
Enjoying a good meal is just one of the perks youth can expect from future outings from Safe Space for Youth.
Courtesy photo
In hopes of providing youth an escape from the numerous acts of violence throughout the community, a group of local leaders have banded together to found the nonprofit Safe Space for Youth.
“At Safe Space for Youth, we believe every young person deserves a place where they can be themselves without the fear of hurt, harm or danger,” details the Safe Space program’s mission statement. “Our nonprofit is dedicated to preventing youth and gang violence by offering a nurturing environment where youth can gather, connect and thrive.”
Safe Space seeks to achieve that mission by offering pupils access to educational, recreational and cultural experiences. The goal — to help those youth develop into responsible and engaged members of their communities.
Safe Space is an official 501 (c) 3 through a partnership between United Way and Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne, former House Majority Leader, who allotted $750,000 in funding to aid local programs that support initiatives as Safe Space. The group is also partnered with the United Way of Wayne County.
Even before that support, the idea to form the outreach sprang from the tragic shooting death of a 15-year-old girl and a concerned youth with a desire to help.
“It started with the death of a young lady by the name of Joyonna Pearsall,” explained Dr. Raymond Smith, Safe Space founder and a former state representative. “She was a 15-year-old teenager who was attending a pool party where somewhere between 100 and 150 children were gathered. At that pool party, she going to get a drink when shots were fired.”
Smith said it was reported that anywhere from 20 to 50 shots rang out that day, injuring five and taking the life of Pearsall. The shooting took place in Goldbsboro where community leaders held a vigil and rally in her memory. During that rally, Smith announced that he’d begun work on finding funding to address similar issues impacting the community.
It was a mission he doubled down on when a young person from his church approached him, asking how he could help.
”I announced at that vigil and rally that I was working with local state government officials to help try to fund some type of program that could address this issue,” he said. “In between that press conference and the actual shooting, a young man from my church called me and he said, ‘Dr. Smith, people in this community respect you, what do you think we can do about this? Is there something you can do to help?’
“Mind you, this is a young man who was all of 21 years old, and it just grabbed me seeing a young man of his age concerned about his community,” he added. “That’s when we began making phone calls and pooling our resources together.”
It was then Smith connected with Bell, his former colleague, seeking funds to help combat the violence that claimed Pearsall’s life. That call led to the $750,000.
“I reached out to then House Majority Leader John Bell, a former colleague of mine in the Legislature, and I told him what we wanted to do,” he said. “He then asked me, ‘how much do you think you’ll need? I said, I need a million dollars, and without hesitation he said, OK, we’ll see what we can do. So, fast forward and we received a total of $750,000 allocated to the United Way of Wayne County for the purpose of addressing homelessness, youth, pain, youth and gang violence and things of that nature.”
While those funds were announced through United Way before Safe Space was formed, its creation is how the collaboration between Wayne and Sampson County was formed. That achievement is one Smith promptly credited to community leader and Clinton City Board of Education member Carol Worley for bringing to fruition.
“That is where Mrs. Worley comes in , and at that point she began to help me pull this whole thing together, doing most of the legwork, to help bring about what we now call Safe Space for Youth,” Smith explained.
Worley said she was helping Smith with campaigning at the time when she noticed he was working on community projects. Smith then began pushing heavily for forming a nonprofit to do more outreach projects and he began talks with Worley who, in turn, offered her assistance.
“As we were working together on the campaign, he was telling me what was happening with other people he was working with on some community projects,” Worley recalled. “He said we need to get everything we need documented and get this nonprofit launched. That way we could start getting some support in the communities to actually do some meaningful work. That’s the part I took charge of, making sure everything was set up correctly.”
That’s when Sampson County got involved.
“As Carol and I began to collaborate, we saw the need to expand this as a regional concept rather than just in Wayne County, because that need was not just in Goldsboro,” Smith pointed out.
Worley noted that they incorporated in August 2023, gained nonprofit status in October that same year and received the funding first quarter of 2024. Since then, they’ve engaged children of all ages on a variety of youth empowerment activities.
Fulfilling Christmas wishes, hosting a huge TikTok party, a trip to the International Black Theatre Festival and visiting the enchanted Airlie Gardens was just a fraction of what they’ve done so far. And both Smith and Worley agreed they have plans for much more, including a visit to college campuses and trips to Washington , D.C..
As for how the funding is applied, Worley noted, that while the money comes through United Way of Wayne County, when initiating a proposed project, they can request use of the funds. Their hope, she said, is to one day reach beyond Sampson and Wayne counties into other areas of the state.
“From the onset, we got the seed money to make things happen in Wayne County,” Smith said. “That said, it’s our hope that we can continue to branch off, to not just Sampson, but Greene, Bladen, Duplin and beyond. Why? Because we know how great a need for something like Safe Space for Youth is. In eastern North Carolina, there are limited opportunities for kids to get out and be exposed to different things.
“We know that’s going on in eastern North Carolina, so we wanted to kind of branch it off and pick up each county we can as we get more settled and secure. Regardless on how that’ll unfold, at the center of this, it’s all about trying to make sure that the young people have places to go that they feel safe.”
That’s a sentiment Worley shared, noting her own desire to expose as many youth as they can to new experiences.
“For me, it’s branching out to reach many more youth because I want to expose them to so much” she attested. “I have all these ideas I’m coming up with that I want to do and he just jumps on board saying, ‘OK, well, what do you want to do?’ “He always just kind of flows with it, because he can see the vision of where I’m going when I think up something new. That’s been a big part of how all this has gone so well so far because, at the end of the day, we’ve both trying to provide a lot of exposure to the kids.”
The pair said those who wish to know more, volunteer or donate to help support Safe Space for Youth should visit safespaceforyouth.com. While that’s the main source to aid the nonprofit, Smith did adamantly mention that he encourages those interested to also reach out on their behalf to gain support from Representative William Brisson and Senator Brent Jackson, representatives of Sampson, Bladen and Duplin counties.
Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.