NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A new grassroots initiative was formed to curb youth violence in the North Nashville community.
The group, Gideon’s Army, launched the initiative Violence Interrupters this week and members said their goal is to offer support and mediation resources to families who have been impacted by violence.
Former Metro Nashville Public School teacher, Rasheedat Fetuga, said when she first lost a student to gun violence, she never stopped fighting to end the crime in her community.
"My first student that I lost was Lamar Hughes and he was a gunned downed, broad daylight in Edgehill and ever since that day, that was 10 years ago. I've been trying to figure out what are the highest leverage points, what can we really do to curb gun violence and put an end to youth violence," she said.
On Tuesday, Fetuga and created started Violence Interrupters.
"We're letting the community know that we're here for them, to support them and I'd like to say just breathe love and peace back into our communities," she said.
They plan to focus spreading their message in a part of the city with one of the country's highest incarceration rates.
"[Zip code] 37208 has the highest rates of incarceration in the nation so we felt it was really important to be here as community support, community building, connecting community members to resources but we also have some of the highest rates of violence in the city's shootings and homicides," she said.
So far, participants have fed students at Cumberland View during Spring Break and others have volunteered their time to mentor youth.
