LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — After a violent 2021, Lexington saw a big drop in homicides among young people in 2022. So far in 2023, there's only one. Community organizers who work closely with ONE Lexington talked today about what they believe is making a difference.
Tonia Walker lived in Lexington from 2010 to 2013, then moved to North Carolina. She came back to Lexington last year to work with underserved kids and noticed things had changed.
"When I moved back, I noticed that there had been an uptick, for sure, in gun violence, and a downswing in community resources," Walker said.
She reached out to ONE Lexington to offer her services as a youth life coach through her organization, Walker Reconstruction, LLC. Former Mayor Jim Gray's office formed the ONE Lexington organization in 2017 to find solutions to a rise in homicides among young people between 13 and 29. According to statistics on the Lexington Police website, annual homicides in that age group were in the single digits between 2010 and 2015. In 2016, that number exploded up to 17, and rose as high as 24 homicides in 2021. In 2022, though, that number dropped to nearly half at 13. So far, in 2023, there has only been one. Walker believes teamwork between these organizations has helped make a difference.
"For me, I say it's because there's a lot of these organizations that understand what needs to be done and they're willing to put their feet to the ground and go for it," Walker said.
Nestor Gomez is a teaching pastor at Bluegrass Community Church and a member of a crisis response team. He says the support these groups offer to people dealing with gun violence can help prevent more violence down the road.
"A lot of the work we do with ONE Lexington is just trying to bring that hope. That hope might look like paying for somebody's bills, or they are dealing with a son or daughter that's in the hospital, that was subject to gun violence or gang activity. I think giving hope to others is important," Gomez said.
Larry Johnson agrees with Gomez. He works in the mayor's office as community response coordinator alongside ONE Lexington. It's hard to quantify hope, but he says results like what's happened in the last year show how powerful it can be.
"I think that one big contributor to violence and acting out is to be without hope and to not have empathy, because empathy allows you to feel what others are feeling. Simply by the work that we're doing with our mentors, the work that we're doing with programs, the work that we're doing to elevate young people and young adults is beginning to instill some hope," Johnson said.
To get involved with ONE Lexington, you can find more information on the city website at https://www.lexingtonky.gov/one-lexington.
