CLEVELAND, Ohio — News 5 met Antoine Tolbert and the rest of his colleagues just steps away from the Shell gas station on Cleveland’s East side near 140th Street and St. Clair Avenue; the location has been at the forefront of our reporting in the past.
It’s where police said a group of people attacked a man, fired shots at a vehicle and then drove off in a caravan of stolen Kias and Hyundais, all of them teenagers.
“If we really paid attention, this was coming, this was coming, and they’re getting younger; we’re seeing 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds committing homicides, so they’re getting younger,” Tolbert said.
We came back to this location because the behavior on display at this gas station is what Tolbert is trying to address with his fairly new after-school program.
“We created this program because we knew that we had to create something that was impactful or influential as gang culture and peer pressure,” Tolbert said.
The 10-week program called Rites of Passage was created by Tolbert’s local violence intervention group, New Era Cleveland; we’ve told you about the organization that works to keep Cleveland streets safer.
The after-school program will be held at New Era’s multipurpose facility in Bedford near Broadway Avenue and Columbus Road, offering wrap-around services like meals, trauma-informed care, therapy and connecting students with employment, especially at-risk youth. The goal is to ensure students have a safe place to be and things to do after school.
“If you feel like these streets are getting ahold of you, and you want to get away from your household, it’s a safe space; we aren’t judging you,” said Cam Campbell with New Era Cleveland.
Tolbert is looking for more sponsors because the program is not free; he said MyComm is sponsoring some students from Bedford, Maple Heights and Garfield Heights, but he's hoping other local groups step in so more students who desperately need this assistance can get it.
“It takes a village to raise a child, it takes all of us, and I think the more we understand and more we see that, the more we can give input and be intellectual and help people to overcome,” said Anthony Thomas with New Era Cleveland.
The 10-week after-school program begins in early October; if you’re interested in sponsoring a student or would like to enroll your child, you can contact New Era Cleveland at 216-302-8627.
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