ST. LOUIS — It's almost been one month since a deadly mass shooting in downtown St. Louis left one young person dead and almost a dozen others injured.
Now, one violence prevention group is looking to fund programs to help with the teen crime problem.
Since the tragedy on Sunday, June 18 many in the community have been wondering what they can do.
It's a question the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission has been asked a lot.
That's why Serena Muhammad with St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission and the St. Louis Mental Health Board Deputy Director said they're offering up grants so everyone can help be a part of the solution.
"It really does take everyone contributing and figuring out how to wrap our arms around young people to really get to the next step, so it's not one person, it's not one organization, it's all of us working together," she said.
It's a step that Muhammad said more people are taking together.
"I would say almost daily we get phone calls or emails from folks who are trying to figure out how they can be supportive. What we found is that people are very creative. Either it's giving their time or resources and folks have good ideas about how we can all be supportive of young people, so it's been pretty great," she said.
That increase came after the deadly mass shooting Father's Day weekend.
A tragedy that Muhammad believes was a call to action for many.
"I think folks understand that violence is an issue, and it is a concern, but we don't always know what we can do about it. I think when the mayor called that press conference, she really was just very vocal about, let's see what we can do together. People took that as their opportunity to step up," she said.
That's why the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission transitioned their youth pop-up grants, which are usually one-time activities, to long-term options, according to Muhammad.
"We're looking for places in the community that can host events on a regular basis during hours that are accessible to teens and younger adults. That means late night hours, that means being open on weekends and really making it a space where young people feel comfortable hanging out. It doesn't have to be super structured, as long as it's safe and supervised. Those are good options for young people," she said.
According to Muhammad, the youth safe spaces program grant targets ages 15 to 25 for consistent programming up to a year with funds ranging from $1 to $25 thousand.
"We try to be flexible in making sure that there's a variety of things for young people to do because not everybody wants to do the same things and different activities have different price points, so we have a way of evaluating whether or not it's a good investment based on the impact that the person is trying to achieve," she said.
Muhammad believes all of this is a step in the right direction because it's what young people said was missing in our city.
Her hope is that this will build a "culture that values peace and love over violence."
"Even if we don't see the change immediately, we know that those young people who told us that they wanted something safe and fun to do, know that they were heard and that is very important in validating young people," Muhammad said.
Following the mass shooting, the city expanded the hours of two rec centers.
According to Muhammad, one rec center has an average of 30 to 40 kids every Friday and Saturday that they're open, but the other rec center doesn't have that same turnout.
She said they're looking for ideas from the community on activities that can be done inside these rec centers.
"The biggest thing that the community can do at the rec centers is help spread the word so that young people know that it's available and then to even figure out how to suggest ideas for activities. We don't necessarily need volunteers, but if there are certain programs that you do. Let's say you are a musician, and you want to teach them lessons or you want to do some dance instruction, things that are fun that kids would like. We love to bring those types of activities into the center," Muhammad said.
You can send your ideas for the rec centers to the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission.
If you want to apply to the youth safe spaces program grant, you can do that here.