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Growing up in Baltimore City, James Pearson (17 | Baltimore, Maryland) is no stranger to the impact of gun violence. Baltimore City has the second highest gun-related death rate and 2021 marked the seventh consecutive year that the city surpassed 300 homicides from firearms. After losing a family member to gun violence, James began to think of ways he could take action in mitigating these acts and reduce the homicide and non-fatal shooting statistics in Baltimore City.

In 2021, James launched the Gun Violence Awareness Committee at the Maryland nonprofit Let’s Thrive Baltimore where he served as a volunteer. Through the committee, James - with the support of three other youth volunteers - leads weekly trainings and facilitates conversations for youth in the Baltimore area. Topics, which engage anywhere from 50 to 100 youth, range from conflict resolution to meditation and mental health. The committee would also provide resources around employment preparedness and host job fairs to help youth from low-income families and those considered at-risk find jobs. In the past year, James and his fellow youth leaders held a workshop for over 100 youth on healing from adverse childhood experiences and childhood trauma and organized one-on-one prep sessions to support their peers as they completed job applications and practiced for interviews.

Understanding that a one-size-fits-all approach wouldn’t be the most effective strategy for his peers, James also looked into how environmental design could also assist in crime prevention. Per the crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) approach, “when residents see spaces around their homes as their own, they are more likely to take care of those spaces and exert some positive influence over them”. As a result of James’ CPTED activities, he and his peers removed 80 bags of trash, planted nearly 100 shrubs, and removed debris from the area surrounding a local elementary school. By cleaning and beautifying the community around him, James hopes that youth see that they have a stake in their city and that they have access to a safe outlet through which they can make a positive impact.