, 2015 – a plan to help young people, specifically young men and boys of color, stay on track. 

Mayor Fischer and the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods hosted an MBK Roundtable discussion on September 16th. This discussion was aimed at learning the insights of young men and women of color after learning about Louisville's progress on the six MBK milestones. This important conversation was facilitated by the Department of Education.  Read more.

Chase is a resident of the Shawnee neighborhood and says that he wanted to make a big change with his life after seeing friends begin to go down the wrong path. After a few meetings with Gavin Demus, who would become his REImage case manager, Chase signed on to the program, and will soon begin working at a new job and is scheduled to tour UofL. Chase plans to work in law enforcement in the future.

PACT (Parkhill, Algonquin and California Teens) in Action youth have worked diligently over the past few months in a photovoice project.  The youth collected photos and stories of Risk and Resiliency Factors in their neighborhoods to answer the question “What Violence Prevention Means to Me.” 

Click here to learn more about the work that PACT is doing, and hopefully they inspire you to #BeThe1.

The Louisville area know Dawne Gee for her work on the evening news for Wave 3, but her moonlighting efforts are now on display with her ability to #BeTHE1. Dawne, was inspired to pen the book after an interview with a 6 year old bragging on eating paper to avoid hunger pains. 100% of the profits go directly to Blessings in a backpack and Dare to Care. A Recipe to End Hunger can be purchased here.