Youth mentors talk about solutions to violence in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — “Anti-violence” events in Louisville can take a variety of forms.

“If you share a hot dog, or a hamburger or a game with someone, then you’re a little less likely to have violent run-ins with them when you see them in the community,” Brandon Mullins said, the founder of Factory of Champions.

Mullins is an assistant basketball coach at Simmons College and started his own program to teach kids basketball –and life skills– about one year ago.

He held his first ever youth basketball tournament July 28 at St. Stephen Family Life Center in the California neighborhood. Six teams competed against each other. The kids listened to a motivational speaker, got a hot meal and interacted with coaches and mentors. It was free to attend.

“One of my proudest moments,” Mullins said. “Just to know that I have this many people that support me enough to put this together.”

The stands were full of parents, grandparents and aunties supporting their kids. Mullins says it’s his goal to create more opportunities for families to support their teenagers.

“Growing up, my mom supported me, I got some great mentors around me now. My great grandma was amazing. I had a lot of great people around me that poured into me, so I wanted to pour back into them,” he said.

Shannon Flournoy was in the crowd to support her grandson and nephew, both 13. Flournoy, 56, has lived in Louisville her whole life. She said she’s seen an unfortunate shift in people not keeping as close of an eye on their kids — or their friends’ kids.

“It used to be a situation where everybody helped. It’s just a lot of people turning their heads more than used to,” Flournoy said.

FOCUS compared shootings victims (both nonfatal shootings and homicides) for both the 18 to 24-year-olds and people under 18. The data goes from Jan. 1 through July 31 for the last three years. The data is from the city’s Office of Violence Prevention Gun Violence Dashboard. 

Eighteen to 24 year old victims have gone down 50% over the last three years, going from 103 in 2023 to 52 this year. Shooting victims under 18 have fluctuated, going up to 56 in 2024 but then retreating this year.

The number of juveniles arrested for a homicide in the first seven months of the year have followed the same pattern. In the first seven months of 2023 four juveniles were arrested for a homicide, that went up to six in 2024, and then retreated to four again this year. 

“The problem is there’s not a lot of community presence anymore,” Mullins said. “So, doing things like this, holding these types of gatherings, it helps bring the community together.”

Last month, 12 teenagers in the Taylor-Berry neighborhood graduated from a mentoring program led by 50/50 Mentoring Collaborative. The five-week program was funded with $20,000 from Metro Louisville’s Office of Violence Prevention.

The teenagers got experience making social media videos, learned about money management, made money mowing lawns for seniors and also did a conflict resolution class.

“Fast money isn’t good money. Take your time and work for what you need,” Keoni Smalls said, a 17-year-old who graduated from the class. 

Smalls and some of his friends said they see how taking a class like this can help them later in life. Smalls said he knew someone who was killed this year.

“I lost one of my friends this year. And she didn’t get to graduate this year,” he said. “It was hard. I didn’t know her for real, but I knew the girl, and it was hard.”

The Office of Violence Prevention is taking applications right now for three separate $116,000 grants for anti-violence projects. The program is called the “Get Busy” grants. The applications close Aug. 20.