This is another installment in AL.com’s series “Beyond the Violence,” which explores solutions that could make Birmingham safer, healthier and happier. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Antski Williams said he lost much of his childhood to violence, pain and poverty. Now he is dedicating his life to giving Birmingham youth a safe space to learn, grow and thrive.

At the Crescent Cultural Community Center, a nonprofit located in Birmingham’s West End, Williams, executive director, can often be found talking to the young people who visit about making good decisions. He is a father figure and role model to many local youth, using his own experiences to steer them in the right direction. The Crescent Cultural Community Center, and those who work for it, have become a bright spot in a community that has experienced devastating gun violence.

“I was really a heathen and I really was cultured here by all the ancestors, and the energy and the community that’s here,” Williams said.

“We want our goodness to jump on other people. The positive energy that the people release here, stays here and you can feel it when you come. Our goal is to improve the quality of the community by enriching and empowering individuals. When people walk in, they tell us instantly, ‘There’s no place like this.’”

Antski William’s story: ‘I was one of them’

Williams grew up in the Ensley neighborhood. He moved around Birmingham a lot as a child and teen, from Germany, to the Cooper Green housing authority community, to the Inglenook neighborhood, to West End, to Hoover.

By eighth grade, he had joined a gang. Williams said trauma shaped his childhood.

“I allowed pain and poverty to shape my decisions,” Williams told the Birmingham Times. “I was banging with anybody who would bang before gangs even really came to Birmingham. I went to juvenile [detention] every year [from ages 12 to 17] for stealing cars, robbery, and attempted murder because I was letting poverty shape my choices…I was just the classic, bad ‘project kid.’”

As a young adult, he served seven years at several Alabama Department of Corrections facilities, where he learned of the death of his first daughter, 2-year-old, A’neJah.

Williams said he helps young people now because he needed that kind of mentorship when he was younger.

“I was one of them. It was straight because I was justice impacted myself. I was ashamed of myself, low self-esteem. I was one of those kids that needed a mentor, needed a big brother. I joined gangs. I was in the projects. I earned my way to prison. So when I got out…it was all about going back to the street where I came from,” Williams told AL.com. “That’s how I got into what I’m doing now. I can relate.”

Birmingham saw a tragic, record-breaking year of homicides in 2024. Children, teens and adults who are impacted by poverty and community violence may need additional resources and safe spaces to heal and thrive.

That’s where the Crescent comes in.

The Crescent Cultural Community Center impact: ‘We care’

African nation flags greet all who enter the Crescent, a space for fellowship among community members of all backgrounds. The center is colorful and inviting with spaces to learn in every nook and cranny.

Alongside running the Crescent, Williams is also a program manager for RESTORE, a Jefferson County Family Resource Center juvenile re-entry program.

Twice a week, young men who are involved in the juvenile justice system participate in RESTORE workshops at the Crescent where they discuss goal setting, accountability, healthy relationships, conflict resolution and how to express their emotions with mentors like Williams.

Young men also frequent the Crescent as part of a high school and college fraternity program. Every week, they diligently file into the building, uniform with white shirts and black pants, to learn a new step routine and discuss the importance of brotherhood.

The center works with 19 community partners to host block parties, West African drum and dance classes, yoga and community service initiatives.

Community members can also receive resources and assistance through the center’s workforce development program, maternity and funeral services.

Local youth learn to grow vegetables in the center’s greenhouse, fix cars and bikes in the garage, participate in a music enrichment program in the studio and hone their barber skills in the salon.

The center’s mission, Williams said, is to empower the community through education, social enrichment, resources and raising awareness.

“Imagine if we weren’t here…with this being a high crime area for drugs, for violence. But we are here doing what we are doing. This is a credible, safe space, and we have a reputation for uplifting the community,” Williams said. “We’re promoting brotherhood and unity, and that’s what the Crescent embodies.”

Walter Umrani, director of the Crescent, used his retirement savings to buy the community center. Now, he helps community members take care of their warrants.

“We expect people to have a better, more productive life from the services we provide for them and the great mentorship that we have,” Umrani said.

Bennie Hurst leads the center’s music enrichment program. He said the key to the center’s success comes from listening to community members.

“What we did is we actually reached out to the people and gained insight. In order to know how to serve, you gotta ask, ‘What do you need?’’ Hurst said. “You have to ask the people what they need, and then we can be accountable for the work that they receive.”

From March 2024 to February 2025 the center impacted the lives of more than 10,000 community members through programming, services and financial assistance.

• 3,599 young people were served through community engagement
• 1,920 young people participated in the youth civic afterschool program
• 2,265 people participated in community social events hosted by the Crescent
• 1,440 people received grief support and repast assistance
• 600 people participated in greenhouse workshops
• 208 people participated in community wellness workshops
• 453 people received in-kind goods and services

So far this year, more than 1,000 people have visited the center.

While the center is able to help people throughout the community, it still faces limitations. The building needs central air conditioning and heating, commercial bathrooms, new flooring, additional funding for programming and salary for staff members.

“We need to be able to do more than pray for you, more than just offer you a safe space to sit down until we close the door. We need to have some funding,” Williams said.

“We look around in the city and see nobody has these numbers of this type of impact or this type of engagement in the community,” Williams said. “That’s how we win. We care enough to ask and we care enough to listen.”