Gabriella Celeste, policy director at the Schubert Center for Child Studies and an adjunct assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, called for more efforts to engage local youth positively outside the justice system, and to address the alienation and the resort to firearms for self-defense that underlie some of the recent violence.
“So where to go from here? In a word: connection,” Celeste wrote while reflecting on the efforts communities can implement to prevent violence. “Our communities are ‘safe’ only when the most vulnerable among us are safe. This starts by connecting with our youth.”
Read Celeste’s article, titled “Youth violence is also a cry for connection” in The Plain Dealer.