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On Tuesday, November 21, 2023, Calvin "KD" Williams spoke before the Norfolk Safety Advocacy Group about the My2KFoundation, a nonprofit which seeks to empower Norfolk communities by interceding in situations that might lead to violence.
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On Tuesday, November 21, 2023, Calvin "KD" Williams spoke before the Norfolk Safety Advocacy Group about the My2KFoundation, a nonprofit which seeks to empower Norfolk communities by interceding in situations that might lead to violence.
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The Norfolk Safety Advocacy Group, led by Jennifer Gruber, is organizing various events in Norfolk. They include a technology training event, a public budget meeting, a group discussion on safety concerns, a workshop on meal prepping, and talks by Lisa Hicks and Ryan McLaughlin. The group aims to address safety issues in the community and encourages residents to support each other. Calvin K.D. Williams, founder of the My2K Foundation, will be speaking about their Safe Riders program, which provides safe passage for Norfolk school children. All right, my name is Jennifer Gruber and I'm the founder of the Norfolk Safety Advocacy Group. If you've not met me yet, please introduce yourself after the meeting. If anyone needs to leave early and this is your first meeting, please sign before you leave and always feel comfortable, whatever, if you do need to leave, that's fine. I do have a change as far as the recordings. I'm going to create a separate recording for the question and answer period. I've thought about it a lot and I think the responses to questions and comments are important to share. If you're not comfortable with your voice being on the recording, then please let me know after the meeting and I will replace your voice saying your question with my voice so that you have privacy, thus I will ultimately be able to publicly share these important questions but also maintain everyone's privacy. So now I will share a few events that are coming up in Norfolk. This is not an exhaustive list. If you ever learn of an event in Norfolk that you think will be important for others to attend or be aware of, please email me. For now, please take out your phones and calendars and mark your calendars. On Tuesday, November 28th from 6 to 8 p.m., there will be a free technology training event from Black Women Lead, an initiative from Google. It is hosted by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Alumni Chapter. They will be teaching technology skills to aid in everyday tasks. This will be a free in-person event at the Jordan Newby Anchor Branch. Registration is required and you must bring your own device. Please email me if you want more information. On Wednesday, December 13th at 7 p.m., the Norfolk School Board will be holding a public budget meeting, budget hearing. The budget hearing will be held at the School Administration Building on 800 E. City Hall Avenue, School Board Room 12th Floor. Limited seating is available. I just shared about the School Board meeting. On Thursday, December 28th from 6 to 7 p.m., the Norfolk Safety Advocacy Group will be holding a group discussion instead of having a speaker and we're going to share our public safety concerns and brainstorm solutions and this meeting will be at the Park Place Multi-Services Center. On Thursday, January 4th from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m., Youth Earn and Learn, Jobs for Kids, a non-profit organization that empowers Norfolk youth with job and life skills, will be partnering with an SAG, with our group, and holding a meal prepping made easy workshop with taste tests. This program will be held at the Jordan Newby Anchor Branch. On Wednesday, January 24th at 6.30 p.m., Lisa Hicks, Director of the Office of the Norfolk Commonwealth Attorney's Victim Witness Assistance Program, will be speaking about the Victim Witness Assistance Program as well as the Justice Center, Family Justice Center. The Assistant Director of the Justice Center, Susan Flowers, may also be present. So this is going to be a Norfolk Safety Advocacy Group meeting and it will be held at the Huntersville Community Center, which is located at 830 Goff Street in Norfolk. I hope I said that right. Oh, what time is it? It's Wednesday, January 24th at 6.30 p.m. Then on Thursday, February 8th at 3.00 p.m., Ryan McLaughlin, he's the Chief Magistrate of the 4th Judicial District. He will be speaking to our group about the Magisterial System in Virginia, which we learned from the Commonwealth's Attorney presentation, the Magistrate has a lot of power and it's important to understand their role in the justice system and what they do. So that program is going to be held at the Chrysler Museum of Art. And that's the end of the meetings that I know about. As always, we don't share other meetings if I don't know everything, but sharing what I've heard of. So before we begin the presentation portion of the evening, I wanted to share a few personal thoughts that occurred to me after our last meeting. I share these thoughts from my heart and I say them with love. I just want to set the tone for this meeting and future meetings. I want to emphasize that crimes that involve death and violence are extremely important, urgent and tragic, but crimes involving theft and traffic violations, they also impact people's lives. I feel like it's important to try to make space for other people to, even if your issue seems like in comparison, you might feel that theirs is negligible or nonexistent, but in that person's world, it can change their life, like if their car is stolen or a person runs through a red light and hits someone, that that also makes an impact in their realm. So I believe we cannot compare one person's