Charles Harrison (center) rallies the troops to help protect their community, and yours.

A working partnership moves to expand its methods nationwide

By MESSAGE Staff

harles Harrison is a man of God, wears a collar, and walks the streets at night with the “OGs” of his Indianapolis community. The Indy Ten Points Coalition (ITPC), of which he is the president, curbs violence. Comprised of 13 black, Christian churches, as well as clergy of a diversity of faith practices, the group has been perfecting their methodology since 1999. Together they’ve garnered national attention, and the intrepid, yellow jacketed volunteers are impressively effective. They measure their success in days, or even years, without a homicide and decreases in violent crimes. Baltimore, Maryland, is one of more than a dozen urban areas reaching out to them for guidance. They’re seeking funding to expand.

That’s now.

At 14, Charles Harrison, however, was surely headed on a different path. That’s the year he lost his 21 year-old brother to street violence in Louisville, Kentucky. It was a horrific shooting that left his brother riddled with bullets, dying on the street.

Compounding his grief and confusion, the perpetrators—the ones that kids in the neighborhood knew were responsible—showed up crying at the wake. The perpetrators offered embrace and support. Harrison’s grieving parents, none the wiser, let them sit with the family during the funeral.

“And, and I am so filled with hatred and blinded by it,” said Harrison in a conversation with Message recently. “Here I am, 14 years old. I am planning to kill those who killed my brother and I’m trying to get, you know, the group together to do that. Well here I am a young man who was good in sports, church-going young man, and the circumstances of the environment and the conditions of what had happened almost led me down a different path in life. I believe there’s a lot of young people out there like me. It was somebody in my church, who learned about what we were planning, that helped save my life. Literally, they have saved my life.”

Now Harrison’s nightly patrol seeks to do the same for other people. Specifically, ITPC focuses on employment, education, and the secret of their success: relationship. Clergy members walk through the city’s hotspots, the areas of increased drug and other criminal activity. There, they strike up conversations with those likely to perpetrate a crime or become victim to one.

Some of the program’s success comes from the respected counsel of the men and women Harrison calls “OGs,” most of whom were formerly incarcerated. At some point during the last 40 to 50 years, they were the ones working the street, and working over the people. Their stories are compelling and their witness persuasive. Beyond that, the OGs often know, and can engage, family members when they find it difficult to make progress with the young Gs.

“Either you’re going to end up—if you stay on the street long enough—you’re going to end up in prison, or you’re going to end up in the grave. And that’s just the reality of what happens on the street.”

To help ITPC support expansion go to Givelify, and search Indy TenPoint Coalition where you can view its story and give financially.