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."

Strategic Plan to Reduce Young Adult Violence and Gangs in Newport News, Virginia: P.I.E.R. Strategy

INTERVENTION

The second stage of the strategic plan that is recommended for the community will deal with providing intervention services to targeted at-risk youth and their families. The key to these services will not be in having those at-risk seek out the services but more importantly it will lie in the early identification and targeting services at those at risk in the community. Within any community, research has provided an insight into those within its borders who are considered at the most risk of a life of delinquency and crime. City service providers as well as the entire community will need to concentrate within this strategic plan on the early warning signs that are indicators of at risk behavior. This strategy will go beyond core services that are provided by local government and instead access intervention strategies designed by community nonprofits and faith-based partners including a network of providers.

While we are fully aware of Virginia’s Comprehensive Service Act and the current Targeted Outreach program within Newport News, we recommend that these efforts be focused in a neighborhood setting and expanded to include the involvement of more community partners including additional nonprofits and faith-based organizations, all which could provide a level of caring and services to families in need. 

It is recommended that the City Attorney work in partnership with the Attorney assigned to the School Division to assist in developing a practical solution to confidentiality issues, as it deals with family interventions. These models are effectively used in other communities within Virginia and across the United States.  Models should be examined to establish the proper procedures to conduct community intervention programs.

To place this strategy in motion in the city of Newport News, we are recommending a pilot project of intervention services which would be eventually replicated in at risk communities in the future.  The project calls for a combination of community and school based intervention teams all working together in a strategy that we recommend begin out of the first P.I.E.R. Center which would located at the South Morrison complex located in the center of the City. In addition, we are recommending that the schools that serve the South Morrison area of the city adopt or expand current intervention practices by developing school based intervention teams within Sedgefield Elementary School, Hines Middle School, and Warwick High School.  The combination of a school based intervention process and a community based intervention process with an emphasis on intervention for early delinquency will all provide a backdrop for a community intervention model that could be replicated throughout the City.  To better understand the flow of this strategy there is a flow chart in Appendix VIII that communicates the relationship between the components within this strategy. 

Recommendation 1

Merge Keeping Our Kids Safe Coalition with the Current Members of the Mayor’s Operational Council for Intervention

Currently within the City of Newport News, it is recognized that Keeping Our Kids Safe has been a standing coalition of youth service providers who are connected through community partnerships. While this coalition has provided a basis for connecting government and selected nonprofit resources, we feel that the application and best use of this coalition will be to engage the services in a more neighborhood focus. In addition, we are recommending that this coalition be merged with the current members of the Mayor’s Operational Council for Intervention which includes nonprofits, faith-based partners, and citizens. It is recommended that the chairperson for this committee be a non-government service leader in the area of intervention services in the city. This chairperson and the members of this committee need to work closely with the Office of Youth and Families to carry out the intervention portion of this strategic plan. The Task Force recognizes the power of maintaining the partnerships that have been formed as a result of the existing coalition. It would appear that the best use of their partnering power and resources could be streamlined to meet the needs of targeted neighborhood community.

Recommendation 2

Train Neighborhood Level Community Outreach Intervention Teams

These teams would provide a multifaceted service delivery system to include: Human services, schools, community service board, faith-based, court services, law enforcement and businesses. The purpose of these teams would be to provide a plan of intervention for targeted at risks teams and their families. The key to the success of the intervention team would be in the following areas:

a.         Training – The community intervention team should closely examine the benchmark Minneapolis program that specifically deals with outreach and service delivery for at- risks teens. In addition, it is recommended that these teams be provided training, which is available upon request from the United States Justice Department and National Gang Center. These teams would be trained and deployed to provide a multitude of intervention services to include examples of the following: individual and family counseling, job training and placement. Emphasis will be placed on conducting these activities in neighborhoods through early identification and outreach of those targeted to be at- risk.

b.  Neighborhood Outreach Process – To establish the best practice use of intervention teams, a neighborhood outreach focus is necessary. Intervention services without outreach will not become productive for our most at risk neighborhoods and the City. The traditional approach of centralized services that require citizens to ask for services creates a vacuum and void for those who most need them. The community should begin a total outreach service within targeted at-risk neighborhoods. This effort would include: schools, law enforcement, court services and human services all working together to give referrals to the intervention team process. Each of the above community partners should provide a plan on how their individual organizations implement a community based outreach model with the end result becoming direct referrals to the intervention team. It is recommended that the Keeping Our Kids Safe Coalition be responsible for creating the intervention team process outlined above.

c.         Targeted Intervention for Gang/Crime Involved Youth - While the community provides a level of prevention and intervention services to its citizens, there is a specific at-risk group that may fall outside the radar.  At-risk youth within the community that have exhibited signs of gang involvement or early delinquent behavior should be targeted for referral to intervention services. To best accomplish this goal, it is recommended that a specific intervention process be developed and implemented by schools, law enforcement, court services and human services. Each of these agencies should have a plan of action to identify and refer youth who are at-risk of academic failure, consistently truant, dropping out of school and early involvement in the juvenile justice system to include: current or former gang membership. This would be accomplished by analyzing repeat status offenses and other delinquency related indicators.

d.   Aggressive Collaboration – The Task Force should continue to model activities after the successful programs in Richmond, Minneapolis, Boston, and San Jose to share information about juveniles in need of services. The issue of juvenile confidentiality between youth serving agencies should not be viewed as a barrier to providing timely services to a young person. These service issues can be overcome by benchmark collaboration with other communities. 

e.   South Morrison as First Location for Intervention Team– The first community intervention team should be trained and implemented as a model program at the South Morrison facility as soon as team selection and training can be completed. The overall goal of placing this team in the south Morrison facility is to establish that a model be created that would specifically assign a community intervention team to each P.I.E.R. Center operating in neighborhoods throughout the community.

