WS Chronicle

PART 2 

JESS SCHNUR 

THE CHRONICLE 

Last week, The Chronicle spotlighted Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods (NBN), a local organization that aims to build up communities across Forsyth County. Of the many initiatives NBN facilitates to support community engagement and empowerment, one particular program has been working tirelessly to help build safer communities across the city: Forsyth WINS. 

Forsyth WINS is a local sector of Cure Violence Global, a nonprofit organization that adopts a public health approach to reducing and preventing violent crime across communities nationwide. Since its establishment three years ago, Forsyth WINS has committed itself to helping reduce violent crime in the community of East Winston. 

“I used to pastor here in Winston-Salem, and I was one of the pastors who did all the funerals for people killed through gun violence. So, I would do their funerals for free. Everyone would come to the church, and it would be overwhelming. So many people would come to me who attended, and they were saying, ‘Man, I don’t want to come to church no more, all of my friends have been buried here,'” Curtis Friday, the program manager of Forsyth WINS, told The Chronicle in an interview. “So, you know, that was a good door open for me to come in and be able to help create avenues for people who may be going through this type of trauma, who may be going through gang situations, and be able to get them jobs. So that kind of pushed me into this position.” 

As the program manager for the past year and a half, Friday has helped Forsyth WINS foster a safer community through canvassing and violence mediation. Also known as the B222, the program has enlisted violence interrupters and outreach workers to help those at risk of committing violence get the resources and mediation they need to prevent violence from becoming the norm within their communities. 

Violence interrupters are tasked with diffusing violent situations and promoting conciliation when faced with conflict. In instances of domestic violence, shootings or drive-by shootings, for example, violence interrupters talk to the people involved to help protect victims and mediate disputes toward nonviolent outcomes, promoting these methods of de-escalation as the new norm. 

These interrupters also work with outreach workers who perform assessments on those at risk of violence to help identify their needs and connect them with resources. Through partnerships with organizations such as Goodwill and the City of Winston-Salem, Forsyth WINS helps provide jobs and educational opportunities to guide individuals onto a better path and address the underlying needs driving violence. Both violence interrupters and outreach workers are usually members of the communities they serve, which helps them form better connections with those they are helping. 

According to Friday, Forsyth WINS has already demonstrated its impact through a study measuring crime rates before and after the organization’s founding. As reflected in the city’s mid-year crime review, violent crime across the board has decreased by a combined 90% in Winston-Salem. But putting an end to violence is about more than just statistics – it’s about the lives that are impacted and changed for the better because of groups like Forsyth WINS. 

“I’m actually working with a kid right now who did seven years in prison for robbery and a lot of things that he did, and now he has actually gotten out,” said Friday. “And one of our partners is with the City of Winston-Salem, Project Path – the SOAR program, too. So, Project Path has gotten him a job in there right now. So, he’s actually got a job, and he’s actually working toward his own business, and he’s doing great, tremendously great. And hopefully he’ll be able to become a violence interrupter soon, to be able to be on the team with us, because he’s helping us bring in other kids.” 

Through his work at Forsyth WINS, Friday has observed that one of the biggest catalysts of violence is a lack of resources. Amid ongoing housing and food instability in places such as the Cleveland projects – which is currently in the process of closing – many residents, especially children, face hunger and homelessness. 

“We keep food in [our office at Ivy Avenue]. So, some kids just stop by just to eat, you know, and they don’t have nothing to eat. We have something to eat for them. Give them some Pop-Tarts, Hot Pockets, just some snacks and a PlayStation game. Let them play the PlayStation and chill out, you know? So, I think our community, one, needs to know that somebody cares for them,” said Friday. “Two, there’s a food desert. So, like you won’t find no Publix in the middle of our [food desert]. Publix has that fresh fruit, fresh greens. You’re going to find something like a Save-A-Lot, which, you know, the food is not – the quality of the food is not like Publix, right? So yeah, I think bringing the community some of the things that they can’t go get. So they won’t be able to go get some of these resources that you bring to them. That’s some of the ways we can kind of support our community.” 

Once a month, Forsyth WINS hosts community events to bring food and resources to those in need. For those interested in supporting Forsyth WINS and helping end violence in East Winston, volunteer opportunities are available at www.ForsythWINS.org or donations can be made at the Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods site at NBNCommunity.org. 

“Sometimes kids need clothes. Sometimes it’s just food they need. Sometimes they just need a hot meal. And some of our resources don’t cover us giving them a hot meal,” said Friday. “We may have food, but sometimes our outreach workers and interrupters want to take a kid out just to give them some food. They’re sleeping in abandoned houses. So, if you would love to donate like that, that would be wonderful.”