INDIANAPOLIS — It's no secret Indianapolis has seen a lot of gun violence this year. But there are Hoosiers working every day, at the grassroots level, to make our city safer.
In fact, Mayor Joe Hogsett's office and The Indianapolis Foundation announced six local groups just received Elevation Grants to further their mission.
That includes a nonprofit that's trying to prevent and help neighborhoods thrive, through free haircuts and mentorship.
Cutting hair as a crime prevention tactic may sound unorthodox - but Adrian Burney is more than a barber.
He's a healing-centered barber, helping young men in underserved neighborhoods open up, express their feelings and see possibilities beyond their current circumstances.
"There's not too many places you can go, especially with men, especially young men that have dealt with some sort of trauma and be that close to them without them feeling like, 'Hey, you're invading my space,' like a barber can," Burney said. "I have an opportunity to get alongside of them and begin to get to know them and kind of create that safe space for them to try to unpack any type of things they want to unpack."
Burney's nonprofit is called Mended Arrows Academy of Barbering, Inc.
Right now, it's a three-barber team. They are all trained in not only the skill of cutting hair, but also in mental health response.
They give free "T(hair)apy cuts" in schools at boys and girls clubs and in a popup tent at Rowney Terrace, an east side apartment complex known more for shootings than a shave.
Burney uses the intimate setting of a barbershop to create connections one-on-one, without judgment.
"A lot of them don't have anybody to see them, We don't see them as a person," Burney said. "So connecting with that humanity part of them and then helping to bring out the best of them by saying, 'I see you.'"
During a free haircut for a 15-year-old Tuesday, he spent just as much time listening as trimming hair.
And he dropped wisdom along the way -- talking about the dangers of the neighborhood, how to get out after high school, how to focus on education and have a "Plan B" if one future goal doesn't work out.
Now, Burney will be able to expand the nonprofit's mission with a $70,000 Elevation Grant just awarded to Mended Arrows through The Indianapolis Foundation.
The money will be used to train more barbers, get to more locations and give more free haircuts, with impactful conversations.
It's all meant to uplift, empower and curb crime, one haircut at a time.