AKRON, Ohio — The leaders of an Akron-based organization said they hope to bring a solution to the rising violence and conflict they said they’re seeing in their community through crisis intervention and de-escalation.
“Seeing how things are, it shouldn’t be this way,” said GentleWay Institute Co-Founder Bertram Griggs.
Even the most recent incident at Akron Firestone High School, where an Akron Police School Resource Officer (SRO) punched a high school student in the head three times after police said the teen tried to avoid school metal detectors, is what Griggs and Akron Mayor Shammas Malik call troubling.
“I found the video upsetting. I expect many others will as well,” said Malik on Oct. 21.
Because of this, Griggs told News 5 he’s on a mission to change the narrative of Akron through his work at GentleWay Institute.
It’s an organization he said he and his childhood friend, Ron Mosley, founded together in 2022 to rethink crisis prevention training and re-design how conflict management education is delivered.
“We want to leave a legacy and a footprint that we did something to straighten out some of these situations where you have an adult harming a younger person or younger person harming an adult, or adults harming each other,” Griggs said.
So far, Griggs said their organization has partnered with different cities and groups across the nation, including right here with Akron Public Schools, to help people interact in a peaceful way through safety, confidence, engagement and self-care.
“We get with the people who are in charge, they tell us what they want, and we mix it all up and get as close as possible to what they want,” Griggs said.
Following the incident at Akron Firestone High School, Griggs hopes to reconnect with the district and expand his reach with other organizations.
“It’s not darkness or anything like that but it’s kind of cloudy, so we want to clear that up and make it a little bit brighter than what it is,” said Griggs.
If you want to learn more about their organization, CLICK HERE.
