New L.O.V.E. League Launches to Engage Guilford County Youth

Gate City Coalition, in partnership with the nonprofit One Step Further, opened the first season of the L.O.V.E. League, Love Over Violence Everyday, the week of Jan. 4, 2026. The free program targets teenagers and young adults age 16 and up and held its initial games at Barber Park, with the first tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Games are set for Mondays and Wednesdays, offering a predictable, weeknight outlet for participants.

Organizers positioned the league as more than a recreational outlet. Gate City Coalition’s lead violence interrupter LeGrande Roseborough and youth services coordinator Jermaine Thompson framed the program as a community hub intended to build relationships, offer positive mentorship, and interrupt cycles of violence. The league will use team practices and games to teach discipline, teamwork and life skills while creating consistent adult contact points that can redirect at-risk young people.

For Guilford County residents and officials, the L.O.V.E. League represents a community-based alternative to enforcement-centered approaches to youth violence. Local impacts expected include providing safe, structured evening activities, strengthening neighborhood ties, and connecting participants to youth services and supports through One Step Further. Because the program is free and focused on participants 16 and older, it may reach young people who are often difficult to engage through school-based activities alone.

From an economic and policy perspective, community-led prevention programs like the L.O.V.E. League can influence public spending priorities by offering potentially cost-effective ways to reduce violence and its downstream costs to health care, policing and courts. Establishing predictable sites for mentorship and skill-building also supports longer-term outcomes such as improved employability and stable housing prospects for youth who participate, though measuring those effects will require follow-up and data collection.

Organizers are encouraging community support and participation, noting that steady adult involvement is a core feature of the league’s strategy. One Step Further is listed as a resource for additional programming information for residents who want to learn how to get involved or refer young people to the league.

As the season progresses, the program will test whether a simple structure, regular practices, scheduled games and consistent mentorship, can create safer, more constructive options for young people across Guilford County. If successful, the initiative could serve as a model for other community-based efforts to reduce youth violence while building local social and economic resilience.