violence

Memorial Day Weekend was in full swing. Warm weather- check, list of cookouts to attend- check let the fun commence. That all quickly changed when the phone rang at 7a on Sunday morning. I'm always a little nervous when the phone rings early in the morning or in the middle of the night- never know what I might hear from the other end. This call was one of those. The news was that Cory Johnson, a family friend, more like a brother to me, had died. My heart sunk and my mind immediately went to hoping it wasn't by violence.  read more »

This Friday, Radio Boston will be running a segment on Middle School Violence.

"In the 2005-2006 school year, 53% of school violence reports occurred in Massachusetts MIDDLE schools...We have heard a lot about violence in high schools, but now, the focus is on middle schools. A number of school districts across the state have started middle school violence prevention programs." -- Radio Boston preview

For those who have worked on United Way's Out of Harms Way initiative, this segment should be especially pertintent. I'd love to hear from everyone on your thoughts about violence in Middle Schools, the causes, the consequences and the solutions at work today.

Listen to the segment Friday, then come back to SpeakUnited and let me know what you think. I'll compile our thoughts to send to the segments producers.

(Special thanks to Former UDubber, Gabrielle Dorsey for the heads up!)  read more »

There was a compelling article from the Boston Globe last week about youth gun violence. What was most striking about this article was not that violence in general has increased in the Boston area, but that the number of victims under 17 has almost tripled since 2002.  read more »