18-year-old Wyatt Freeman, a youth mentor at Battlefords Concern for Youth, poses for a photo during the first annual Gang Prevention Symposium at the Western Development Museum in North Battleford on March 29, 2025. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

‘We can’t work in silos’: First annual Gang Prevention Symposium inspires youth to build a better community

Mar 29, 2025 | 3:42 PM

Growing up in North Battleford, Wyatt Freeman saw firsthand the struggles many young people face in his community.

Raised in a single-parent family, he often felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders and witnessed the realities of crime around him.

“I didn’t have a dad growing up,” Freeman said. “And just like being an only kid with a single mom, I also had to do a lot of stuff by myself.”

Sports played a major role in keeping him on the right path.

“The big ones were football, basketball, and I did a lot of judo,” he said. “Just recently, like with high school, football has been a big part of it.”

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Now 18, Freeman works as a mentor at Battlefords Concern for Youth, an organization dedicated to supporting at-risk youth.

“If I can help my mom, I can help so many other people, right? Because everybody needs a little bit of help. Trying to give back to the community, help these youth that are kind of with the situations I was in.”

His personal experiences made the first annual Gang Prevention Symposium at the Western Development Museum in North Battleford especially meaningful. A screening of It Takes a Village—a documentary about mentorship and community—reflected much of what he had seen growing up.

“It struck a chord with me because growing up is kind of the same stuff.”

A film about the power of community

It Takes a Village: An East Van Story is a 2024 documentary directed by Christopher Cho that explores how mentorship, sports, and community support shape the lives of at-risk youth in East Vancouver.

“Walking around, I’d see a lot of this stuff happening with gangs and stuff… I wish something like that was here in North Battleford, where we had things to do, places to go, because there’s not a whole lot of options, right?” Freeman said.

Through personal stories, the film highlights how strong community connections foster resilience and inclusivity. It was featured at the 2024 Vancouver Asian Film Festival.

Wyatt Freeman. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

For 16-year-old Ayla Lonesinger, a member of Concern for Youth, the film was both eye-opening and motivating.

“I feel really educated, and I feel inspired to share with others and tell them about my experience with the things I saw in the movie,” she said.

Having grown up in the Battlefords, Lonesinger has witnessed many of the same struggles shown in the film.

“A lot, like a whole bunch of youth go through it, and like a whole bunch of people from schools and a lot of friends and family.”

She believes that giving a helping hand to others is a way to create positive change.

“I just talk to them, and I offer them support so they could talk to me in case they want to talk to somebody,” she said.

Leading by example

For Lonesinger, building a stronger community starts with simple actions.

“She is a role model to a lot of the younger kids that come to our programming. She’s taken a lead role in teaching some of the younger girls how to cook in the kitchen,” said Linda Coe-Kirkham, executive director of Battlefords Concern for Youth.

“She shared her sewing skills making a ribbon skirt for one of her younger siblings. That sticks in my mind, because she never made a skirt for herself, [but] she made it for somebody else. So she’s already a thoughtful young lady who’s prepared to give back to her community.”

Ayla Lonesinger and Linda Coe-Kirkham. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

The symposium brought together youth, regional leaders, and nearly 130 professionals from community organizations to find ways to help vulnerable youth. Coe-Kirkham said she was thrilled to see so many people working together on solutions.

“This is a community that has lots of barriers for kids… lacking transportation, lacking free programs and access to programs,” she said.

“It’s important that they have opportunities to realize that they can make changes with others in their community, and that’s one of the things we try to provide.”

Concern for Youth is expanding its services with a new drop-in centre set to open seven days a week.

“We got the keys yesterday,” Coe-Kirkham said. “So that will be our next step, to be one of the agencies that actually has services available to young people seven days a week.”

For youth who may be struggling, Freeman offered a message of hope.

“If you need help, there’s always people there, like there’s always somebody there, whether it be your teachers, counselors, parents—sometimes you don’t have parents, there’s always somebody to talk to. All you have to do is talk to them.”

‘It really does take a village’

One of the main figures in the film, as well as a producer, Jonathan Mubanda, knows firsthand the impact a strong community can have on a young person’s life.

The film shows how he thrived after taking the wrong path following his high school graduation. Now, he uses his story to inspire others through his documentary.

“We can’t work in silos, right? We got to come together and help the youth,” Mubanda said.

“I think if I didn’t have the community that came around me when I was a child, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today, right?”

Jonathan Mubanda. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

He credits his parents’ perseverance as a major source of inspiration.

“Looking at my mom’s journey and my dad’s journey, they come from a war-torn country, I even come from a war-torn country, but man, their perseverance always encourages me.”

“Their perseverance of not giving up, their perseverance of working hard, their perseverance of just creating a better life for me and my brother and even though I went through my own challenges, they never gave up on me.”

Mubanda’s message to young people facing struggles is simple: don’t give up.

“Man, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “For me, it was just my walk with God, my family and my community, right? So I think that’s the biggest takeaway for me, is don’t give up. Just keep pressing on.”

The Battleford Regional Community Collaboration hosted a symposium from March 27 to 29 focused on gang prevention and youth support.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com