ST. LOUIS (AP) - Volunteer counselors in north St. Louis are taking on a daunting mission: Preventing violent conflicts in the most dangerous part of the city.
The nonprofit Better Family Life is behind the effort, establishing a hotline for residents to report potential conflicts. Counselors gather in New Northside Missionary Baptist Church and three other churches on Tuesday nights, hosting drop-in hours for those on the edge of violence.
James Clark of Better Family Life said counselors conducted 13 de-escalation sessions from early December through Christmas.
"There's a divide between the community and law enforcement right now," said Adrian Wrice, an outreach worker for Better Family Life. "These aren't matters where you would really run to the police."
In 2015, 188 homicides were reported in St. Louis, and the city is saw a similar pace in 2016. Many of those crimes happened in north St. Louis, mostly with guns.
Clark said the idea for the de-escalation effort grew out of a campaign distributing yard signs that read, "We Must Stop Killing Each Other."
"An unexpected result was people started calling to inform us of conflicts that they felt would escalate to gun violence. So we started de-escalating conflicts," Clark said. "This is a service that is needed in our community."
The program has no funding but organizers hope to attract donors.
Police Chief Sam Dotson expressed support for the program.
"It's about getting individuals the help they need, whether its substance abuse, drugs issues, anger management, whatever," Dotson said.
In New Northside's basement, clinical psychologist Marva Robinson knows she has prevented violence in at least one case so far. The men involved later returned to Better Family Life seeking help with a job search.
"Seeing now that there are three young children who will have their fathers present. That there's two more young black men that won't end up being a statistic. Seeing that there's a mom that's willing to reach out for support and ask for help," Robinson said. "For me it doesn't get any better than that."