‘Choose a side, or it’s going to choose you:’ Columbia nonprofit takes to the streets to keep kids from turning toward them
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Growing up in St. Louis in the ’90s for Lonnie Lockhart Bey wasn’t easy.
He was met with challenges and hardships that led him down a path he hadn’t planned. That adversity eventually led to him becoming affiliated with a gang.
Lockhart Bey says the word “affiliated” is key.
“One of the misconceptions is that children just join gangs,” Lockhart Bey said. “It’s something traumatic, something overall sinister about that child’s life that happened that causes them to drift away from the encouragement where they feel alone, and they find themselves in this space with other people who, too, feel alone.”
Those long days quickly turned into even longer nights, where Lockhart Bey said he stayed up listening to the sound of electric fences humming all night. Those sounds were coming from a bunk after being in the gang landed him a prison sentence.
Years later, he began using his personal story as a way to motivate others from going down the same road through the Critical Change Gang Prevention Program. Lockhart Bey is the executive director of Destiny of H.O.P.E, a non-profit organization that focuses on helping at-risk youth.
Lockhart Bey started his work using a “boots on the ground” approach in August 2021. In 2023, the group was awarded $320,000 of the City of Columbia’s $25.2 million American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Spokesman Austin Krohn with the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services said Destiny of H.O.P.E is contracted to receive a total of $428,333.33 through city ARPA funds and has spent 74% ($335,057.29) to date.
The group received the additional funds through the Columbia City Council in October 2024, Krohn said.
A portion of that funding is being used toward the Critical Change Gang Prevention program run through Lockhart Bey’s company, called Boyz2 Men Consulting LLC.
Lockhart Bey said his objective is to help teenagers see the potential outcomes of joining a gang, rather than telling them not to join one.
“I would never tell them that because I joined a gang, but I would give them the flip side, and I would help them understand what’s happening on the flip side of it,” Lockhart Bey said. “Because what you’re not accounting for is death, or the Missouri Department of Corrections.”
Lockhart Bey said those options aren’t the worst outcomes, noting he has friends who are in wheelchairs because of gang violence.
“I have one that’s a great guy, but now all he can do is sit in that chair. Who wants that, right? You’re at the mercy of everybody that’s around you,” Lockhart Bey said. “And it’s not just about talk, it’s actually about us being able to help them understand that life in and of itself is composed of many things and most of those things you don’t have control over, so why are you making it your fault?”
The program uses a hands-on approach, with staff going to various neighborhoods in the Columbia area and talking with teenagers. They work to address the trauma, lack of feeling loved and abandonment issues that Lockhart Bey says can ultimately lead to children becoming victims of bad behavior.
Lockhart Bey said his personal experiences allow him to understand pain and abandonment.
The work doesn’t just stop after one conversation. Lockhart Bey said Destiny of H.O.P.E. works to stay in contact with the people they talk to and build relationships and bonds. He said they haven’t received much pushback.
An ARPA form submitted to the City of Columbia from Destiny of H.O.P.E states that the program has been more instrumental to the city than originally thought. The program also received additional funding from Boone County Children’s Services to conduct additional gang prevention programming, documents show.
Lockhart Bey said he initially thought they would connect with a couple of teenagers, but the need for these services quickly became evident.
Lockhart Bey said he also works to talk with boys in his group called “Heat Squad” about affiliation and peer pressure, something he said only gets more sophisticated with age.
When asked if he believed there are gangs in Columbia, Lockhart Bey said there are gangs in every city across the United States. He said it’s hard to know what the antidote is, but said he believes the underlying cause is socioeconomic.
He said he believes that until the problem of young men not feeling loved and heard is fixed, there will always be the problem of gangs. However, he said it’s also important to note that people are working to make a better life for themselves.
“There are young men who are doing the right thing, who are in the midst of these things and not participating,” Lockhart Bey said. “There are young men who went down that road and made some bad decisions and have turned the corner and are doing what they need to do, and I think that should be a part of the conversation as well.”
Lockhart Bey said the money awarded to the group has allowed the group to acquire the PEACE and HOPE center — located on Providence Road — and to continue to grow. Destiny of H.O.P.E. is building a teen center located in the basement of the building, open Monday through Saturday, that aims to keep teenagers from going downtown on the weekends.
The center will have a music studio, live DJ, concession stand and lounge area. Lockhart Bey said they plan to have it open sometime in February.
