CLEVELAND — A gang prevention program is helping to keep at-risk youth away from gang activity and violence.
Laron and Angela Douglas are the founders of reNOUNce deNOUNce, a gang intervention program they started 10 years ago while Laron was in prison.
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“There’s a lot of violence in the city of Cleveland, and I was a person that used to perpetuate violence in the city. When I came home from prison, I wanted to give back to the community in which I destroyed," said Douglas.
The 10-week program educates at-risk youth who are sent by judges and probation officers on how to make good choices, rational thinking, conflict resolution and gun prevention.
News 5 was there in 2019 as former Brown Reggie Rucker addressed a class of graduates.
"I wanted to let them know that what you're headed for is a long, long prison sentence or death," said Rucker.
Today, the work isn't just in the classrooms.
“We're going into these places, these hot spots, we're dealing with these shooters in the streets, and were telling them 'we have resources for you.' A lot of these youth that we do talk to are killers when they're together, but when you isolate them and make them an individual, they are nothing but kids,” said Douglas.
In December, reNOUNce deNOUNce received a $45,000 grant from the Cleveland Neighborhood Safety Fund to decrease violence; this grant allowed the group to hire more violence interrupters.
“The violence interrupters have monitoring routes, they do safe Passages at CMSD schools and we have hotspot checks also. They have a caseload of five youth minimum on their caseload, and when there are shots fired in the city of Cleveland, we go to the scenes and we deal with the communities. We also do crowd control, so when the police are at the scene, they can just worry about the scene, and we're right here with the community," said Douglas.
22-year-old Brandon Burton is the newest violence interrupter he was also a student at reNOUNce deNOUNce.
“I am just grateful to have my position here, because I understad the environment that I was exposed to as a very young age, and how it affected me and my past years. Also, how the legal troubles I got into affected my family and the ones around me. Now, I can just take a step back, look at everything that I've done in the past and understand where I went wrong. I can use those lessons to kids coming up in the same environment that I've been exposed to make better decisions,” said Burton.
Burton said he has seen a rapid increase in younger kids getting involved in gangs.
“There are kids that are 11, 12 years old out here with guns, and they don't have any type of knowledge of what their actions could do," said Burton.
Violence interrupter Jeffrey Crosby had federal and state convictions before the age of 23 years old; from experience, he said lack of values is what is leading a lot of these kids down the wrong path. Which is why he focuses on being a positive role model in their lives.
“They are learning if we play stupid games, they win stupid prizes. A smart person learns from their own mistakes and a wise person learns from others. Most of us in here are smart and we made mistakes, and we suffer for it. However, now they can look at us and know what not to do,” said Crosby.
Veteran John Busch said he became a gang specialist for the organization because he has a lot of family who are in gangs, and while some of his family members did choose a bad path, he wants to show people despite where you grew up, you can still choose the right direction.
“I want to be able to make a big impact with people as well as pay it forward, I was always taught, he who learns teaches, so if they haven't learned, I want to teach them to make them better, and pay it forward," said Busch.
Co-founder Angela Douglas said the organization has been able to help thousands of kids turn their lives around in Cuyahoga County.
“If you look at the police statistics in 2023 in our area, I was very proud because there was a decrease in violent crimes. So, if you think about the eight or 900 youth just in Cuyahoga County alone that we helped. If those 900 kids had not went through this program, there would be an increase in crime,” said Douglas.
Douglas said the group plans to open a new location in Knoxville, Tennessee.
