LEXINGTON, Ky. — In Lexington, ONE Lexington, an anti-violence organization, hosted its first ever symposium on youth and young adult violence.

What You Need To Know

  • ONE Lexington hosted its first symposium on gun violence among teens and young adults 

  • It featured national speakers and workshops 

  • The goal was bringing together community stakeholders and expressing each role they play in reducing gun violence 

It featured speakers, workshops and presentations on compassion fatigue, bystander awareness and engaging the Latino community.

ONE Lexington and its partners are continuing their work in reducing gun violence in Lexington. Friday, the organization partnered with the University of Kentucky’s Community Innovation Lab to host the forum.  

Larry Johnson, with ONE Lexington, says the event is about collaboration and networking between multiple community stakeholders that all share a goal of reducing gun violence among teens and young adults.

“This symposium honors that it is a community working together. It is not one organization, two organizations nor is it about competition,” Johnson said. “We have everyone from the school system to the non-profit industry; groups like Rhema Word, Lexington Leadership Foundation.”

Johnson says they work with community members to understand the role each plays in preventing gun violence.

“A lot of that is our prevention efforts; we’re in the school system; we’re doing it through mentoring programs and doing that through a summer ‘It takes a Village’ program. We’re doing that through a lot of the programs we fund,” Johnsons said.

UK students participating in the Community Innovation Lab were also on hand, learning their role in preventing gun violence and being introduced to ways they can get involved in the community.

“In this particular case, we provide a venue to eliminate the town and gown where they’re utilizing what they’re learning in the classroom today in the community tomorrow with the community,” said the Director of UK’s Community Innovation Lab, Bryan Hains.

Calvin Clark, a West Virginia native, is majoring in community and leadership development. His passion is being involved in whatever place he’s living and making an impact for the better.

“If I’m going to live somewhere and be a part of something, I want the best version of that to be present and so I want to do my part to help get it there,” Clark said.

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