Cool: Chevas Gary is a member of Solid Ground’s JustServe AmeriCorps team working with youth at risk of involvement in violence. Program Supervisor Tera Oglesby told us about this comment Chev made in a recent AmeriCorps report. It sums up why Chev was born to be a youth worker, and how awareness, creativity and foosball are all important allies in addressing youth violence.

“At my site, Aki Kurose, there is a foosball table in the YMCA Community Learning Center. There are about 20 students who…rush to the CLC during lunchtime every day to play. Because foosball seemed to draw some of the students who would not normally be involved in school activities, we decided to organize an afterschool foosball tournament. These are the kids who tend to be forgotten or overlooked. It is when kids think that they are only having fun that I can slip them gems of inspiration and encouragement. Not to mention when we keep a kid off the streets after school, it reduces the risk of any mistakes they might make out of boredom.”