Program teaches youth life skills, keeps them out of harm's way

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The City of Columbus is partnering with community organizations to create youth programs designed to teach them skills while keeping them out of harm’s way.

This summer, Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children (MOMCC) launched its Trendy Trade Youth Summer Program.

Trendy Trades is in its pilot year, but participants as young as 11 years old have the chance to choose between seven trades. These workshops are designed to teach them real-life skills.

“I picked American Sign Language because not enough people know about ASL,” high school student Daniela Delapaz said. “I didn’t know about ASL.”

Wednesday was only the second day of learning ASL, but students were put on the spot. They were tested on subjects like colors, numbers and family members.

“I think the coolest thing right now is doing my name in sign language,” middle school student Sincere Wright said. “So I get to know other people and also my mom and my dad's trying to learn as well.”

Both Wright and Delapaz said they’ve never been directly impacted by violence, but they’ve seen the pain it can cause. It hurts the most when they learn a child around their age lost their life.

“I think it's bad because you're super young and you have so much life to give and it's taken away,” Delapaz said.

“It just needs to stop,” Wright said.

According to data from the Columbus Division of Police, 18 of this year’s 55 homicides were 21 years old or younger; 22 suspects were around the same age range.

Founder of MOMCC Malissa Thomas-St. Clair said when they look at that number, they know that there needs to be a focus on the city’s youth with an intentional visit to violence prevention and intervention.

“We want this program (Trendy Trades), these youth, to be the seeds, and when they go back to school, we're hoping that they sit at the lunch tables, or in their classrooms, and expressing the need for a change in behavior in our youth,” Thomas-St. Clair said.

The organization received $125,000 from the city to create programs like Trendy Trades. Those involved in the program had the opportunity to choose between seven trades, like ASL and construction.

“Youth sometimes feel that the next step after high school is to go to college, and we want to empower youth to say sometimes that's not your pathway and instead of going to a pathway that may become unsuccessful and not having a plan B, we want to foster a plan B,” Thomas-St. Clair said.

She said the program is part of the organization’s Operation Under Triple Digits initiative. Columbus hasn’t been under 100 homicides since 2016. This initiative uses a data-driven approach. In 2021, the city had well over 100 homicides at this point in the year.

Thomas-St. Clair believes that this is the community saying “enough is enough.”

Trendy Trades is a five-week-long summer program. The hope is that this will continue again in the fall, Thomas-St. Clair said.