Teen sought help surviving in Richmond. He found it: 'I want to live. I want to help my momma.'

RICHMOND, Va. -- Jakhai Wilson has figured out the secret to staying alive in his neighborhood.

"I just stay out of the way. I just stay in the house," Wilson, a 10th-grade student at Armstrong High School in Richmond, said.

Wilson lives in Mosby Court, one of Richmond’s high-crime neighborhoods.

"It’s scary what I’ve seen as a child. I’ve seen death before I was a teen," Wilson said. "I know if I hang with the wrong crowd I could be injured and eventually dead."

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From his perspective, Wilson said social media, which floods feeds with guns, money, and drugs, was a main source contributing to violence among his peers.

"Most of the kids my age are chasing a life that is not for them and get hurt and they don’t get to 17," he said. "I want to live. I want to help my momma out and I want to get her a house before she passes away and he’s showing me how to do that."

The he that Wilson referenced is Quincy Barlow, aka MOBBTIED Q.

Barlow, who grew up on the same streets, founded the group Will to Survive.

"I wanted to stand up and say 'stop,'" Barlow said. "I was like, I'm tired of this. This doesn’t need to keep happening. There are families hurting, vigils and this is too much for the community."

Barlow now mentors young men in the neighborhood and offers guidance to help them make good choices.

"I teach them how to save. I show them that if you put a dollar away every day you can have the same stack they have," he said. "If you go cut grass every day, you can have the same stack."

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He also brings his mentees on excursions around Central Virginia and teaches them about conflict resolution and anger management.

"I show them you can get out of here and be a success," he said.

In Barlow, Wilson said he found something who understands.

"I vented to him and he actually understood the stuff I was going through," Wilson said. “He actually opened up to me first and then I knew I could trust him."

Wilson now considers Barlow a father figure.

"He wants to do anything to help us," Wilson said.

That leads to Barlow’s ultimate goal — to create more meaningful relationships to deter youth crime.

"You’ve got to continue to have the will to survive," Barlow said. "As long as you have the will you will continue to move forward throughout life."

Since starting his nonprofit in 2019, Barlow has mentored 15 teenagers.