NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Lil’ Mexico, as it’s called, is just behind a Tinee Giant convenience store near downtown Norfolk. Substances and the associated mental health ills are plentiful. A chain link fence serves as a makeshift closet. Broken glass and the lids of plastic drink containers form a floor of sorts atop soil that has been hardened by the steps men and women who frequent the intersection of Chapel Street and Brambleton Avenue.
A man named Squeeze Cheese sits in a recliner, where he lamented the arrival of winter, which will only exacerbate the sickle cell disease he said has left him unable to work and care for his four young children.
Women, some with hair grayed by the years, walk by briskly while engaging in conversations, while men, some on foot and some in wheelchairs and walkers, hover nearby for conversation, and perhaps a drink.
Calvin Williams, 47, founder of the nonprofit My 2K Foundation, wears a reflective vest while he makes small talk with the men of Lil’ Mexico. Periodically, he has to break away from discussions to calm hostilities that can break out in the crowd. The key to calm, Williams said, is to find common denominators in the crowd.
“We actually mediate and recognize who have problems with each other,” Williams said. “We find common denominators to actually be able to turn the situation to a nonviolent situation. And that keeps a lot of the violence down inside of community.”
Thirty-one years ago, Williams was the source of violence. At what was then a 7-Eleven store, a then-16-year-old Williams shot four other teens. Other felonies followed.
How much time did he spend behind bars?
“All together, jail time, like maybe 15 years, Williams said.
Four years ago, with help from his mother, Williams, known as K.D., formed an outreach nonprofit named the My 2K Foundation. A logo that includes a butterfly is Williams’s symbol of growth.
His mother, a graduate of Norfolk State University, said she cried every night when her son was behind bars and prayed that two younger sons would start on the right track. Her prayer for the younger boys was answered, and Calvin is working to take back the community.
“I’m very proud of him,” said Williams’ mother, Bernadine Brown. “And I do feel bad about the mothers whose sons have passed away because of the scourge of battles, because of the violence in these neighborhoods. And I thank God that, when my son came out from being incarcerated, instead of being a part of the problem, still he thought about being part of the solution.”
Solutions come at a cost.
Williams is hosting a Trunk-or-Treat on Halloween Eve at Coleman Place Elementary School in Norfolk. He has received nods of support, but few contributions.
“We are looking to do whatever needs to be done,” Williams said. “… We work with the homeless. We are here sometimes feeding [the] homeless. We have programs, we do it. We work with whoever’s willing to work to the betterment of our community, [to] better our city, better our state, better of our country.”
Contact Calvin Williams by email at My2.Found@gmail.com if you would like to help take back the community. The annual Trunk or Treat takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 30 at Coleman Place Elementary School. It is open to the public.
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