Local youth advocate, youth leaders "making noise" for change

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- A local youth advocate hosted a workshop for leaders who work with teens and young adults to help produce real action from the community.

Kintae Lark, youth advocate and owner of Inspiration School of Beauty Culture, said he predicts there will be a rise in crime and deaths during the summer.

“There’s invisible beef that’s still going on between sides of towns,” he said. “It’s going to get more riotous, more violent.”

Lark said it’s easy for people to point at the streets for the violence, but he said many young people are responding and reacting to what’s happening in the community. He’s been working with young people for more than 20 years, he said, competing with the street culture.

“I can go to a young person and say ‘Let’s put down the weed, and let me put some clippers in your hand,’” he said. “That’s a conversation that I can personally have.”

On Thursday night, Lark met with other people interested in the lives of young people at-risk in the community.

“It’s called ‘Make Some Noise,’ it’s a lot of noise going on in the minds of young people,” he said. “How do we compete with that noise, how do we help to bring more sustainability into a lot of our young people who are falling through the cracks?”

He said, in order to compete with street culture, organizations must be able to put something resourceful in young people’s hands.

“If I’m not doing that, it’s going to be very difficult to convince them to walk away from it,” he said.

Lark said he is not starting an organization, he's helpping create a bridge that could create positive action.