CINCINNATI – Bullying, guns, teen suicide.
The Solutions Conference at Christ Temple Church in Evanston was intense.
One hundred Cincinnati Public Schools teens gathered Thursday to discuss tough life lessons and hear from mentors.
“I'm not going to stand here and tell you your mother's responsible, your father's responsible, you're responsible for yourself,” said Duane Harmon of Youth Hope Cincinnati.
Lesley Jones told them gunfire kills one teen in the U.S. every three hours.
“Our issue with a lot of gun violence is not always an anger issue. It's access,” Jones said.
Karen Rumsey of Cincinnati Police warned them they have to say something if they see a crime being committed.
“If I see somebody do something horrible to somebody else and I tell, that's not a snitch,” Rumsey said.
Gloria Morgan of the National Alliance on Mental Health talked about good mental and physical health awareness.
“We know that one on four families are dealing with - secretly, privately - someone in the family who is living with a serious mental illness,” Morgan said.
Students chimed in with an idea that schools need more vocational programs.
“Not everybody want to go to college,” said Pastor Peterson Mingo of Christ Temple Church. “Not everybody wants to go into the service, but 90 percent of them want to know that they have a workable trade and can make a living at it.”
This is information the teens can use right now.
“Definitely,” said Andrew Hopkins of Cincinnati Job Corps, “to learn how to be more aware of everything you see and hear around you - not just like saying something, whatever.”
“Everybody has a voice,” said Aaron Reeve, a Woodward High School junior, “and it's whether you use it or not determines that how things can go for you and others.”
