ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A new program launches Wednesday in St. Pete to help curb gun violence. The Hidden Voices Project is a collaborative effort between the city’s Urban Affairs Department and People Empowering & Restoring Communities or PERC.
What You Need To Know
- The Hidden Voices Project in St. Pete takes a different approach to addressing gun violence
- Street teams are made up of people impacted by violence and the criminal justice system
- The teams help those at risk by linking them to job training and career placement programs
- The goal is to have people who have had similiar experiences help those who are at risk
“If you look at the first half of this year, the last number I’ve had is, we’ve had 17 deaths by gun violence from black on black crime in the south St. Petersburg community. We have to do something different,” said Michael Jalazo, Executive Director of People Empowering & Restoring Communities.
The Hidden Voices Project takes a different approach to addressing gun violence with street teams made up of people impacted by violence and the criminal justice system. The teams help people who may be at risk by linking them up with programs that can help with things like job training and career placement.
“We’re trying to reach them with people that they know, with people that are part of the community saying look there are things we can do outside of violence and there are different solutions to some of the conflict that we’re seeing. So by using people that are impacted by violence, impacted by the criminal justice system to help solve these issues we’re trying a different approach,” said Jalazo.