In Jacario Wilson’s opinion, if Atlanta really wants reduce violence among teens and young adults, it must take a proactive approach to the problem.
“The youth is crashing,” the 23-year-old said. “A lot of people not really worried about the youth [until] they’re in their face ready to call the cops on them, and then they ruin their life off a situation that could’ve been prevented.”
Wilson grew up in South Fulton and is a graduate of Gangstas to Growers (G2G), a local program that provides agricultural training, mentorship, and leadership opportunities for at-risk and formerly incarcerated youth. He is still heavily involved with the program.
Even after they graduate, the young people remain part of G2G’s worker-owned cooperative. In addition to agricultural skills, participants learn to produce hot sauce from the variety of peppers they grow each year. They sell their Sweet Sol sauce online, at Wadada Healthy Market & Juice Bar in the West End, and at local farmers markets across the city.
Because violence has a disproportionate impact on Black youth and leaves a lasting impact as they transition into adulthood, Wilson and a dozen other young people brought their ideas to Atlanta City Hall on Monday. They asked the City Council to put its money where its mouth is by funding programs like G2G, Mother’s Against Gang Violence, Hope Hustlers, Dream Builders and Wii Care.
From 2020 to 2024, homicides accounted for 1 in 5 deaths among people between 20 and 29, and 1 in 10 deaths for people between 10 and 19 in the 11-county Atlanta metro region.
Recent tragedies where young people have lost their lives or been injured by guns have thrust violence prevention into the headlines for the moment. But the young people most impacted by the violence don’t want the current attention to be short lived.
Chastity Dallas, 25, another G2G participant from South Atlanta, asked council members to honor May as National Preservation Month by investing in violence prevention programs that preserve the lives and opportunities of Atlanta’s young people.
“That means investing in our community violence interventions — not later, not halfway, but fully and consistently because one day people will look back on this moment and ask what we chose to protect,” she said.
For many young people, they also recognized that poverty is at the core of many of the issues their communities face.
“Really people are just looking for opportunities,” said Zaire Clinton, also with G2G.
Personal altercations were the most common factor leading to up to a homicide for both men and women, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission, which is why communication and conflict resolution are central to most violence prevention programs.
During his time in G2G, Wilson said he’s become a better communicator and learned how to deal with conflict using Warriors, Healers and Builders, a framework designed for people of the African diaspora to heal from generational trauma to build a more resilient future.
“It’s kind of helped to diffuse a lot of situations, especially within the program. You’re dealing with a lot of emotions and a lot of people you don’t know,” he said. Now that he can apply those communication skills, he wants other young people to have the same opportunity that can hopefully interrupt the cycle of violence.
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