Local church host community summit for youth of all ages
WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – A West Point church is working to bridge the gaps between various groups in the community.
The Strong Hill Missionary Baptist Church hosted its inaugural community summit called Bridging the Gap.
The event included panel discussions with career professionals, faith leaders, and law enforcement.
“My prayer is that as we have this conversation or dialogue it’s not about preaching, it’s just us having a conversation,” Cedric Dean said. “That we can kind of either the old and young get a better understanding of the younger needs, the way we might instruct them better so that they can make a change in their community. I truly believe that it’s going to take our young people to come together because they see things that we don’t and to make a change in the community to say hey this is wrong.”
The goal of the event is to build connections and relationships between groups and prepare young people for the next stage of their lives.
Temeka Shannon, principal of West Point High School, said the event is beneficial to all involved.
“Bridging the gap of different entities,” Shannon said. “For example, education, appropriate work attire, appropriate communication in a workplace, and just how to be successful. How to increase your intelligence to get to the next level, they’ve really hit on effective topics.”
Guest Speakers said the summit is inspiring and helps unite the community to move forward.
“It was really great, and it was amazing, we had a really great turnout,” Keshana Knox said. “I was glad to see all the people come out and I hope this something we can do over the years.”
“In life when you’re blessed with an opportunity like I am to be a part of Mississippi State football and player development,” Greg Knox said. “You have an opportunity to give back so today was an opportunity to give back to the youth.”
Strong Hill Missionary Baptist Church said they look forward to continuing to have the event annually.
