GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A ray of hope shone down Friday at the corner of Martin Luther King and Neland, an intersection where data shows it to be one of the most violent areas in all of Grand Rapids.
There's a new initiative underway.
All summer long at Paul I. Phillips Boys & Girls Club in Grand Rapids, there's a first-of-its-kind program called Operation: Peace Project.
Friday, fliers started going out ahead of the June 17 start date.
It's focused on kids ages 8 and up and goes from 2–5 p.m. every Saturday throughout the summer.
“We’re trying to teach them how to deal with their personal traumatic experience caused by violence, at this store and in this area of our third ward,” Community Kids Youth Director Jermar Sterling said out in front of Miss Tracy's party store.
Jermar Sterling knows a thing or two about youth violence, and the violence that occurs in his home area. Formerly incarcerated for assault with intent to murder, now, Jermar is off parole and ready to make a difference in the community.
“Right here is where I learned violence. Violence is a learned behavior, so everything I learned to protect myself on the streets I learned up here, mimicking the behavior from the early '90s — all the way up to 2003 when I got incarcerated,” Sterling said.
Now, as youth director for Community Kids, a local nonprofit, Jermar is on a mission to provide young people the tools he wished he had growing up.
“When you think about traumatic events that happen ... you see that house right there, 953 Franklin? But now it’s called 953 MLK; I used to sit on that porch. When a lot of shots rang out and sirens rang out, I became traumatized by that. And you hear that you gotta run to the backyard, and sometimes the backyard isn’t even safe — there were times I made it on a crime scene and saw people gargling on their own blood from time to time. Those traumatic events that happened, I still deal with those,” Sterling said.
Sterling has enlisted the help of mental health professionals as well, using licensed counselor Patrick Nelson for support.
“I’ll be talking to the youth between the ages of 12 and 14, about their mental health, about those things that affect them in the community. Violence, PTSD, peer pressure, just helping them unpack that,” Nelson said.
It's a way to get to the root cause of so much of violence, which Nelson says is misplaced anger and a need for mental health support in the community.
“Growing up, I didn’t know what emotions were. I didn’t know if it was sad, if it was mad, if it was frustration. But I knew what anger meant,” Sterling said.
Jermar is passing out more than just fliers. He's passing out a promise for better.
“Here in our community, we must be held accountable for some of the violence that has happened,” Sterling said.
Jermar Sterling can be contacted at jermarsterling@communitykids.org.
Check out our list of community resources available to help in West Michigan.