ST. LOUIS – A youth group called the Story Stitchers hosted an open house for the public Friday evening to showcase their new space in hopes of increasing youth productivity and decreasing youth violence in the City of St. Louis.
“We’re a non-profit arts organization that works to combat inner city issues like gun violence and lack of opportunity through healthy forms of expression like singing, dancing, rapping, poetry, podcasting, a lot of different art disciples,” Branden Lewis, youth artistic coordinator, said.
Those ages 16-25 are able to visit the artistic space and learn what they enjoy doing.
“It’s a lot of youth that don’t know what they want to do with their life coming here, I would say…exploring different things, you can find out what you want to do, and it can put you on a career path. That’ll make for a great future. So, it’s definitely a lot of ups coming to St. Louis Story Stitchers,” Keith Brown, safe team lead, said.
Mayor Tishaura Jones participated in a short musical performance with some of the youth. She was present for the grand opening in May 2023 and believes this program is needed for the youth.
“It’s important to have safe spaces for our youth and young people to feel creative, to feel welcomed and to feel loved. So, this is that kind of space,” Mayor Jones said.
In addition to creative spaces, there is also a healing room offering a quiet place to decompress and gadgets to help youth cope with anxiety and trauma. The group is in the process of recruiting a trauma therapist to talk with clients twice a week.
“We understand that art expression is healthy and that it’s therapeutic. We actually believe that a lot of issues that we face in inner cities is because we aren’t taught to express ourselves in a healthy way,” Lewis said.
The Story Stitchers have 100 members who use the space weekly. To learn more information on how to join, click here.
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