WASHINGTON — Community groups came together Tuesday to launch the DC Peace Academy, aimed at training and supporting violence interrupters.
The goal is to harness the expertise of organizers who have been fighting gun violence on their own for years -- and give them the resources they've been lacking.
“This gives us an opportunity to be able to center the voices of the people that are closest to this problem," executive director of Peace for DC, Lashonia Thompson-El, said.
Peace for DC is privately funding the program as it brings together multiple organizations into one academy.
It's a 13-week, 125-hour training program that educates activists on conflict-resolution and mediation techniques while offering them mental health support.
“It's a job. It's a skill set. So we want to make sure you know how to do a proper mediation, you know how to engage an 11-year-old that has a gun, as opposed to a 20-year-old who may have a gun," Honorary Dr. Warees Majeed, who helped develop the curriculum, said. "We want to make sure that you know where the resources are in your community, so that you can help better serve them and their family.”
William Johnson is one of the academy's first students.
He has been working with the Cure the Streets group Father Factor for years after graduating from D.C.'s Pathways program, which is described as a "transitional employment program that aims to decrease participants’ involvement in the criminal justice system and improve their employment, education and training outcomes. Individuals referred to this program are ages 20-35 and have been identified as being at risk of participating in, and/or being victims of violent crime."
“It's been kind of a life duty," Johnson said.
Other groups who are part of the academy are Alliance of Concerned Men, Training Grounds, National African American Reparations Commission, Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative, Collaborative Solutions, Blueprint Development, LLC, and J&J Monitoring.
D.C.'s Gun Violence Prevention Director, Linda Harllee Harper, also helped to develop the curriculum and attended Tuesday's ribbon cutting.
“I think that we don't talk enough about the trauma that is experienced by those who are doing this on the line work day in and day out. And so being able to invest in them… I think that's going to be what's most powerful," Harllee Harper said.
Students like Johnson are excited to collaborate on a program that's DC-centric.
“To be able to be a part of a program that's actually for DC, by DC in DC is strong, it's an inspiration," he said.