12/16/09 Moving Beyond Violence in Oakland
on December 16, 2009
During the past two months, three Oakland North reporters have interviewed five teens at Castlemont High School on MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland. This neighborhood is at center of some of the city’s worst violence, and it’s a violence that does not spare young people. During the last three years, one in every two homicide victims in Oakland has been between the ages of 12 and 24.
Even amid this tragedy, the five teens that met with Oakland North have, in many instances, found a way to move beyond the difficult circumstances that surround them. They are all part of Teens On Target, an after-school program that trains students to teach violence prevention in the city’s middle schools.
It’s given them a broader horizon, a chance to see life that extends beyond gangs and violence that have claimed the lives of people they know. It’s also helped them appreciate the bonds family and friends and provide.
To learn more, watch the multimedia presentation from Oakland North reporters Mario Furloni, Kate McLean, and Richard Parks.
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