Louisville anti-violence nonprofit building trust between community, doctors and law enforcement

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Community is a word often used, but it can have many meanings. It can represent a barbeque with friends, an event at a park or the people who live together in a neighborhood.

But when local activist Christopher 2X, leader of anti-violence nonprofit Christopher 2X Game Changers, thinks of "community" in Louisville, it's even bigger. His program, focused on healing children, has gotten attention from the FBI, and is becoming an example of how to help children across the country.

"The collaboration effort here is tremendous," 2X said. "Regardless if you're connected to law enforcement, if you're connected to the medical arena or any part of a community, we all have a common interest in wanting to see the best for kids."

Last year, 188 homicides were reported, 24 of whom were children ages 17 and younger. That set a record for homicides in a single year, after 173 homicides were reported in 2020.

So far this year, nearly 100 people have been killed and more than 200 others have been wounded by gunshots.

Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies at the Louisville Zoo.

Christopher 2X Game Changers has devoted resources to supporting children impacted by gun violence. The Future Healers program is a partnership between Christopher 2X's Game Changers, UofL Hospital's Trauma Institute and students at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Started in July 2021, the Future Healers program is designed for children between the ages of 4 and 13 years old. More than 110 children impacted by gun violence experience fun and educational activities with the program.

"These bullets damage organs, right?" 2X said. "Those kids are studying about what happens to organs and how diseases and even this kind of trauma can be treated through health care professionals."

Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies, a partnership between Christopher 2X Game Changers and the Louisville Zoo, teaches children about care for animals with the ultimate goal of creating a sensitivity toward animals. The initiative was created to explore the healing and therapeutic power of animals for children experiencing secondary trauma from gun violence.

"This is real life and it's happening really close to where I'm raising my kids and we're shielded, we're shielded from it a little bit, and I think it's important to have the community understand that these are real families," Louisville Zoo's Education Curator Kim Allgeier said. "These are real kids. They're wonderful, sweet little kids that are dealing with it in their daily lives."

Zoo Buddies 2X — Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies at the Louisville Zoo.

Deedra Latham's fiancé was killed due to gun violence last year. Her children, now fatherless.

"For me personally, the immediate impact is not just necessarily losing a loved one, but he was more than one person in one, so it's losing my best friend, my confidant, my protector, provider, my children's father, but then he's also a pillar in our families," Latham said. "That's an uncle, a nephew, a cousin, a brother. He wears so many roles. We lost a great person that day."

Latham's children suffered from the death of their father.

"It affects security, anxiety, you could even start seeing depression and PTSD in children," Latham said. "And so they too are impact as you or I might be impacted."

Latham got her children involved in Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies. They attended a learning session at the Louisville Zoo the same day FBI Special Agent Jodi Cohen was there.

"We will never know what they go through on a daily basis, even post whatever traumatic event happened to them, so if we can just put a smile on their face for one day, they might say, 'hmm, I want to be an FBI agent or I want to work at the zoo or I want to be a doctor,'" Cohen said. "Again, it goes back to that trust and feeling that, you know, we are here to help and not always just to be there in a negative way."

Building trust, according to Cohen, is important. It's how she and all of the people involved with the program participated in a panel discussion in Washington, D.C.

Robert Brown, the executive assistant director of the FBI Science and Technology branch, led a panel discussion at the J. Edgar Hoover Building for a national FBI leadership training session. The participants included 2X, UofL Dr. Chris Jones and Dr. Keith Miller, UofL School of Medicine student Karen Udoh and Allgeier.

WASHINGTON DC TRIP WRAP — Representatives from Christopher 2X Game Changers speak to the FBI in Washington, D.C.

Trust was echoed that day from the highest level of the FBI.

"Success and our ability to carry out the mission relies heavily on the trust that we earn and maintain," FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said. "In order to earn that trust, we must really listen to what those who we serve are telling us to work to fully understand those perspectives."

Now, FBI agents from across the country are using Game Changers' model to build trust and do good in their communities, too.

"It's a feeling that you really don't totally try to comprehend," 2X said. "You just do it, and you know it's the right thing to do and your reward is the applause from within. You're not worried about a lot of people applauding from the outside. You feel it from within, and that's really huge."

For more information on the Future Healers program, contact the Christopher 2X Game Changers organization.

Anyone with information about a shooting is asked to call the LMPD anonymous tip line at 502-574-LMPD (5673) or submit a tip using LMPD's online portal.

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