DENVER — Denver7’s Your Voice series heard from people in Montbello who are working to take care of their neighbors on Denver’s northeast side. Specifically, there is a push to bring the community much-needed access to affordable housing, jobs and a fresh, local grocery store.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Denver 7 | Your Voice: Montbello defined by diversity, pride, commitment to change
Denver7’s East Denver reporter Ryan Fish also heard from a group who is working to tackle another big community concern: Gun violence.
That has been Joel “Coach Eye” Hodge’s mission since he and his wife LaKeshia started the Struggle of Love Foundation 26 years ago.
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“As many as police as they have, we should have mentors riding around in cars and showing up to the houses to helping our youth that are unfortunately growing up parentless, loveless, and all of those negative situations that we grow up in within our community,” Hodge said.
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The organization offers schooling, mentoring, mental health services, a food bank and more.
“One of our biggest things that we got to figure out as our community is, how do we get more mentors?” Hodge said.
Now, the community has a new place to go to find those mentors. The Love Center opened in Montbello last fall, replacing what had been smaller facilities.
The facility has spaces to hang out, work and create, plus an outdoor garden area and a new basketball court. More importantly, it has mentors ready to spend time with local kids and teens.
"I feel like everyone who comes here, like they don't judge you," said Trey Wheelock, an 11th grade student from Montbello. "You know, everybody who comes there, we're all like a family… Usually, when I'm here, I help in the food bank, passing out boxes."
The building has become a refuge for teens like Wheelock.
"My mom passing, that was a very dark place for me," he recalled. "But being here, especially with Coach Eye and Miss LaKeshia, they always kept me motivated and on the right path."
James Murphy is one of the building’s mentors. He works as a Secondary Youth Violence Prevention Specialist.
"Trey is my guy," he told Denver7. "So, yeah, personal experience, and I lost my mother too. So, one of the things that we do talk about would be, ‘How are we getting through this? How are we feeling today? Anniversaries? What's triggering you?'"
Murphy weighed in on what would happen if an organization or mentor like this isn’t available when a young person is going through a dark time.
"You have idle time, and it could be very productive, it could be very dangerous, depending on who you are and who you're around," he explained.
Montbello is one of several Denver neighborhoods that’s been plagued by gun violence.
In May, just down the road from the Love Center, a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed inside the Montbello Rec Center, forcing it to close for more than two weeks.
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"To have people that like that, you know, who can just go up there and carelessly take some life, it’s like, what if that happens to me when I go to the Rec?" Wheelock said. "Or why do I always have to watch my back?"
"We should not have to keep losing young brothers and sisters," Murphy said. "Our Secondary Violence Prevention Team, we're really into that. We try to get to the problem before.
"Violence is everywhere, but it starts at home," he added. "You know, what can we fix in our own backyard? What can we fix at our front door? The kids that we deal with on a daily basis, it starts there."
Murphy believes Wheelock can be a leader in the community someday soon.
“When I get older and I get to where I want to be, I feel like I can help, you know, have more knowledge to know how I could help make it more safe as well," Wheelock said.
Hodge says he is "praying" that the organization can continue to get funding.
"It’s been too long that our community only gets a couple years of stuff and then it disappears," he said. "That's been happening to us for too long. We need stuff that's consistent… We want to be here, we want this to be here, like you know, like this is it: It's here."
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