Health & Society

Discussion Series Focuses on Youth and Gang Education

Thursday, November 7, 2013, By Jennifer Russo

The discussion series Elephant in the Room and Supreme Life Givers, an organization that is involved in youth education, will present the discussion series, “Youth, Gangs and Family Structure,” on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 3 p.m. at the Southwest Community Center, 401 South Ave., Syracuse.

The event is free and open to the public; parking is available behind the Southwest Community Center and on the street.

Nonprofit directors, front-line staff, school counselors and social workers are encouraged to attend. Co-sponsors for the event include the Southwest Community Center, the Latino Professional Network of Syracuse, 601 Tully, YWCA and the Syracuse Area Drama Ensemble.

There will be a panel discussion and a Q&A session will follow. Panelists will include gang experts, educators and extractionists. They will discuss gang identifications, lifestyle appeal and support strategies.

“We bring a more grassroots approach, with a panel of experts who have been on the streets before and can help to demystify what is actually happening in our communities,” explains Melissa Gardiner, coordinator of public programs at 601 Tully.

“We want to have room to bring people together to develop solutions, and not just talk about the problems,” she says. “The event has an hour set aside after the discussion so that people who care about the community can network and come up with ways to work together and incite change.”

Elephant in the Room is a discussion series that aims to aims to openly address socially sensitive issues, with a diverse representation of experiences and backgrounds represented on the panel and in the room. Elephant in the Room was co-founded by Gardiner and Taino Palermo of the Latino Professional Network of Syracuse.

Supreme Life Givers Youth Inc. is an organization that specializes in youth and gang education, support and extraction. The organization is based in Rochester and Syracuse.

There will be follow up events to this discussion series. The next event, “Youth, Gangs and Family Structure: Women in the Life,” will be held Thursday, Dec. 12, from 3-6 p.m. at the YWCA. For more information, contact Melissa Gardiner at mmgardin@syr.edu.