{"id":142558,"date":"2025-08-13T14:12:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T14:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/142558\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T14:12:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T14:12:24","slug":"pouring-love-into-community-can-curb-violence-rates-in-dallas-nonprofit-leader-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/142558\/","title":{"rendered":"Pouring love into community can curb violence rates in Dallas, nonprofit leader says"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Alex Nelson lost his brother to a double homicide in northeast Dallas over 12 years ago<\/a>, he said he hit the absolute bottom. <\/p>\n

But in his moments of anger, rage and grief, he said God spoke to him and gave him the acronym \u201cF.O.E.,\u201d which stands for Fatherhood Over Everyhood, a program under his nonprofit organization called Love Deposit. <\/p>\n

Teen violence can be difficult to address. Grassroots nonprofits are at the heart of the work to curb violent crime among children and teens and sustain the progress year-over-year.<\/p>\n

Nelson \u2014 affectionately known as Uncle JoJo \u2014 said Love Deposit<\/a>, established in 2017, works toward violence and crime prevention in Dallas through two programs: Fatherhood Over Everyhood and Brotherhood Over Anyhood. <\/p>\n

Nelson said the primary purpose of Love Deposit is to spread love in a community that otherwise lacks it \u2014 which is one of the challenges facing young people today in the city and can be a direct result of the rise of violence amongst them. <\/p>\n

Crime in The News<\/p>\n

Read the crime and public safety news your neighbors are talking about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try my best to sow a seed and make a love deposit,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cHurt people, hurt people, as they say, but loved people, love people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love Deposit<\/p>\n

Nelson, 43, has been in Dallas all his life. He\u2019s originally from a North Dallas housing development, now referred to as Roseland Townhomes, and he moved to Oak Cliff as a young child. <\/p>\n

As a child, Nelson said he watched his mother battle drug addiction. His mother is now sober and getting her degree, but he said watching her struggles shaped the way he views the world. Still, he said that he was blessed because he had a loving grandmother and a present father that taught him life skills and fostered a household \u201cfull of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fatherhood<\/p>\n

Fatherhood Over Every Hood founder Alex Nelson speaks with The Dallas Morning News, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Related:South Oak Cliff\u2019s principal talks solutions for rising teen violence in Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat God later showed me [is] that those were love deposits, and I just really feel like that saved my life,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The love Nelson experienced during his childhood was an \u201cintentional love,\u201d which is what he said is missing in the community today. Recognizing that lack of love in his community led Nelson to establish his nonprofit. <\/p>\n

Two programs operate under Nelson\u2019s nonprofit Love Deposit: Fatherhood Over Everyhood, which is aimed toward young Black fathers in the city, and Brotherhood Over Anyhood, which is geared toward younger children and education. <\/p>\n

Fatherhood Over Everyhood was created when Nelson saw his nephew become more fearful after his father, and Nelson\u2019s brother, 34-year-old Simmie Lee Rochelle, was murdered in 2012. <\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the impact that it had on [my nephew],\u201d Nelson said. <\/p>\n

The program aims to bring men together and provide advocacy and workshops for young fathers trying to find their way, Nelson said, because \u201cthat\u2019s the key to what\u2019s going on in the community.\u201d <\/p>\n

The ultimate goal of Brotherhood Over Anyhood, Nelson said, is to gather young children together and provide them with core memories of love, fun and fellowship \u201cas early as possible\u201d to keep them from killing each other later on. <\/p>\n

All the services offered through Love Deposit, such as tutoring and counseling, come at no cost to the community, Nelson said. He said the nonprofit is funded either directly from his own pockets or through donations. <\/p>\n

Rise of teen violence <\/p>\n

Violence among teens is on the rise, Nelson said, because \u201cthese young men are dying and killing to be seen.\u201d He said there\u2019s a lack of positive male figures right in the community, so young boys are finding their manhood and identity either from their agemates or on the internet. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, that\u2019s a conviction of us as men and us as fathers, us as mentors,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, there\u2019s no opportunity and no love. That is the challenge the youth in Dallas face today, Nelson said. <\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Nelson, affectionately known as Uncle JoJo, and his mother Yolanda Nelson speak to Erycka Martin, 17, of DeSoto during Alex\u2019s 8th Annual Pull Up to the Pump Love Deposit, where he gives away at least $5,000 in free gas to anyone in need, at the 2503 Lemmon Ave 7-Eleven location in Dallas on Saturday, May 31, 2025. <\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Young people should be able to go outside of their homes and find love, Nelson said, whether it\u2019s from neighbors, the schools or community centers. <\/p>\n

One preventative measure Nelson\u2019s nonprofit implemented to address the issue was to create a reading curriculum for students \u2014 one that will help them stay on track, because when they check out of school, that\u2019s when the behavioral problems begin. <\/p>\n

Through F.O.E., Nelson is partnering with judges to get into the jail system and offer a curriculum to young fathers that will help them to be better fathers. As a man who had a child when he was just 17, Nelson said he wants to bring other young fathers out of jail and offer them more direction. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re working with the young boys \u2026 [and] the fathers \u2014 we\u2019re advocating and giving them an avenue to build bonds with their kids.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018Love thy neighbor\u2019<\/p>\n

Can the violence among young people improve? There\u2019s hope, Nelson said. <\/p>\n

One strategy that can work is creating opportunities for the youth. Nelson said his organization takes the kids to a retreat annually and exposes them to nature, camping, different types of food as well as business and educational opportunities. <\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Nelson, affectionately known as Uncle JoJo, hugs Lelani Russell during his 8th Annual Pull Up to the Pump Love Deposit, where he gives away at least $5,000 in free gas to anyone in need, at the 2503 Lemmon Ave 7-Eleven location in Dallas on Saturday, May 31, 2025. <\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not enough, Nelson said. It needs to be available in the neighborhoods and community centers, too. As a community, \u201clet\u2019s show up for each other,\u201d he said, and show up for the kids. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s love deposits, Nelson said, and \u201cwe have everything that we need.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI would challenge you to love the person closest to you the best you can, treat the person that\u2019s closest to you the best you can,\u201d he said. \u201cThe greatest commandment: love thy neighbor. And it\u2019s not in a cliche way, it\u2019s in a real way, and that\u2019s why we do the things that we do \u2014 to try to inspire that and invoke that for people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Alex Nelson lost his brother to a double homicide in northeast Dallas over 12 years ago, he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":142559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,4219,1596,42423,4221,10429,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-142558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-guns","12":"tag-homicide","13":"tag-oak-cliff","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115021869505793253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}