FEATURE STORY
Dealing Hope A Youth Mentor Builds Resilience in the Face of Adversity BY MELANIE OTERO PHOTO CREDIT : OMAR DIXON / IG HANDLE @MRODIXON
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eventeen-year-old Javen Bennett learned how to recognize the sound of fireworks vs. gunfire at an early age. Growing up in the Tamarind Avenue area of West Palm Beach, FL, violence and trauma characterized his neighborhood and hope was in short supply.
That “anything” could be a shooting down the street where a stray bullet landed in the playground. A police chase where you are mistaken for someone else. Or a gunshot that ends the life of a friend you had played football with just an hour before.
out of school,” he said. “It takes a person to be strong minded to believe they won’t be trapped in the hood forever. And it takes that one person to lead for others to follow and say, ‘if he can do it, I can do it.’”
“There was a time I couldn’t walk down the street with headphones on because I had to constantly pay attention,” Bennett said. “Anything could happen at any minute.”
Bennett recognizes how community trauma undermines individual and community resilience. “A lot of us had the mindset that we wanted to be something in life, but because of the neighborhood, we got sucked into gang life, dope and dropping
SOWING THE SEEDS OF RESILIENCE
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THE WELL OF PBC / DEC ISSUE 2021
Bennett has become that person as a Hope Dealer® Mentor for Inner
It takes that one person to lead for others to follow
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