Life Camp, Inc. founder Erica Ford courtesy of Facebook
In response to the recent incidents of school-related incidents involving students bringing guns to school, renowned anti-violence activist Erica Ford, CEO of LIFE Camp, Inc. who helped create New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio & City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito’s Crisis Management System, is appealing for more funding and mental health support in schools for crisis management to eliminate the perpetual fear that young people are living in every day.
“Our children do not feel safe,” Ford said in a recent press release. “Thousands of New York students are living in fear. New York students have a human right to live and that right is challenged every day as evidenced by the fact that there were 6 people shot and 2 dead in this same neighborhood in 6 days.”
Ford went on to note that, “The impact of trauma on young people’s lives is overwhelming and we must forcibly address this. Scanners in some schools do not ensure safety; this environment only enforces the school to prison pipeline and does not deal with the real issue of strengthening the learning environment. More and more each day students feel that their lives are perpetually threatened by violence.”
According to Ford’s statement in her press release, “Only through strengthening the Crisis Management System and addressing the systemic mental health issues, along with the rise in gangs and crews and thousands of kids self-medicating, will we truly transform lives and make our communities free from violence”
