INDIANAPOLIS — On Saturday, youth and community members gathered at the Far East Side Neighborhood Center in Indianapolis for a powerful conversation on gun violence.
The event, hosted by Non-Fatal Advocates, IMPD and Discovery Café Indy, focused on mental health, conflict resolution and giving young people space to speak openly about their experiences.
Among those who attended was 17-year-old Jaheim Starks.
He’s part of a mentorship program called New B.O.Y., which works with system-involved youth to help guide them toward more positive paths.
For Starks, conversations like these have made a difference.
“When I got locked up for the first time… I had to ask myself, 'Is this really what I want to do?'” he said. “They care for the kids, and they see a lot of greatness in us.”
He shared how the mentorship and open dialogue have helped shift his thinking and give him a sense of direction.
“I know the path I’m on now,” he said. “All the mentors say it can always change.”
Helping guide the discussion was Ashlynne Walker, a non-fatal shooting advocate with IMPD.
For her, the work is deeply personal. In 2008, her sister, Chanelle Walker-Wells, was shot and killed inside her home.
She was just 24, and 17 years later, the case remains unsolved.
“Although she’s been gone for 17 years, I deal with it every day,” Walker said. “We are losing our teens and our children at an alarming rate… even our moms and dads.”
Walker is determined to make sure other families don’t experience the same pain hers has.
She’s become a vocal advocate for safer communities and better resources for youth.
“We have to learn how to communicate,” she said. “We have to learn how to resolve conflict.”
The goal of these conversations is not just to address the violence after it happens but to prevent it before it starts.
