DUBLIN, Ga. — The barbershop isn't just a place to get your haircut. In the African-American community, it's also a place for conversation. One Dublin barbershop is helping start the conversation about how fathers can be more productive in their children's lives.
"Top of the location would be the best place, because we have a lot of young men that come in here," Roderick Allen said.
Top of the Line Barbershop is not just a hangout spot, it's also a place to start an important conversation.
"The crime rate is catastrophic, like it is on a whole other level," Melieck Price said.
22-year-old Price says recent shootings in the Emerald City are giving him a new perspective on life.
"It is a lot going on, I am trying to move out, I plan on going to the National Guard," Price said.
Price says it's thanks to male role models in the barbershop.
"I've know these guys all my life, they are basically like a father figure to me, both of them, because I do not have a father figure, I mean have one, but he is not in my life, "Price said.
That is why Reverend Clifford Hunter started 'Shop Talk' in May -- to talk about issues like fatherless kids in the black community.
"The first topic we are talking about is who is your mentor," Allen said.
Shop Talk is part of the organization Fathers Among Men in Dublin, an effort to promote fathers being active in their kids' life to hopefully trim youth violence.
"Hopefully it will turn out where we can all become one, stop the violence, and just look out for one another," Price said.
Allen says he wants Shop Talk to help more men like Price.
"So I come out here just to stay out of trouble and make a few dollars," Price said.
The next Shop Talk will be Thursday, July, 25 at Top of the Line Barbershop off Telfair Street at 6 p.m.
OTHER OUTREACH PROGRAMS IN CENTRAL GEORGIA:
Next Level Macon aims to help kids succeed in life.
C&E Youth Services offers an around the clock crisis hotline. Kids in trouble can text 'home' to 741741 and get a text back in minutes.