4 Shootings Spark A 30-Foot Message

There have been four shootings in the Westville Manor community in the last seven days — last Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and after midnight Wednesday. Even in a community where two gunshot murders happened in 2013, this is extreme.

Solar Youth has had its office in Westville Manor, a development run by the Housing Authority of New Haven, since 2005. In nine years, while there were occasional shootings, we never had to address the questions of risk that now come up regularly. 

I was in our office, working on Solar Youth​‘s 2014 – 15 budget, at 7 p.m. Sunday when one of the shootings occurred. (I hadn’t known about the previous ones.) After the initial surprise and adrenaline, a call to 911 and out-the-window inquiries to neighbors, within 20 minutes children were back out on bicycles, and I went back to the computer.

Only on the drive home, when it occurred to me to check my car for bullet holes, did I realize that I hadn’t stopped to think, ​“HOLY CRAP! SOMEONE JUST FIRED A GUN!”

I questioned if I had started to become, at least functionally, desensitized. So I called a friend who I could talk to about it (but not one I thought would worry too much about my safety).

But upon hearing from the police Thursday morning about the three other shootings, I now became responsible for the security of Solar Youth’s 10 employees in a new way: When does it become too dangerous, even when the children and families we love have no choice to not be there?

As a team we are figuring out what to do to be and to feel safe, while continuing to do the close-out work for our spring season and planning work for the summer to come. But we also felt we needed to send a message to the children of the neighborhood, all of whom we love (including the ones with guns in their belts). With the help of some of our most eager stewards, we painted a 30-foot banner that says simply, ​“You Are Important To Us.”

The kids and some parents added their messages: ​“Stop the Violence! Don’t Shoot People;” ​“Guns Kill So keep your hands off!”; ​“You are loved;” ​“Guns are Bad.”

Friday the brave staff of Solar Youth and every other youth development organization in New Haven will continue the difficult but joyfully rewarding work of providing emotional, motivational and strategic support to as many of our city’s kids as we can with the far-too-scarce resources we have. Help us in this work by thinking of ways we can all show young people that their lives matter, that they have value and that they are loved, and important.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to contact Joanne Sciulli, pictured, who is executive director of Solar Youth, a not-for-profit youth environmental exploration, leadership development and community service program based in the West Rock neighborhood.