Two organizations in Charlottesville, Central Virginia Violence Interruptors, and Wartime Fitness Warriors, work together to prevent conflict in the city, in addition to helping young people develop in a positive way. WMRA’s Ayse Pirge reports.
On the side of an unassuming building north of Charlottesville’s historic district, I walk through a small door into Wartime Fitness Warriors. The gym is bustling with people, mostly on the younger side, as well as their parents, and coaches.
GEORGE RIVERA: We help a lot of misunderstood youth. … We help them build confidence, we help them, you know, with their nutrition, we help them with their schoolwork. We got tutoring here.
Coach George Rivera is the CEO and founder of Wartime Fitness Warriors. The nonprofit gym aims to help young people develop physically and mentally. The group also wants to help kids thrive at school and find a friendly environment where they can join in activities such as boxing, punching bags, and jumping ropes.
RIVERA: We get kids from all walks of life. And we’re big on helping kids in the community build confidence and self-love. Because you know a lot of these kids get bullied on, or… teased on. A lot of them is misunderstood. So, we give them an environment where they feel, you know, they feel like a part of the family and they grow.
And it’s not just for young people. As Rivera says, the age group is –
RIVERA: Six to 100.
And he says they really value education. Rivera says they had a lot of kids who kept getting into trouble, or didn’t receive favorable grades.
RIVERA: And they came to our program, their grades went up from last year to this year. Now, a lot of them is participating in sports that they couldn’t do before, because their grades wasn’t there. But now, their grades is up. So, they participate in basketball, football, track, and all of that stuff.
And Rivera says, they do everything in baby steps. He says he believes in building technique and confidence at the same time. The gym’s 10-step boxing program is an example of teaching in small steps.
RIVERA: So, I don’t just throw you up in there, you know, with the wolves.
And many of the kids excel after participating in this program.
RIVERA: They end up becoming leaders. They even help other kids in the program become better versions of themselves. And it carries over – in school and everything.
Joseph Epps, whose nickname at the gym is P-MA, or Panama, says he started coming to the gym about three years ago as a way to lose weight.
JOSEPH EPPS: I was really overweight. I was about 250. And, I just, I really needed an extra boost … like a trainer. Someone to help me to push me to lose the weight. Because I wasn’t doing it on my own.
He says he started working out once a month, which slowly increased to two, three times a week. And eventually he started coming in everyday.
MASON: First I do like jumping rope, then I do shadow boxing, and then the rest are like bag work. Sometimes barring and stuff like that.
Mason is a 14 year-old high school freshman. He says he started coming to the gym a few months ago. Neal Dhar is an instructor at Wartime Fitness. He started attending during his last year of college.
NEAL DHAR: It’s two ways because it’s good physical exercise. But for me the mental benefits are why I do it… I just don’t feel right if I stay home and do nothing. And I just, you know, I like the sport of boxing. And you need discipline. And also this is a community.
Coach Matt Johnson is one of the trainers with Coach George. He’s been working at the gym for about two years. He mainly works with kids, but helps out with older folks as well.
MATT JOHNSON: We just try to keep the kids off the street mainly.
Johnson says when they have a problem with their teachers, or their homework, the students call them.
JOHNSON: And we’ll – I either go pick them up, and once they get to the gym, we kind of discipline them. You know, just, give them a little work out.
Johnson says they try to make sure the kids keep coming back to the gym.
JOHNSON: If some of the kids come in, and feel they can’t do the workout, and stuff like that, we just talk to them … and we try to influence most of them to just stay in the gym, keep working out, keep working hard.
Logan is four years old. He started coming to the gym last year.
AYSE: What have you been doing here then?
LOGAN: Good.
AYSE: Was it like, just walking and jumping?
LOGAN: Yeah.
Over at Charlottesville’s Central Virginia Violence Interruptors, they take a slightly different approach to keep kids on the right path. Herb Dickerson is the executive director of the organization, founded in 2021 in response to shootings in Charlottesville. There were no gun homicides that year in the city.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HERB DICKERSON: We were born and raised in Charlottesville. All of us are ex-offenders. So, of course we know the streets. … So, people relate to us.
When three UVA football players were shot and killed in November 2022, Dickerson says their organization was on campus, but in another part of the university. The group tries to reconcile hostile parties, based on tips they receive from residents.
DICKERSON: We were first one to do this in the state of Virginia…. We would develop relationships around town. And people are calling our hotlines and well, such and such is having a problem with such and such…So, we get there, and I send two to this person, two to this person, and see how we can resolve this without killing.
According to the Central Virginia Violence Interruptors’ webpage data, there were around 840 investigations, and around 350 interruptions since 2021.
DICKERSON: But see, the thing about it, when you can prevent it today, you got to do the same thing tomorrow.
Dickerson says that’s why they partner with Wartime Fitness Warriors. He says they bring in some kids to the gym.
DICKERSON: And decided to collaborate with us, because they not only do boxing, they have training, discipline, and also have tutors for some of the kids.
Due to funding cuts under the Trump administration, Dickerson says his organization lost about $2.2 million. But he said they have a lot of private donors who care about the cause, and the Violence Interruptors give lectures around the city to inform people about what they do. However, Dickerson says the process has been slow since he is not used to raising money that way.
DICKERSON: I’m not used to getting private donations. I’m used to getting grants.
In the meantime, young residents of Charlottesville continue to rely on the support of Dickerson’s Violence Interruptors, and the Wartime Fitness Warriors, for places, and resources, to chart a positive path in their lives.
