Youth foundation addresses uptick in gun violence

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — In the wake of Tuesday night’s shooting in Syracuse, a local youth group is speaking out.

Anthony Pitts grew up in the neighborhood where Tuesday night’s shooting happened. Hitting closer to home, he knew both men involved.

“Earlier this morning I found out who they were, and I coached both those young men in Pop Warner over at Kirk Park,” said Pitts, the director of programming for the Good Life Foundation. “I’m very familiar with them. Actually, we worked with one of the brothers of the youth in one of our school-based programs.”

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An incident like this is why the Goodlife Youth Foundation exists.

“Since the situation that happened last year with young girl Brexi, I don’t think anything surprises us anymore,” Pitts said. “I think we all have to be hyper-vigilant about our surroundings and places we put ourselves.”

There were fewer shootings in the first few months of 2024. Pitts says it’s groups like Good Life that influence young adults to make better choices.

“You can attribute that to a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes,” he said. “There are a lot of organizations doing a lot of great work in this community and trying to get in front of the gun violence. Summer is coming up fast so these groups are trying to get out in front of these youths and engage them, so we don’t see repeats of what happened last night.”

The Good Life Foundation also works with youth on anger management and conflict resolution.
They believe it’s needed for the younger generation.

“I think too many times in our community, young kids get their hands on guns and instead of talk it out or have a fight like when I was growing up, it goes to the extreme not worrying about consequences behind it,” Pitts said.

They do their part, so what can you do?

“Just create positive encounters with these youth,” Pitts said. “That hello during the day or how you doing, asking what they have going on may spike their interest to do something different than just hanging out.”

A lasting impact, one child at a time.

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