Heaping helpings of caring for teenagers

Ogranizers in Chesapeake are holding a community event today featuring career opportunities, mentoring for teens, drug prevention tips and other useful programs.

More, please.

Norfolk's police chief, school superintendent and others hosted an anti-gang address this week at Ruffner Academy, urging middle school students to stay active this summer and steer clear of gangs. The event was beamed to all of Norfolk's middle schools.

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In the Lake Edward community today, a Virginia Beach man is spearheading a neighborhood cleanup, and a teen job fair will follow at 1 p.m. The goal? To match 100 Lake Edward teenagers with restaurants, merchants and other employers, giving them experience, a paycheck and discipline.

More, please.

As schools close for the year and summer heat begins to beat us into submission and sweat, lots of grown-ups have a message for teens and young adults: We care about you. We don't want you to fall into crime. We want you to have fun, get a job, learn a skill - and stay safe.

Adults have always wanted this for young people, of course. But the gun violence that killed and wounded several young men beginning last year - many of them athletes from local schools - drew sharp attention in South Hampton Roads. School leaders, police officers, city officials and community activists are trying to get a grip on the problems of gangs, guns and drugs.

And they're doing more than just talking.

I find all of that encouraging. It means adults are trying to make a difference for young people, in whatever ways they can.

No one thing is going to turn back violence; it takes programs, mentors, events - showing children that we want them to succeed. Maybe even thrive. Little by little, these events change the status quo.

City, community and church officials in Chesapeake got serious about this after Lonnie Andrews Jr., 18, was gunned down following a fight on a Chesapeake street nearly a year ago; another young man was killed in an unrelated incident the same day. Folks began meeting at a local church not just to vent, but to make things better.

A few months after that, Reginald Harper, 41, met Chesapeake Police Major Tracy Branch at a public safety event. Their discussions, and Harper's determination and promotional skills, produced the Family and Youth Community Day. It's from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at South Norfolk Baptist Church, 1101 Chesapeake Ave.

"I just got tired of people making excuses about there's nothing positive to do," Branch told me Thursday. The event, including dozens of exhibits and presenters, will tell people about programs organized by churches, the city and others. "I just want people to come out, get the information and apply it," Harper added.

Over in Virginia Beach, activist Wesley Waites organized the cleanup and job fair in Lake Edward. Several employers, city representatives and other services will be represented.

"We're going out and finding people willing to invest in the community," said Waites, who lives in Lake Edward.

Don't stop now. Let's keep our young people doing right, living right. We need all of them. These programs and events help.

More, please.

Roger Chesley is associate editor of The Pilot's editorial page. Reach him at (757) 446-2329 or at roger.chesley@pilotonline.com.