The Fort Wayne Urban League announced an initiative Thursday to get families involved in training and interacting with police in the community.
The initiative, called ‘Mothers for the Movement – every child home alive’ looks to develop training and language to educate youth about interacting with police and also create opportunities for local police officers to interact with the communities they serve.
Urban League President Aisha Arrington says it’s unfortunate that programs like these are still necessary, especially in light of the recent death of 22-year-old Linzell Parhm, who was killed last month in a police shooting.
“But Urban League wants to be part of the solution," Arrington said. "We don’t want to put more fire on a tragedy, we want to work together to make sure we’re doing our part to make the community better and safer for everyone.”
The initiative already has several leaders, who are also mothers, from the community helping to create a strategy, but they’re looking for more mothers to join them. Arrington says they have two goals before January 1; creating a video that shows the protocols when interacting with police and engaging with police officers in the community.
The Urban Leagues of Chicago and Northwest Indiana have both implemented similar initiatives in their areas and Arrington says she’s inspired by the work being done there.
