Greater Cincinnati youth organization works to reduce gun violence through mentorship

A nonprofit organization in Butler County is using mentorship and after school programs to reduce incidents of gun violence among youth. 

Hamilton Young People Empowered began six years ago, with its goal being to help teens become involved in the community and learn skills such as personal development, financial literacy and job readiness, said Pastor Shaquila Mathews, who founded the organization.

Since then, the nonprofit has evolved to offer sports, music, study and mentorship programs, becoming a refuge for teens who want to get away from negative home environments. 

Mathews said many of those programs came from "noticing needs in the community and noticing that teens don't really have a place to really be, because a lot of organizations they age out at like 12 and 13, so there's nowhere else for them to go."

According to Hype's website, students as young as 6 and as old as 18 can take part in programs. 

As far as its work combating gun violence, Mathews said the organization talks to youth about violence and provides a place for them to go to avoid having "idle time." Hype's Kick Back program, for example, offers teens a safe place to stay during after school hours while their parents are at work. 

There's a need for teens to have a positive environment, "somewhere to be able to just be teens (and) not have to worry about violence," Mathews told The Enquirer. 

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Hype also partners with Street Rescue, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit, to do gun buybacks, getting unwanted firearms out of the community before those weapons can be used during a crime. 

But perhaps the most key aspect in trying to fight youth gun violence is mentorship, according to Mathews. 

"Having a mentor is powerful," she said, adding that for teens, especially young men, it's important to have someone to talk to about their insecurities and feelings and to help build their self-confidence. 

Hype generally has anywhere from 50 to 75 teens participating in its mentorship program after school and around 35 to 40 teens participating in the program for eight weeks during the summer, Mathews said. 

Experts say that having a "supportive adult-child relationship" can be a powerful way to protect youth from trauma, and that includes mentorship programs. 

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Mathews said it's crucial for smaller nonprofit's like Hype that are working directly with the community to have funding. 

"So, that's where it does come with those relationships with the city government to be able to allocate those dollars for organizations like myself to really be able to do the work, to help prevent (violence), and if not prevent, to help stand in the gap to be a resource," she said. 

"You're not gonna reach every youth, but if you can reach the majority and help turn their life around, they can go back and influence the others," Mathews said. "And that's what it's gonna have to take."