COLUMBIA, S.C. — Speakers from around the Midlands came to talk with a group of teens inside the Hyatt Park Community Center.
Losing her son to an act of violence is a real fear for Matti Watkins. She was one of the parents who brought her son to the City of Columbia's Youth Violence Prevention Week event on Thursday.
"For my son, I want him to make good choices," Watkins said. "Right now, he's not making the right choices. When he prepares for high school, he can make better and better choices."
Violence among the state's youth is an ongoing issue. According to SLED's 2021 crime statistic's annual report, over 2,000 juveniles were arrested for crimes against other persons, which include assaults, battery, and murder.
The event also included a presentation from Kaitlyn Hunter at NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She says mental illness plays a large factor in much of the violence and needs to be addressed early and often.
"Really, they need counseling or they need outlets to express these emotions rather than turning to violence, shooting someone, or drugs, or different things like that," Hunter said.
Columbia Assistant City Manager of Operations Henry Simons says the large prevalence of violence, locally and nationally, is one of the reasons behind Thursday's event.
"Our goal is to create these outlets to educate not only the youth, but their parents as well," Simons said.
Simons said it takes a community to make change and things won't be solved by the end of a Youth Violence Prevention Week. He adds the city is working to offer additional outreach opportunities.
"We have mentorship programs, we have summer camps, we have after school programs, Simons said. "We have seminars going on throughout the year to try to always connect with youth, always try to connect with parents."
It's work that Watkins says is needed and valued.
"It's a lot going on in this world with our youth. Too many guns, too many drugs, dropping out of school. We need to let our children know they are blessed," Watkins said. "It's great that we have positive men, positive females doing great things for our younger generation because they are our future."
Hunter says NAMI will be hosting another violence prevention event at Riverfront Park on May 20.