{"id":10456,"date":"2023-11-30T16:41:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=10456"},"modified":"2023-11-30T16:42:32","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:42:32","slug":"tightenup419-event-addresses-gang-and-gun-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/30\/tightenup419-event-addresses-gang-and-gun-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"TightenUp419 Event Addresses Gang and Gun Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Antoine Rayford and Courtney Nunn founders of TightenUp419<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Dawn Scotland<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe Truth Reporter<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

TightenUp419 hosted a leadership outreach on Saturday, November 18 at Ternion Training and Education Center on Hill Ave. The nonprofit hosted the event to reach out to local community leaders to support at-risk youth that are significantly impacted by gang and gun violence.<\/p>\n

Antione Rayford and Courtney Nunn, two Toledo natives, formerly spent time incarcerated together. \u201cI went into to prison at 17 and [he] went to prison shortly after\u2026 we met in prison after being taken off the Toledo streets,\u201d said Rayford.\u201d We founded an organization in [prison] targeted at gangs. We were able to bring violence down in North Central Correctional Institution by forming a program\u2026so when we got home, we wanted to keep it going. So that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization, TightenUp419 was officially founded this year as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The mission is to reach at-risk youth and positively impact their perspective on life through a mentorship and leadership program. The organization\u2019s vision is to eradicate gun and gang violence by bringing at-risk youth together, getting them to embrace peace, and stand in solidarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut here, we figure if we reach the leaders of the community, guys with influence over these young guys, If we reach them we can have them reach one of these young guys that are at risk\u2026 and get them to think and [do] different. We want [the youth] to be surrounded with positivity from the same guys who influenced them before but on a good level,\u201d said Rayford.<\/p>\n

Rayford is an HVAC instructor at TTEC and Nunn now has a successful job in the trades in Columbus, OH where he makes a six-figure salary. The two ultimately would like to teach at-risk youth trades to ensure that they have a better future.<\/p>\n

TightenUp419 will include training for leadership as well as mentorship for youth throughout the year. \u00a0Speakers for this event included Donna Malone, spokesperson for Toledo Moms Demand Action; Sharon Henley, spokesperson for Sisters 4 Unity; first keynote speaker Toriono Henry, second keynote speaker DeAndre Gaston and an introduction of DJ Flex Production. Refreshments were provided.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dawn Scotland The Truth Reporter TightenUp419 hosted a leadership outreach on Saturday, November 18 at Ternion Training and Education Center on Hill Ave. The nonprofit hosted the event to reach out to local community leaders to support at-risk youth that are significantly impacted by gang and gun violence. Antione Rayford and Courtney Nunn, two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[204],"class_list":["post-10456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10458,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10456\/revisions\/10458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10456"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=10456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}