“I never really knew my community because I’m in the house all the time. So when I first started in the field, like a lot of people didn’t believe I was from Franklin Height because they never seen me. Like, “You from here? I never seen you before.” And I’m like, “well you’re gonna see me everyday now.”

-Simone Staples

17 year olds - Tyrone Fleming and Simone Staples - love their new summer jobs. From 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays they get paid $12 an hour to stop violence in their neighborhoods. That includes walking up to guys arguing over a drug deal - and persuading them against shooting.

The Safe Zone Initiative - employs young ambassadors like Tyrone Fleming,17 and Simone Staples,17 to stop violence where they live. Khalil Coleman co-founded the initiative.