| Church partners with school, community to reduce violence BY ERIK ALSGAARDUMCONNECTION STAFF  Seventeen-year old James Richardson was, by many accounts, a promising young football player at Ballou High School in Southeast Washington.
That promise was cut short Feb. 2 when Richardson was shot dead inside the school, near the cafeteria, apparently because he was involved in a dispute between two groups of students. Sunday, Feb. 29, members of Congress Heights UMC, located near Ballou, gathered in a service of affirmation for the Richardson family and dedicated themselves and their facilities to do everything they could to eliminate violence in their community. Were here for the long haul, said the Rev. Hal Henderson, pastor of Congress Heights UMC, addressing a congregation that included James mother, students and administrators from Ballou, and other community leaders. We didnt invite you here for a show, but to say to you, if you need mentors we have trained people; if you need off-campus facilities, we have that too, Henderson said. Michelle Richardson, James mother, spoke to the congregation at the start of the three-hour worship service. I want to thank God for all the prayers on behalf of my son, she said. I know I have to walk through this valley, but it is well with my soul. God is going to get the victory from my sons life. Richardson is currently staying with her family at a safe house in the Washington area because of continued threats on the familys life, Henderson said. I cannot lie. I have shed a lot of tears, she said. But now, thanks be to God, I shed tears of joy, too. I thank God for the people of God, for his presence in my life. This is not my power doing this, its not even your power; its Gods. Darryl Price, assistant principal at Ballou Senior High School, attended the service because Henderson and his wife, Harriett, came to the school and extended a helping hand to the students and all the staff at the school, he said. We met and prayed at the school one night several weeks ago, he said. They offered to come into the school or at least be a resource for the schools students and teachers that may need any kind of counseling or help, because theres a tremendous amount of stress at Ballou. The stress of the shooting the first inside a Washington, D.C., school since 1996 comes after Ballou was closed from Oct. 2 to Nov. 5 when a student splattered mercury in the building. Decontamination took more than a month, and students were bused to the old Washington Convention Center for classes. Price, who has been at the high school since 1971, said that a communitywide wrap around program will be available at the school. This will include mental health counseling and medical services for students and staff. At one time, Ballou was the flagship of the DC public school system, Price said. Things began to deteriorate after crack cocaine and some other things hit the streets of Southeast Washington. Weve sort of been on a downward spiral but hopefully weve turned that corner and were going to start to rise. Congress Heights will seek to be a part of that effort through what Henderson dubs the SWAT Team the Spirit-filled, Working Action Team. We have a lawyer in the group, he said, who is able to lead the mentoring component. We have counselors, some of whom have been through drugs. We dont believe in rehabilitation, we believe in deliverance. In addition to offering emotional and spiritual resources, Henderson said, the church will offer space in the building for people to meet. The church also partners in the community with the East of the River Clergy-Police Community Partnership, an organization that started out to reduce the rate of homicide among high-risk youth but that has now morphed into a more holistic outreach program to reduce violence. The combined efforts of Congress Heights, the staff and students at Ballou, and community groups, are all going to be needed to fight the violence running rampant on their neighborhood streets, Henderson said. The movie The Passion of the Christ is not as violent as some of the stuff happening on our streets today, he added. | 
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