Sacramento nonprofit helps organize events to keep youth violence down
SACRAMENTO — A free showing of the "Lion King" film "Mufasa" at the Delta Shores shopping center was just one of the pop-up events being held over the winter holiday for Sacramento kids.
"If you don't give them something to do, they're going to find something to do," said Jackie Rose of the Rose Family Creative Empowerment Center.
Rose leads a nonprofit group that helps organize these events, giving kids an alternative to sideshows, gangs and drugs.
"It interrupts what young people might do, they might change their mind and come over here to a pop up instead of hanging out with folks that they shouldn't be with"
Other pop-ups include a bowling night, a trip to the Imaginarium light show at Cal Expo, and a summer basketball league.
The events take place when youth are most at risk — on weekends and during the holiday and summer seasons when they are out of school.
Termir Knox, 17, said he encourages his classmates to come.
"These are 45 less kids out on the streets doing something they're not supposed to be doing," he added.
In recent years, Sacramento has seen a surge of kids killed in violent crimes. However, there haven't been any teen deaths related to crime in more than two months.
It's raising hope events like these are making a difference.
"It really does show that these kinds of things are working," Rose said.
Money for more of these pop-ups will soon come from the City of Sacramento's Measure L children's fund, which is a tax on cannabis sales passed by voters in 2022.
"It doesn't just end here," Rose said. "We want to be able to continue these kinds of things because we know these things work," Rose said.
Measure L is projected to generate about $9 million a year and will also fund other programs that help youth impacted by poverty, violence, and trauma.
