Anti-gang initiative: ‘It’s a win-win-win situation’

The economic recession has many facets: there are Bermudians who can’t afford to pay for much-needed home renovations and there are those who need work to break out of a cycle of unemployment and at-risk behaviour. Two nonprofits are collaborating on home fix-it projects that benefit both groups. Danny McDonald reports...

Devene Smith’s prospects were grim: a bank was trying to repossess her home and she couldn’t afford to spruce up one of the apartment units to rent it out.

She needed that rent if she was to get out of arrears. The 48-year-old disabled woman was trapped in a financial cycle with seemingly no way out.

Losing the Pembroke home she described as having a “glazed carrot” colour loomed as a real possibility. The country’s Rent Commission suggested the home was beyond salvaging; she would be better off demolishing the place than trying to fix it up.

She was pulled out of her situation by a unique crew of labourers. Call it the underserved helping their fellow underserved. 

The construction workers were men with troubled pasts, who have been deemed to be at risk of falling prey to a life of crime. The type of men who can’t leave their home parish without running the risk of facing down trouble, sometimes violent trouble.

The workers were provided through Team Street Safe — an anti-gang initiative that aims to reduce gun violence — in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, a home renovation charity that has been around for 15 years.

The idea of Team Street Safe is to steer at-risk men toward healthy, productive behaviours, and allowing them to work on homes gives them a job, responsibility and a sense of accomplishment.

The programme also gives cash-strapped individuals like Ms. Smith the opportunity to make some much-needed improvements to their abode.

In her case, Ms. Smith needed windows to be replaced, doors to be painted, the bathroom needed new tiling, the kitchen and bathroom needed new cabinets. Her husband gutted the home. A Street Safe crew did the rest. Ms. Smith rented the space and was able to hang on to her home.

The value of her home had plummeted from $875,000 to $400,000. Now, she says, thanks to the work of Team Street Safe that number is back around $875,000. The current tenant in the apartment that was fixed up now pays $1,800 a month.

And the workers? What did she make of them?

“They were pleasant. They would always exchange pleasantries whenever I would see them. They would tell me what a great thing I was doing for them. In reality, I thought they were doing me a favour.”

She added, “When I come home now I’m not crying. I was embarrassed to even have people come and look at what I needed to fix. Now I thank them everyday. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Total makeover: How Devene and Kevin Smith’s home looked before and after the Team Street Safe team had finished their work. The organizations work in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity in projects that are benefiting Bermudians in need.

Ms. Smith was not the only one to benefit from the collaboration between an anti-gang organization and a home remodelling nonprofit. There was a much-needed paint-job and interior renovations in a Warwick home. 

“It definitely needed it, it hadn’t been painted for years and it looked really bad,” said a woman, who is the daughter of one of the homeowners who were helped through the programme. She wished to remain anonymous. “We couldn’t afford to do the house, we had discussed trying to get it painted for years.”

Sheelagh Cooper, who runs the Habitat for Humanity programme, labelled such projects a “win-win-win” situation.

“It provides a job and income and work experience for young men who often can’t leave the parish that they are in, can’t find jobs and really have no work experience,” she said.

She added, “And just as importantly it gives them a sense of accomplishment and the good feeling that comes with helping others. At the same time the homeowners who could otherwise not afford this work are just overjoyed to have this kind of help.

“Along the way they learn about masonry, plumbing and other building-related skills that may inspire them to pursue a career in those areas.”

Bermuda model

Habitat for Humanity has been around for 15 years, said Ms. Cooper, who runs the programme, which is based on an international model. In other parts of the globe, however, typically homes are built for needy people who then pay the organization back at a reasonable rate. 

That model, however, doesn’t work here, since Bermudian property is so expensive. Even if the group had the financial wherewithal to purchase land and build a home, the likelihood of a working-class Bermudian having the ability to pay back the money spent on such an endeavour would be low, said Ms. Cooper. 

Instead, the group renovates homes on the island pro bono. During the last 15 years, they have undertaken 41 projects.

Habitat relies on volunteers and a barebones budget; Ms. Cooper is in a constant state of soliciting donations, which constitutes the group’s sole source of income.

The aim of Team Street Safe, meanwhile, is to dramatically reduce gun violence on the island by working with “proven risk” individuals in areas of Bermuda that are most affected by gang violence.

The group is also funded through donations, as well as a government grant. It launched a year ago last month. Since that time, the organization’s executive director, Chris Crumpler, has worked with a group of more than 25 at-risk Bermudian men between the ages of 18 to 40.

The group, according to its website, hopes to reduce the violence by mediating group and neighbourhood conflicts that “lock young people into destructive cycles of violence”.

The group wants to connect such individuals to education, trades or training, and connect them with other social services where needed.

The collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, said Mr. Crumpler, who is the group’s executive director, was intended to remove the stigma from the at-risk individuals who grew up rough, had problems with the law or connections to gangs in their past.

“We wanted to show that these guys are ready for work, these guys have a multitude of skillsets,” he said.