When we look at programs, STR8 UP and OPK with the Bear Clan are examples of the ways in which community partnerships work, working where people are. When we're building programs and moving forward, it needs to be done in a way that is reshaped by the realities of individuals that are actually facing..., and we need to engage in that sort of space. When we're engaging with programs, it has to also be the community itself.
When we focus on just the individuals who are committing the crime and not the environment in which it's being created—this also includes the broader community within this.... If we focus on gangs as being individuals who are searching for belonging, we have to ask why they are searching for a sense of belonging and how we as a community are pushing them for another place to belong.
We need to start reframing the way in which we ask those questions, and I think that's where we get change.