Former Oklahoman returns to 'Rip the roof off youth and young adult violence'

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A former Oklahoman has relaunched an awareness campaign to talk about youth violence and how to prevent it.

"My mission statement is 'make the problem loud, but make the solution louder,'" said Roger Frankling, organizer of Action Center Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City is no stranger to initiatives to prevent youth violence.

Earlier this year a number of deaths among young people prompted local leaders to bring back the 'In by 10' initiative.

Now, Roger Franklin has doubled down on youth violence by inviting Oklahomans to simply start a conversation.

"So conversating gives everybody a chance to understand where we are, and then we come up with a solution to that problem. So if we're not conversing about it, then we're not really aiming to fix it," said Franklin.

The organization, Action Center Oklahoma, was once in Oklahoma City, and now it's reopening.

"Oklahoma City was very successful when we began years and years ago," said Franklin.

Franklin said he has offices across the county.

"Well, our goal is to be in Oklahoma City once a month, having these types of meetings, and we're going to invite a little more every time we do this, while planning our very first CEO -- Community Empowerment Outreach at a particular location," said Franklin.

The outreach program will allow the campaign to end up on the doorsteps of metro homes.

It's an approach Franklin believes is the answer in the face of law enforcement being used to crack down on violence across the country.

"I hate to see that the National Guard and law enforcement are coming in to fix problems that men and women in their own communities can fix," said Franklin. "So my goal is to motivate them, pump them up, to tell them you fix these problems, we can do this."

It's that motivation that Franklin says has proven successful in other states.

"Springfield, Missouri, right now, is moving forward pretty fast. We're seeing crime at its lowest in three years with the numbers of our efforts there and a collaboration of people and a whole bunch of collaborators," said Franklin. "Also, we're seeing great change in L.A., in the Inglewood area. We're seeing change in Henderson, North Carolina. This is not going to work with one organization, but vision brings change."

Franklin hopes that starting conversations about how to fix the problem will lead everyone in a better direction.

The next campaign is on October 25th in North East Oklahoma City, in the Millwood District.