HOUSTON – On Saturday morning, over 100 students were expected to attend the Red Zone Youth Empowerment Forum on the city’s Northwest side. The event aimed to prevent youth crime in the community by helping students gain mentors early on.
“We come together and meet in what we call ‘huddles’ with young people, and our goal is to not only tell them why it’s important to have dreams for their lives, but also to show them how to create those dreams,” Judge Lori Chambers Gray said.
‘Tackling Crime’
Why you should care:
According to Judge Gray, the areas with the highest amount of youth crime are the ones they target for these events.
“They’re dealing with things such as peer pressure,” Gray said. “They’re dealing with problems at home. They’re dealing with mental illness. So we talk about how these are challenges that may be huge challenges, but there are ways in which to overcome them.”
‘No quick fix to being successful’
Those in Attendance:
To help connect with the kids in the community, Tackling Crime in the Red Zone had speakers from the NFL alumni association share their stories.
“Somebody was there to help me, because I could have made that wrong decision. It only takes a second to make a decision,” Washington Redskins Vernon Dean said.
“There’s no quick fix to being successful or having things that are nice in life,” Ex-Atlanta Falcons & Houston Oilers Defensive End Matthew Teague said. “You’ve gotta kind of wait your turn, but you’ve gotta go through a process so having someone guide them and instruct them as they go means all the difference in the world.”
The Source: Harris County Court Judge Lori Chambers Gray and former NFL players Vernon Dean and Matthew Teague.
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