MAPPING OUT
SUCCESS IN
VIOLENCE
PREVENTION Columbia Heights was plagued by gun violence and desperately needed a way to reach out to youth gangs. It was a dangerous environment that cried out for an organization like Collabora- tive Solutions for Communities (CSC). Jasmin Benab was a new mother and a trusted face in the neighborhood. At 17, she knew something had to change if her son was going to grow up knowing he was safe, worthy, and loved—qualities Jasmin had yet to find in herself. She was struggling.
That is, until she met Penelope Griffith, affectionately known as Ms. Penny.
“She saw something in me,” Jasmin recalled. “We talked for hours every night.”
Ms. Penny, now CSC’s Executive Director, convinced Jasmin to take a parenting class.
“To see someone who hung out on the block want to come inside the building and do something good, we wanted to keep her.”
Ms. Penny offered Jasmin a job helping get the youth gang violence prevention program off the ground. While the program was still tied up in approvals—the block housing where the CSC building is located was the target of an explosive shoot-out, proving the program was a necessity.
In addition, the GED program was added to Jasmin’s slate.
“The assignment felt intimidating. I was thinking ‘What?’ ‘Me?’ They had people with master’s degrees teaching the GED program. I thought that they were setting me up to fail.”
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