L.I.V.E.
Lifes Lessons, Intensions, Validation, and Earn
My name is Missionary Glenda Johnson, and I am the CEO of Sons of the Sun Inc. We are a 501c3 standing in combat against hunger, housing displacement, and recidivism, throughout the five boroughs of NYC. Our mission is to empower all men with the tools to navigate through barriers brought on by trauma, from things such as incarceration, food desert areas, and systemic racism. Being a single mother of two sons and a grandson, I birthed Sons of the Sun from a place of lack of resources for my children, my husband who battles with recidivism, and the other males within my family and community, Need I mention a cycle of being without stable shelter that started as a youth. Growing up in the streets of South-Central LA, I barely remember groceries or ever going to the Supermarket, but what I do remember is the Gun and Gang Violence.
In a paper published in Nature Cities a research team has explored the role that the population size of cities plays in the incidences of gun homicides, gun ownership, and licensed gun sellers.
The researchers found that none of these quantities vary linearly with the population size. In other words, higher population did not directly equate to proportionally higher rates of gun homicides, ownership, or gun sellers in a predictable straight-line way across cities. The relationships were more complex than that.
In fact, for 2023 in NYC there was approximately 386 homicides. NYC saw a spike in murders over the last year and more than 50% surge from gang violence. In a paper published in Nature Cities a research team has explored the role that population size of cities plays on the incidences of gun homicides, gun ownership and licensed gun sellers.
Gang-related incidents spiked by 52 percent in the 2023 fiscal year, which the NYPD attributed in part to its “capacity to more accurately identify incidents as gang related.” As I watch tragedy after tragedy, I am overcome with questions concerning our young black and brown males whom I fear are becoming extinct and have fallen victim to this disease that runs rapid through our communities. It was at this point I birthed L.I.V.E.
L.I.V.E.= LIFES LESSONS, INTENTIONS, VALIDATION and EARN
L.I.V.E. program was created in combat of gun violence for youth ages 14-24. This 16- week workshop is target based for those who are at risk, currently, directly, Indirectly and an alternative to incarceration. This is a Trauma Informed Care approach while allowing the Youth to be the Head of this Journey. This opportunity will consist of Healing Practices, Community Outreach, Activism, Visionary Tools and methods to achieve Goals while earning. Our curriculum will unlock several areas of gun violence from domestic, gang and homeland. As we touch on coping with trauma, navigating through the aggravating factors of violence, while still achieving your goals and believing that you can and will accomplish anything you set your mind too. This program will build positive character that are often not of family structure or norm. Once any person can get a grip on who they are, whom they wish to become and a map on how to get there, things seem to become more achievable. The key to a new life is often just a change on how one views themselves. Changing lives by changing mindsets!