In 2018, Frederick Burgess established Stop the Violence to combat gun violence and crime with young people in Alexandria. As a reserve law enforcement officer and Alexandria native, Burgess loved the community enough to do something about the problem.
Today, more than 1,000 young people are involved in the organization. Many of them flock to the Charles Hayward Activity Center after school to gather with friends, play basketball, study and build community. Stop the Violence helps to keep students off the streets and out of trouble.
Visit www.stoptheviolence.us for more information.
What inspired you to start Stop the Violence?
I was living in Baton Rouge, and I was seeing all the murder and crime going on in my hometown of Alexandria. So I decided to come back and try to help the kids.
How many kids does the program work with each month?
Stop the Violence gives the kids a place to come when they get out of school. We don't just play sports inside the gym. It's an after-school program.
They have to sign in and then go to the tutor room. We ask them about school and their grades. Dwayne Dupar, a difference maker and motivational speaker, meets with them to help put them on the right track. We also pull their report cards to see how their grades are looking.
After tutoring, we go into the gym for physical exercise.
Sometimes we see 425 kids a month coming through. It's a good thing when you have an outlet for the kids, and you can teach them different things.
Can you tell us about some of the programs that Stop the Violence offers?
We have programs for elementary children and job training for the older children where we teach them how to make resumes, fill out job applications, how to dress properly and how to talk when they go on interviews.
I teach them financial literacy, and about three or four of the young people get a job at a local car dealership where they wash cars. They make $400 a week, and they have to go to the bank and open a checking and savings account.
We try to keep them in school and teach them life skills.
There are classes for marriage and family, health and fitness and drugs and rehab. I have a program for foster kids — we donate time and effort to the kids across the community.
We also have a program, "Unity In Safety: Building Trust Through Community Policing," because I think it's very important to partner with police officers in the community. If we have and keep police in our community, we'll have a safe place.
What do you see as the role of "community building" in your work?
With an after-school program, you build community with the kids. When you build community with the kids, you build relationships with the parents. As parents come into the gym, I can build my relationships with them and then see what avenue I need to take with the children.
We build community by building ourselves around the kids.
I have learned that we have to be consistent and truthful with young people.
We say that kids are the future, but we have to have a program to bring them in and let them know that, to show them that they are the future.
I tell my kids, "You're going to be the next elected official. You're going to be the next judge, lawyer or president. You can be what you want to be."
They're the future, but we have to give them an outlet and teach them these things.
What motivates you to continue to operate the Stop the Violence organization?
I want to get kids off the street. I want to put them somewhere that's like a safe haven facility. I want them to feel like they can come to the gym and not have to worry about any drama or problems.
I want them to know that they'll be safe.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.