BALTIMORE — Baltimore City is expected to reinforce a youth curfew around Memorial Day.
SEE MORE: Baltimore enforcing youth curfew after Inner Harbor shooting leaves teens hurt
For young people seeking direction, and parents who want to keep them on the right path, community activists are ready to help right now.
Pastor Jim Hagler - and his teammates with We Our Us around the city - are on a critical mission, extending outside the halls of his West Baltimore congregation.
"It’s ok to not have all the answers. We have a village. We Our Us is part of the village here in Baltimore City, committed to helping whoever we can help," said Hagler.
We Our Us connects young men with resources, including weekly life counseling sessions. The group also holds community walks, and a 24 hour "Stop the Beef" hotline with men on standby to take calls, listen and mediate.
"I stress that in my ministry, in the community," said Hagler. "Don’t let your anger be a dictator. All of us get angry, but we can’t allow it to dictate our action."
The weekly Monday walk follows a difficult Sunday night. Two teens were shot as a large crowd gathered at the Inner Harbor. At last word, one of those teens is in critical condition.
Young people under the age of 14 off the street by 9 p.m., different times for different ages. City officials say the curfew is being reinforced to keep young people safe.
The city’s ability to enforce that curfew is already drawing skepticism from the fraternal order of police.
"With the summer months coming up, we want to be an alternative to what could be," said Antoine Burton, president of We Our Us.
"I understand everybody is on edge along with the mayor's announcement today, with the curfew in place - but we our us along with other grassroots organization already doing this work. This is good for us, because we’re in place. We’re able to present an alternative offer resources to those young people - the only thing they’ve got to know is that we’re here with open arms waiting for them to come in," said Burton.
And - if you’re a mom or dad, and you want your son to get involved - just reach out.
"We want those mothers, those dads, those grandmothers, to reach out to us - send us your sons," added Burton. "We got them covered. We got them covered."