Recommendation 3

Establish or Expand School Based Intervention Teams

Research has shown that early at risk behavior in youth is demonstrated many times within the school environment.  The importance of capturing the information of a student at-risk is extremely imperative to the overall success of the student and their families.  As part of the community intervention model, we are asking for schools to look at establishing or expanding school based intervention teams to include an administrator, school counselor, school nurse, and school social workers.  In addition, if a school resource officer is assigned, the team should include the presence of law enforcement.  These individuals should work together to determine what is in the best interest of the student and their families.  In addition, the student and their families could possibly be referred to the community intervention team which would be housed at the neighborhood P.I.E.R. Center.  We are recommending this model begin as soon as it can properly be established in Sedgefield Elementary School, Hines Middle School, and Warwick High School.  These schools serve youth and their families that will also be impacted by the recommended South Morrison P.I.E.R. Center.  To better understand the flow of this strategy there is a flow chart in Appendix VIII that communicates the relationship between the components within this strategy. 

Recommendation 4

Conduct a Community Resource Inventory on Active Intervention Services for Youth

It is recommended that a community resource inventory be conducted in Newport News to establish those agencies to include: government nonprofits, faith based and businesses that provide youth intervention services. This should be coordinated by the Newport News Office on Youth and Families working in partnership with Christopher Newport University and expand existing resources such as: http://www.peninsulayouth.org./. It is further recommended that the Office of Youth use Community Resource Inventory Model, developed and recommended by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the National Gang Center (NGC). This will allow the community to identify active intervention coalition partners.

For additional information on how to conduct a Community Resource Inventory please visit http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/SPT/CRI.

Recommendation 5

Establish the Newport News Commission on Faith-based Initiatives

In many communities the power to change a life of crime and violence goes deeper than government can reach.  A history of multigenerational violence and an environment with multiple opportunities to commit violence have paved the way for a destructive life style that can only be interrupted when treated as a matter of the heart. In Newport News, there is a tremendous weekly effort to combat this violence within the faith-based organizations across all denominations. From soup kitchens to programs that help youth without fathers, the amount of work that is done within the faith based community is endless. The City, while having a rich faith-based heritage, needs to develop a plan to bring the best out of these programs. It is recommended that the Mayor and City Council consider the appointment of a Faith-based Commission that would be made up of various clergy representing a widespread interdenominational presence. Several well known clergy have agreed to participate in such a commission and have endorsed its recommendation. These faith based community leaders include: Pastor Dwight Riddick of Gethsemane Baptist Church, Pastor Dele Seley of First Baptist Church, and Pastor Bobby Collins of World Outreach Worship Center are just a few of the clergy meeting and providing support for this effort.

For information on the power of implementing community faith-based initiatives can be found at the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives: http:///www.fbci.gov

P.I.E.R. Intervention Recommendations for Young Adults 18-25

As indicated in the earlier section dealing with young adult prevention, it is recommended that the community develop an intervention strategy for young adults ages 18-25. This strategy would mirror the overall recommendations of the intervention section of the strategic plan and would be centered on the following important aspects:

     a. Identification – early identification of young adults who are deemed to be at risks because of their lack of education or other factors including: unemployment, homelessness, mental health & substance abuse.  Involvement with the criminal justice system will provide a basis for establishing intervention services to the needed population ages 18-25. It is recommended for the identification to occur with the following action steps to be taken.

b. Schools – the Newport News School Division should be asked to provide information on all students who drop out as well as students who fail to complete their high school education within the City.  This information should be forwarded to the Office of Youth and Families and provided as part of the referral system to the community intervention teams which will be operated at the neighborhood level through the established P.I.E.R. Centers. In addition, community organizations including nonprofits, faith based, as well as other community leaders, should be provided information on how to refer young adults who have no life focus and are without direction.

c. Outreach – The key to providing services to young adults ages 18-25 is to insure that the community is provided the necessary information concerning available services. It is recommended that the community develop a plan through the City channel, School channel and other local media outlets on available intervention services within the community. In addition, it is recommended that each of the agencies that serve this population would have at their disposal a way to refer a young adult to necessary intervention services. This outreach should include a way for young adults to contact individuals at the neighborhood level for information and support. This model strategy would best be implemented within the framework of the recommended neighborhood P.I.E.R. Center.

Intervention strategies for this population should include the following:

  1. GED Training and continuing education
  2. Job training and placement
  3. Mental health and substance abuse services
  4. Housing

Recommended Action Steps for Intervention

  1. Merge Keeping Our Kids Safe Coalition with the Current Members of the Mayor’s Operational Council  for Intervention
  2. Train Neighborhood Level Community Outreach Intervention Teams
  3. Establish or Expand School Based Intervention Teams
  4. Conduct a Community Resource Inventory on Active Intervention Services for Youth
  5. Establish the Newport News Commission on Faith-based Initiatives
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