Lockhart Bey said through the PEACE and HOPE center, they’ve been able to introduce youth to a different mentality that helps them understand that education is a key component to success in life.
“That’s why education is front and center to everything that we do. Even when they come in, you give up your phone, and you do your homework,” Lockhart Bey said. “We do some sort of group activity, and then you can have fun, but you can’t just come in here and have fun. If you’re doing bad at school, you’re really not just gonna come in here and have fun, and so it’s a give and take, and everything in here is incentivized.”
New coalition looks to fight gun violence in Columbia
Columbia ARPA funds spent on community violence preventionInfogram
Destiny of H.O.P.E. is part of a coalition of groups trying to reduce gun violence in Columbia.
The Coalition Against Community Violence is made up of several Columbia organizations, including Destiny of HOPE, PEACE, Dream Tree Academy, Columbia Supreme, Moms Demand Action, Love Columbia and The Beacon of Hope Foundation.
Moms Demand Action Volunteer Leader Kristin Bowen said the Missouri chapter became involved in the coalition following interest from the Missouri Foundation for Health. Bowen said the foundation began holding meetings last summer, specifically aimed at getting serious about creating a coalition.
Bowen said Moms Demand Action started attending firearm injury-related meetings alongside the other organizations in July 2024. The goal was to come together and think of ways to build relationships and identify key stakeholders, inventory the work that’s already being done, and build together to get more efficient in identifying the needs of the community. The group meets weekly.
“I think one of the things that was identified was that we all have our different parts to play and we need to sort of build understanding about our capacity, build understanding about where our strengths are, and then figure out how to work together in ways to talk to our community members — the people who know even better than we do- – what’s needed and what’s not happening in Columbia that would help prevent gun violence,” Bowen said.
Bowen said the coalition hopes to collect qualitative and quantitative data and information from people in the community who are affected by gun violence. The coalition also began a pre-planning initiative from the Missouri Foundation for Health to take a closer look at each ward in Columbia and all of Boone County.
The $70,000 pre-planning initiative grant will last for about a year and will be used to fund town halls and community outreach events.
The coalition plans to have its first town hall in a couple of weeks, Bowen said.
Columbia Supreme Executive Director Anthony Johnson said Columbia Supreme’s decision to join the coalition was sparked by seeing incidents occurring in the city and feeling like the group needed to be part of the solution.
Columbia Supreme is a youth nonprofit organization that is mostly for youth sports, but also focuses on financial literacy and other programs. Johnson said his desire to get involved in creating solutions is personal.
“I’m from Columbia. I’ve been here kindergarten through 12th grade. I see myself in these youth, my kids live here,” Johnson said. “My kids are going to the schools here, so I want everybody to thrive, I want everybody to be safe. I want this to be a place that I can enjoy and for my friends and family to be able to live here safely and thrive.”
About three years ago, Johnson said he got with Dream Tree Academy to discuss how the two could work together. He said eventually, they talked with Destiny of H.O.P.E. and Peace, who were working on something similar, and that merged into the coalition.
“The meetings are good, they’re productive. We’re just really focused on finding the root causes,” Johnson said. “I think that’s the main issue, we don’t actually get things at the root, so we can take care of a symptom, but things just keep reoccurring as long as we don’t address the root cause.”
Johnson said he believes the town halls will allow the coalition to have a community-led movement. He also said that he thinks attacking social determinants of health and ensuring that people have their basic needs met can go a long way in reducing crime.
Bowen said Office of Violence Prevention leader D’Markus Thomas-Brown is a stakeholder and has attended events. The coalition hopes to have connections with other stakeholders in the city, including the Columbia Police Department and Columbia Public Schools.
Bowen said the coalition is still in the planning phase, but has the ultimate goal of being in every ward and parts of Boone County to talk to people about the things that put people into crisis. She said they want to have an accurate picture of what’s causing gun violence in all forms, including in the home, as well as firearm suicide.
The coalition is also exploring the idea of deeper-dive focus groups, one-on-one conversations and knocking on doors in critical Columbia neighborhoods.
Bowen said recent gun violence in Columbia, including a deadly shooting on Clark Lane that killed 21-year-old Brianna Hawkins, of Fulton, as well as a shots-fired and carjacking incident at Dick’s Sporting Goods, emphasizes the sense of urgency to find solutions.
“I can’t look my kids in the eye and say I’m OK with our leaders doing nothing and the status quo, so I decided to get off the sidelines and get involved,” Bowen said.