One of the participants was Greater Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church on East 53rd<\/sup> Street, and its non-violence group, \u201cPaving the Way.”\u00a0Together\u00a0the two organizations held a free barbecue for the neighborhood on their block. It was the only meal some of the attendants had that day, said Antonio Davis, founder and director of Paving the Way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Davis, 27, started Paving the Way in December of last year. The group\u2019s main focus is mentoring kids who do not have fathers, but they also have programs on how to safely deal with police, get out of gangs and more.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether its gang banging, drug addiction, early parenting \u2013 whatever \u2013 it always starts with your father,\u201d said Davis. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons I created [Paving the Way] because I didn\u2019t have my father. And so, the life I lived was a result of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis is a native Chicagoan, and grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes. After getting repeatedly jumped and harassed, he joined a gang around the age of six years old. He delivered drugs and held guns before his tenth birthday. \u201cI use to be out here gang banging,” he said. “I sold drugs, robbed people, jumped people\u2026I\u2019ve been jumped. I\u2019ve been stabbed. You know, I\u2019ve been shot at.”<\/p>\n Two things happened that changed his life: the birth of his son, and the murder of his best friend. \u201cWhen it\u2019s like your best friend\u2026it\u2019s a different feeling,\u201d Davis said. \u201cMe and my son went up to the casket together, and I just looked at him, and was like \u2018this could be me, you know, and my son looking at me.\u2019 And {I was} like, \u2018no, I can\u2019t do this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the main differences between Paving the Way and other non-violence groups is that Paving the Way strives for kids to have as much say and power as possible. \u201cI\u2019m going to have some older people on my staff, but I want mainly the youth to run it,” Davis said. “Give them a sense of running a company, running a business.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis ardently stresses this point. \u201cI want people that are experienced, that\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll get to the youth\u2026if you grew up without a father, then you need to talk to someone that didn\u2019t have a father.\u201d<\/p>\n Their next forum \u2014 on police education \u2014 will be held\u00a0June 6th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n![\"Antonio](\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/06\/Antonio-Davis.jpg\")
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