struggles to another. We are each in our own world, and I pray we can be there for each other and show up in another time of need. Sometimes it means going to the community and giving silent support, just being there during a vigil. It might mean signing a petition or donating money. Sometimes it's showing up just means simply actively listening and not saying anything. Being there takes effort. It means being tuned in, and I started this group because I wanted to be part of a movement that sparks Norfolk residents to be there for each other. I just want us to try to respect each other and really hear each other, and if you do not agree with my position, that's okay, too. We can agree to disagree. I just want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable, including being comfortable to share their thoughts without feeling judged. So that is the end of my opening remarks, and now I will formally introduce Calvin K.D. Williams. Mr. Williams is the founder of the My2K Foundation. I first met K.D. at the Meet the Chief meeting at Lambert's Point. I had asked a question of the chief, and after the meeting, K.D. and I spoke. I sensed he was doing really important work, and I immediately thought, this is someone I want to speak at our meetings at the Norfolk Safety Advocacy Group. As you may know, I started this group because it's dangerous for Norfolk children to get to and from school. That's why I started it, and what K.D. is doing is so important to the future of Norfolk youth and the Norfolk community. Right now it is perilous for children to get to and from school due to violence and traffic safety. I started this group because I felt the pain and frustration of people on social media, but I wanted to do something positive. I wanted to be part of a solution, and I get that same kind of energy from Mr. Williams. I'm thankful to him for donating his invaluable time, expertise, and energy to the Norfolk community to create the My2K Foundation. One of their programs is the My2K Safe Riders, which provides safe passage for Norfolk school children from the bus stop to their homes. The My2K Safe Riders is currently servicing the neighborhoods of Calvert Square and Young Terrace Apartments in the St. Paul's area. Mr. Williams will be speaking about a range of topics, including the My2K Foundation from 6.40 p.m. to 7 o'clock. From 7 o'clock to 7.25 approximately, he will answer questions and accept comments, and then at 7.25, we'll sort of break, he'll stop talking, and I'll close out the meeting. So, Mr. Williams, would you please begin? I'll let you know when you get plenty of a five-minute warning, I guess. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Calvin Williams, Calvin K. Williams. I am one of the founders of My2K Foundation. We started in 2000, just sort of starting the pandemic. 2020. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just sort of starting the pandemic. 2020. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just sort of starting the pandemic. 2020. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just sort of starting the pandemic. 2020. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just sort of starting the pandemic. 2020. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just starting the pandemic. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just starting the pandemic. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just starting the pandemic. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just starting the pandemic. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Well, My2K Foundation has a few minutes, but one of the main minutes is, this is 2000. We started in 2000, just starting the pandemic. 2020 is short of a pandemic. Speaking of that, we do a lot of things, but like Jennifer was speaking of, we have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, which is inside the building, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. We have a safe passage program called Safe Routes Program, which started because the Virginia majority, they started walking their children to school. And we have been able to connect to people who have been rehabilitated, they're suffering actually on a positive path, they still have influence inside the community. Basically, they are the community leaders. I have worked with them to empower them to actually be able to connect with the relationship violence inside the community, because a lot of violence is relationship violence. Whereas the police, much as we love the police, there's a lot of things they can't do to work on relationship violence because they don't even know the players. They don't know who's doing what in the community. And if they do know, they still have laws and policies they have to do to actually get in contact with them. And dealing with street law is basically frowned upon to deal with police. So with that, that leaves us with power to actually to communicate. In simplest terms, we have a lot of homicides inside the community that a lot of organizations do to make sure there's no retaliation. We also work to make sure there's no retaliation. But we go a little deeper. We actually deal with prevention, intervention, interruption. So we identify high-risk situations before they happen. A lot of times they never make it to a march or a vigil because we stand in front of it. We mediate conflict resolutions. And how we do that is by empowering those who have lived in the community, have been in the community, used to do crime in the community. Some may still be doing crime in the community. If you see this in front of you, you have a stone in front of you. You might wonder why that stone there. It's a Bible verse that says, he without sin cast the first stone. So there's your stone. So if you are sin and you're thinking that you're better