Anti-Violence Rx: Food. Laundry. Community

When an 11-year-old made headlines for stealing a car, a team of violence preventers knocked on his door to ask him what he needed. They found only a mattress and a milk crate in his bedroom.

That child was on Len Jahad’s mind when a group of politicians arrived at Connecticut Violence Intervention & Prevention (CT VIP)’s headquarters to celebrate $275,000 in federal funds allocated for capital improvements to the building.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, State Rep. Toni Walker, city Youth and Recreation Director Gwendolyn Busch-Williams, and city Community Resilience Director Tirzah Kemp visited CT VIP’s soon-to-be-renovated home base at 230 Ashmun St. on Monday afternoon. 

There, Jahad, who is CT VIP’s executive director, and Director of Operations Linda Baylor recounted the 11-year-old’s story as they made the case for why anticipated amenities for food and laundry are themselves a form of violence prevention.

“These kids really don’t want to carry a gun,” said Jahad. ​“Oftentimes, they feel like they have to. Or they feel like it gives them power.”

The nonprofit employs a growing team of violence prevention professionals, who work to mediate community conflicts and mentor individuals considered at risk of being involved in a shooting, often drawing from their personal experience with gun violence. 

The organization aims to help community members of all ages find alternative routes to that sense of hope and agency. 

In the case of the 11-year-old, that meant providing him with a bed and some sheets, connecting him to a new hobby of playing video games, and enrolling him for a time in a football team affiliated with CT VIP.

One day, after his home life had become even more stressful, the child called CT VIP from the seat of a stolen car.

“We asked the right questions,” Jahad said. The 11-year-old eventually told them where he was located. ​“He didn’t want to be in that car.”

Community Resources As Violence Prevention

“We weren’t trained to deal with 11-year-olds,” Jahad added — but adapting to the unpredictable is built into the job.

“This is a place that provides [community members] with protection,” said State Rep. Walker, ​“without feeling like somebody’s going to judge them.”

CT VIP has occupied the Beacon Communities-owned building at 230 Ashmun St. since 2019.

Currently, the building includes offices for the organization’s staff — though at the moment, there’s not enough room for all 25 employees, according to Baylor.

Also at 230 Ashmun St., CT VIP hosts a music production studio for young people, a community garden, an employment program in conjunction with the NAACP, and New Haven’s Pop Warner-affiliated elementary and middle school football teams, the New Haven Steelers, among other programs and events. 

These activities, Jahad said, are a means of teaching life skills, instilling confidence, and building community. They address a mental health and loneliness crisis that can feed into violence — ​“there’s a lot of anxiety, depression,” said Jahad — and they’re also simply a source of fun and meaning for anyone who wants to participate.

The New Haven Steelers is one of the city’s largest mentorship programs, serving over 200 kids from ages 6 through 13. The program requires at least a 70 percent average in school, incentivizing kids to go to class.

Some of the teams may qualify for this year’s national championships at Disney in Florida. The organization aims to raise up to $30,000 in order to pay for the trip. The travel experience itself would be meaningful, Jahad said: ​“some of the kids are very, very closed within the confines of their communities,” and may have a chance to see new parts of the world.

The organization envisions expanding the home base into a fully-fledged community center with laundry, a full kitchen, and a computer lab. 

“There’s a real bipartisan consensus behind community violence intervention,” said Blumenthal. For his colleagues who are loyal to the gun lobby, it’s ​“politically safe” to support programs like CT VIP, compared to policies that restrict gun access, he added. ​“So I would think that we can get more money” in the future.

The federal funding will be used to renovate the interior, Jahad said, while Beacon is investing in upgrades to the building’s exterior. The organization is forming a committee to detail an exact breakdown and timeline for the renovations.

Wish List: Laundry, Security, Culinary Classes

Baylor envisions CT VIP’s headquarters as a place not only for these structured programs, but eventually for community members to come by without an appointment to access resources. 

Visitors to the building would need to sign in and potentially go through an intake process, as Baylor imagines it. She pointed out a room by the building’s entrance that she hopes could be revamped as a waiting room or check-in station.

A portion of the federal funding will go toward security measures, such as cameras, aimed at maintaining safety, according to Jahad.

She hopes to build out a computer lab in a room that currently houses out-of-service desktops alongside some silk screen and crafting technology. ​“I want [community members] to be able to come here and create an email address,” Baylor said. She imagines a room with real desks and a degree of privacy, which could accommodate students who need computers to take standardized exams. 

CT VIP also plans to install a washer and dryer — which can be used not only for sports uniforms, but for any client in need of a place to clean their clothes — ​“whether it be for an interview or just to go to the Housing Authority,” Baylor said.

Jahad added that some kids stay home from school rather than ​“risk going to school smelling” if they lose access to laundry at home.

Thanks to the renovation funds, the building’s kitchenette is slated to be expanded to a fully-fledged kitchen. In the past, CT VIP has hosted a cooking class, said Baylor, which entailed bringing in separate equipment. With an expanded kitchen, the organization hopes not only to feed the community members who come by for events, but to host culinary training courses on a more permanent basis.

Finally, Baylor imagines repainting the walls to ​“get rid of the prison blue” and hanging up local artists’ work throughout the building.

“I want to change the mood when you walk in here,” she said. 

She plans to enlist local contractors to make all of this happen, including formerly incarcerated business owners and employees — so that the building itself will be evidence that new life paths are possible.