No COLORS: 100 Ways To Stop Gangs From Taking Away Our Communities
"No community wants to admit it has a gang problem. Yet that denial and the unwillingness to address youth violence as a community problem will have tragic consequences."
"Nearly Every Community in America has Issues Related to Violence.
We have solutions."
- Front Cover
- Table of Contents
- The Mayor’s Task Force
- Executive Summary
- Benchmark Research
- Proposed Budget Estimate
- Community Partners
- Strategic Plan Overview
- The Pier Model
- Prevention
- Intervention
- Enforcement
- Reentry
- Funding and Sustainability of the P.I.E.R. Model
- Coordination of the P.I.E.R. Strategic Plan
- P.I.E.R. Strategy - Next Steps
- Appendices
- Contact Information
Strategic Plan to Reduce Young Adult Violence and Gangs in Newport News, Virginia: P.I.E.R. Strategy
Funding and Sustainability of the P.I.E.R. Model
One of the greatest challenges facing communities across America including Newport News is how to fund and sustain a specific strategy to reduce crime and violence. While developing the recommended P.I.E.R. Strategic Model to the community we realize that a major question lies in the factor of what the specific recommendations will cost and how to sustain the strategy. This factor is what drives the development of a strategic plan and not a simple program. Many of the strategies that have been suggested will simply lead to a change in operational services provided within the community with an overall direction to greater citizen involvement in those services. In working on this effort we have had positive input from various leaders who represent local government, faith-based organizations and businesses. As exhibited in the number of individuals who worked on this plan, community leadership and stakeholders have openly endorsed this direction. For that reason we believe that local political and government leaders should embrace the recommended strategy and seek out ways to fund it. Whether through current City resources, local surplus funding, grants or private-public partnerships, we believe in order for the community to move in the recommended direction of this strategy, there will have to be a level of financial investment. To show the community’s commitment to this strategy the following actions have been taken:
- People to People with its emphasis on providing an enhanced quality of life for the citizens of Newport News in partnership with the office of Congressman Bobby Scott, received an appropriated one-time grant to establish a neighborhood strategy within the city of Newport News. In the spirit of community we would pledge and recommend the following financial support from appropriated funds from the Department of Justice to begin implementing the recommended strategic plan, Newport News P.I.E.R Strategy.
- Community Resource Inventory/Evaluation – Christopher Newport University (CNU) will receive a one-time community grant of $10,000 dollars to facilitate a community resource inventory in the prevention and intervention components of the strategy. In addition, CNU and its Center for Service Learning and Social Entrepreneurship will assist in setting up an evaluation plan for the Newport News P.I.E.R. Strategy.
- Hampton University working in partnership with Newport News faith-base leaders will receive a one-time community grant of $10,000 dollars to assist in the development of a faith-base Urban Ministries Strategy that will connect the Newport News faith base community to the specific needs of its at-risk neighborhoods. This will include an Urban Ministries Training Conference to be offered across all denominations to Newport News Clergy and their congregations.
- The Boys & Girls Club of the Virginia Peninsula will receive a one-time $10,000 dollar community grant to assist in the establishment of an operational strategy within the P.I.E.R. Centers.
- Alternatives Incorporated will receive a $10,000 dollar community grant for citizen outreach and mobilization within the area of the first P.I.E.R. Center recommended for South Morrison School.
- A $10,000 dollar one-time community grant will be given to an individual or organization, (to be determine) to assist in the development of a plan of funding and sustainability of the Newport News P.I.E.R. Strategy.
In addition to this funding, $200,000 dollars has been pledged from the Cal Ripken Foundation to establish a model baseball and training facility at the recommended South Morrison P.I.E.R. Center. It is recommended that the community leverage a greater involvement through national partnerships to include the Boys & Girls Club, 4H Program, National Endowment for the Arts, US Department of Education and the US Department of Justice which provides seed funding for: Police Athletic Leagues (PAL), Gang Resistance Education and Training and various private funding sources to help in funding the initiative.
The sustainability of the P.I.E.R. Strategy will be met with the following:
- City Council endorsement of the program
- A shift in city services in direction of the recommended strategies
- Seeking financial assistance from local, state and federal resources
- Enhancement of public/private partnerships
A combination in implementation of the above recommendations the Newport News P.I.E.R. Strategy would become a way to do business for the city and its neighborhoods.
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