than somebody, you're doing something greater than somebody, then feel free to cast the first stone. If not, I would ask you to ask to have an open mind and realize that we have a violence problem inside our country, in our states, in our cities. And if you want to deal with violence, sometimes you got to realize you got to talk to the 1% of the violent people. If you're not even talking to the violent people, then how are you going to get violence down? You can talk it and a lot of things, it's a misunderstanding. I'm a true believer that most things happen between the ego and perceptions. Sometimes you add a woman in and get even a little crazy. So that's what we have. We in the community, we are there to actually do real time mediation, intervention with situations that become high risk that can turn to from just a domestic argument to a situation like our young spark where the guy ended up shooting three women. A lot of things that is going on in the community, you must realize that it seems like these just crazy people. No, these people are dealing with issues. I said first that our mission was to deal with youth, young adults, and gain violence prevention. But while I'm out here doing the work, I realized that everything revolves back to a rapid approach because all of those, everything in the community can lead back to that. That child was hungry. He robbed somebody. I had an incident just yesterday where I have a guy that I know he's one of the main ones in the community that's shooting with another community. And I called him, I spoke with him, I asked him, he never called me. He's 18 years old, no felonies. I said, I need to find you a job. He said, bro, I can't understand that right now. I said, well, we got turkeys and we was passing out turkeys and I want to get you a turkey. He said, well, I would love to take a turkey, but I'm homeless right now. I can't think about that. And he actually, the more I talked to him, he calmed down and he confided to me that he was actually hungry. When I went in my pocket, I had a couple dollars in my pocket and I gave it to him. I said, look here, take this couple dollars, get you a bag of chips or something, but don't do nothing stupid because I'm a true believer of an empty stomach don't have no ears. So a lot of times we like to point fingers and talk about situations without actually understanding the situation. I'm not a judge of that. Once again, pick your stone up, throw your stone if you without sin. I don't like to talk to people, but I'm making statements and I'm talking to people, talking to people, but we like to say this is what people need and this is why they're doing this. That's not going to work. I've been around all the years and if you check the statistics across the country, crime is going up. You have a conversation about people and never bring them to the table. And my 2K Foundation is actually having a conversation with the people to prevent, interrupt and also intervene violence. And I say violence is not just gun violence. I deal with domestic violence. I deal with relationship violence because a lot of times and my belief is a lot of times people play a stake in the violence. They have some kind of conflict with each other. It's not just that, oh just innocent people just get shot. Although innocent people do get shot, but a lot of times it wasn't just pure innocence. It was something happening. Actually, I got a story. I was younger. I got suspended for school. I came home and told my mother I got suspended for school. And while I was staying home she made me keep cleaning up the house like I was getting punished. And I asked, I said, why am I getting punished for? I didn't start it. I defended myself. She said, well, I've been living a lot of times on this earth and been around a lot of planes and I really don't know a lot of times where people are actually just punching people. It happens. It's not a regular thing. You've been my child. I know that you just haven't learned about punching. So my take on what happened was that that person said something you didn't like. And you knew that if you punched them, then you're in big trouble with me. So what you did was you aired them out until they actually punched you. And then there's justification that you punched them back. A lot of times it happens in the community that people play the victim role. And I'd be the first one to say that people like to run to the victim and help the victim, but they never ask, like, where were you at when that victim was antagonizing or doing something to that individual that caused them to do something? I said before that there's two laws in this land. You work hard for your money. If you loan somebody some money and they didn't pay you, what would you do? Would you take them to court? That's the law of the land, taking them to court, right? I mean, agree? Well, if you're in the street law and you got drugs and they didn't pay you your drugs, you work hard to get that money for them drugs. Can you take them to court? No. It's a lot of things that's being said and people talking about what's going on. And my organization looks to mediate and actually deal with the problem itself and see that we can come to an agreement. Sometimes the mediation is more just agree to disagree, that just leave each other alone. And that's what the police can't do. The police can't go inside the community and know the truth about it and actually do something about it because they don't have the powers. This is illegal. We was gambling. And I know a situation where a guy got shot behind gambling and he cheated. But you can't go to the police and say he cheated me, he tried to rob me for my money. But that's no different than you were in a car and somebody put a pistol in your face and give you their money. It's the same thing. So to