The initial class of the City of Danville’s credible messenger program has completed the first phase of training, which included learning various tools and strategies to guide at risk youths toward productive lives. Credible messengers are mentors who have passed through the justice system and sustainably transformed their lives. Often, Returned Citizens (previously incarcerated) and others with similarly relevant experiences, want to give back to help others.
That reason led Douglas Harris to enroll in the City of Danville’s program.
“I’ve been in prison twice, and I just want to reach out to youth and help them coming from where I come from,” said Harris, a Danville resident who said he was a drug dealer in the 1980s and 1990s. “I want to show them that there is a better way.”
Harris said the training being provided on how to reach out to youth as a credible messenger is something needed in every community.
“Danville is blessed to have this program,” he said. Harris is joined in the class by Brad Price, also of Danville, and Shannon Long of Lynchburg. Price and Long are also Returning Citizens.
The credible messenger training is an initiative of the City of Danville’s Project Imagine community violence collaborative. Robert David, violence prevention manager for Project Imagine, said credible messengers can play a big role in decreasing gun violence within a community, and this training will provide Returning Citizens with an employable skill set.
“It is not that you just have been in prison that makes you a credible messenger,” David said. “You have to be able to communicate as a mentor and guide.”
David said a trained credible messenger can be employed by governmental, educational, and non-profit agencies to serve as mentors to youths, outreach workers, and violence interrupters. A violence interrupter is an individual that engages with
citizens in the community to stop retaliation following a shooting.
Harris said that the training stressed the need to not judge at-risk youths. “You have to meet them where they are,” Harris said. “You can’t judge them. If you do, they will not open up to you.”
The first phase consisted of 12 hours of training in the following areas:
• Asset development for youths, which involves conducting strength-based assessments using the Clifton Strengths tools to guide youths toward productive lives. River District Consulting will provide this training.
• Childhood adversity and how experiences affect a youth’s development and their response to stress. Danville Pittsylvania Community Services will provide this training using the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) course.
• Resilience training, which teaches youths how to move from failure to success. David will provide this training using a curriculum that he has developed.
• Effecting change as a credible messenger. Curtis Artis, violence prevention assistant manager for Project Imagine, will provide this training.
• Certification in “Stop the Bleed” first aid. The Danville Area Training Center will provide this training.
Harris, Price, and Long are now in the second phase of training, which consists of shadowing Project Imagine outreach workers for a minimum of 20 hours.
“With these 20 hours, they can go to a mentor agency or school system and show that they have training,” David said. “We have a lot of mentor agencies that deal with high-risk youth. So, there are a lot of opportunities.”
This workforce development initiative for returning citizens is an expansion of Project Imagine, which has received national recognition. In 2020, David was named a winner of the Frederic Milton Thrasher Award by the National Gang Crime Research Center.
The award recognizes his accomplishments in gang prevention and intervention. The program also received the President’s Award from the Virginia Municipal League in October 2019.