The City of Dellwood is investing in its youth with the North County Midnight Madness Basketball Program, which tipped off Friday, March 21 at the Dellwood Recreation Center.
The free, late-night basketball initiative is open to youth ages 13 through 19 and the program will run Friday nights from 7:30 pm until 11 pm through the summer months.
“The North County Midnight Madness Basketball Program is more than just a game,” said Mayor Reggie Jones.
“This is about creating opportunities, building relationships, and investing in the future of our youth. We are committed to providing a safe space where young people can connect, grow, and thrive.”
Jones, who says Dellwood is “rebounding” in many ways, said the program is designed to provide a safe, positive, and engaging space for young people, featuring organized basketball games, mentorship opportunities, career development workshops, and access to vital community resources.
He added that the basketball league gives North County youth an additional positive outlet.
“It is designed to keep them off the streets during times when unlawful behavior commonly takes place with our young people,” said Jones.
The St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission funds the program. STL VPC works to reduce violent crime in the region by promoting and advocating for coordinated, well-resourced policies, support systems, and interventions among area governments, institutions, and agencies that serve individuals and families most at risk of violent crime.
VPC’s approach to violent prevention is an upstream model that examines access to the social determinants of health- conditions of where a person lives, learns, plays, and works- that affect their health outcomes.
For example, whether a person engages in violence can be determined by social determinants of health including economic stability, education, built environment, and more.
After a shooting downtown St. Louis in 2023 that left one teenager dead and 11 others injured, Mayor Tishaura Jones, youth leaders, and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis collaborated to find safe activities for teens. The City of St. Louis extended weekend hours for two recreation centers. Wohl Recreation Center in north St. Louis and Dunn-Marquette Recreation Center in south St. Louis — provided safe spaces for teens to socialize until 1:00 a.m.
Reggie Jones said with activities that are centered around basketball games, mentorship, and personal development workshops, the program will give kids alternate choices.
He hopes the program will help reduce youth-related crime, promote healthy lifestyles, and strengthen relationships beyond the Dellwood community.
The Results For America: Interrupting and Deescalating Violence; St. Louis, Missouri data shows in 2017, the US Department of Justice that found that St. Louis had higher rates of homicide and gun-related crime than its peer cities.
The city’s existing violence prevention efforts were under-resourced. Cure Violence began operating in St. Louis in 2020. The Cure Violence model takes a public health approach to reducing violence.
Under this approach, trained violence interrupters and outreach staff identify and intervene in potentially violent situations, conduct outreach to those most likely to engage in violence and work to change community norms that perpetuate violent acts. In Cure Violence’s first year of operations in St. Louis, violence interrupters were able to intervene in more than 600 conflicts across the three geographies it serves.
The program is a collaborative effort, bringing together school districts including Riverview Gardens, Hazelwood, Normandy, Ferguson-Florissant, and Jennings. The partnership includes North County Police Co-Op law enforcement and service providers such as Employ St. Louis, Refuge and Restoration.
Youth from across North St. Louis County are encouraged to participate. Registration is now open, additional information is available at the Dellwood Recreation Center.
“I’m looking forward to not only making sure youth are having fun in a safe space but also building relationships with local police and resource-providing organizations,” said the Dellwood mayor.