actually deal with violence, I truly believe it's a wraparound approach and we must actually utilize this wraparound approach to actually understand why the violence is happening. Because nobody really want to go to jail. Nobody want to see their children through a visiting room. Nobody want to see it. And a lot of times in the community it's just lock them up. But if you was in the same situation and I like to refer to the movie Traitor Places with Eddie Murphy. Anybody ever seen that movie? It's true. Put you in the same situation, you don't do the same thing. Probably more. Because in here we watch a lot of Godfather movies and Scarface movies. So it show that people, that's how they feel about if that was their situation. So with My2K Foundation, this is the foundation. We must right the wrongs of our country and understand that it's a different way of doing things. And actually if we going to persecute people, at least have Meditator understand why they do things. We got to actually see what it is. Another thing, I was told when I was younger, nip it in the bud. Find the root of the problem. Find out really what's going on. Don't try to treat the tree from the tip of the leaf. Let's find out what the roots, why is it dying at the roots? And the reason why I've come to speak at this meeting is because I can come into the community. I can come into the hot spots because I used to work in a lot of hot spots. I'm there every day. I talk to these people every day. My thing is what I said before is to bridge the gaps between the corporate world and the hard streets. I come here because I want to talk to the corporate world. Give a better understanding. Let's work together on these situations because I refer back to a movie. Spider-Man. Spider-Man's uncle got killed. But Spider-Man had a time to actually prevent that. But he figured it was not his problem until it came to his doorstep. I don't want the problem to get other people's doorstep until they feel like it's their problem. Somebody stealing your car. Somebody breaking your car. Somebody running that red light and then crashing into your child because they got intoxicated. And they got intoxicated because they had mental problems. And I'm a true believer of drugs are poor man's vacation. So a lot of times people, he drunk, he didn't think that all the way through. He ran that light. But we were there when the mental issues was going on and putting in place the mental issues. Then we prevented gang violence. Domestic violence. We like to point the finger. Once again, anybody, pick your stone and throw it. You understand? And since I got an older crowd, I want to understand this right here. What are the children doing that you didn't do? It's more intense now. A lot of things our children did. And actually the spokesman, the councilman told me one day the most violent times in the north was inside the 90s. So from the 90s to now, it's just getting violent as it was in the 90s. So look back in the 90s. What were folks doing back in the 90s? It was worse back then. So now the children are doing the same thing that was done before. We must step in and let me use this right here. The people don't fail the vanguard party. The vanguard party fails the people. Communication is not on the person who's receiving it. Communication is on the person that's sending the message. And you must learn that person's language. Language is not always English and Spanish. Some people deal with aggression. Some people deal with being passive. You got to learn your orders and learn who you're dealing with if you want to get your message across. Otherwise, you're just talking at that person and basically just spinning wheels and wasting your time. And we must come together as a community and understand that this is a village. It's old sayings that we always say that it takes a village to raise a child. The village is not raising a child. The village is telling the child that they don't care. It's not their problem. It's not my child. My children's good. So, we must understand some of the things like Calvert, St. Paul's, Young's Terrace, Granny Village, these towns, they're still part of Norfolk. They're not housing authority. They're not housing authority of Virginia. They're Norfolk, Virginia. This is a Norfolk problem. Until we take care of our village, then we're going to still be dealing with the same situation until it ends up at your front door. Then you're saying, why? Nobody cares. Or you should give them all a dime. You should give them electric chairs. Lock them up forever. They're animals. And I invite anybody to actually go back and listen to our president as a senator on the Congress floor when he pushed a tougher crime bill in 1994 with President Bill Clinton. I'm a victim of the circumstances. Sent me away for a long time. Basically said that I would never be nothing. Still I rise. I am. Your biggest liability is now. Your biggest asset is to fight crime. And I join anybody that's listening to this voice that can help, help. If you're afraid, and I know some people are afraid, donate. Because this is a war. And wars have to be financed. But to say it can't be done is not facts. We've been in St. Paul's area for two school years now, and there's no more shooting at the bus stop. I don't got to look at statistics. I'm out there every day. You watch the news. You don't hear nobody shooting at the bus stops. I still ride through St. Paul's area. You see children outside playing now. As everything came to an end, no. But it's a start. It's a spark. And everybody know without a spark, there could be a fire. Are you on the Q&A side yet? Yes. Beautiful. Do you want to keep going? I can talk a bit. Don't forget to ask me questions. Hold on. Let me pause. I'm just going to pause. Sorry.
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