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

PREVENTION

In order to address the growing problem of youth and young adult violence, the community should begin by generating ideas on how to keep the youth violence from growing.

As reported in the executive summary, the consistent growth of gang membership in Newport News over a two-year period would indicate that a staggering number of youth are making negative choices by joining gangs and committing violent crimes.

In the 1980’s, Newport News was recognized as a leader in the Commonwealth on youth violence prevention. Our schools were decorated with green and white flags and students’ shirts carried the message of “Just Say No.”  Community wide celebrations were held under the banner of Red Ribbon Week to prevent drugs and violence. State and local community leaders were actively involved in communicating to youth a consistent positive message that emphasized the improvement of decision making skills and choices.

With a primary focus on prevention and a secondary focus on enforcement, Police Officers were assigned to each of the City’s elementary, middle and high schools.  Students in the community saw community leaders and law enforcement as the frontline for preventing drugs and violence in the City.

During the last ten years, however, many of these community-based activities have ceased and, in reality, the community no longer provides a consistent message of hope to overcome the circumstances of many troubled neighborhoods.

Newport News is home to a large number of positive youth who aspire to become productive citizens. The community must refocus its efforts on the front end of youth and young adult violence in order to have a lasting impact on teens in troubled environments.

This focus has to reach beyond government and now must seek more active partnerships among youth serving non-profits, the faith-based community and city leaders. Our prevention efforts must be placed within the framework of selecting best practice prevention models with proven results.

Prevention Recommendation 1

Endorse the Current Prevention Operational Council to Become a Standing City Commission Appointed by City Council

The role of preventing youth and young adult violence needs to have a greater focus within the community and not local government. The Mayor’s Task Force has the ability and motivation to become a permanent commission. It is recommended that the chairperson for this committee be a non-government service leader in the area of providing prevention services in the City.

This commission would serve as appointed by City Council for a revolving term and would focus on developing consistency in the community’s approach to prevention from early childhood through high school. This commission would be similar to the San Jose, California model as well as to the Commonwealth Alliance for Drug Rehabilitation and Education (CADRE), which provided prevention strategies for the City in the 1970’s. The purpose of this commission will be as follows:

  1. Ensure that youth serving agencies are connected and partnering on a community wide prevention strategy.
  2. Develop a K-12 prevention plan that involves the City, schools and community partners.
  3. Seek and recommend best practice prevention strategies for the community.
  4. Plan and sponsor community prevention events.

The overall objective of the commission is to make youth and young adult violence prevention a community prevention issue. By involving members of the community in developing prevention efforts, citizens begin to see themselves as part of the solution to preventing the issue.

Recommendation 2

Expand Existing Community Resource Inventory on Active Prevention 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 prevention services. This should be coordinated by the Newport News Office on Youth and should be expedited by using existing resources to include the website 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). This will allow the community to identify active prevention coalition partners.

Recommendation 3

Create a Permanent Youth Gang Prevention Education Campaign

It is recommended that the City, through its school division and other youth programs, provide a model of education in the area of violence and gang reduction to students grades K-12. We are seeing successful efforts all over the nation by beginning these initiatives with elementary school children. Gangs begin to recruit kids in the third grade.

The assessment of youth and young adult violence within Newport News is an indication that this problem is generational within various communities of the City. It is also recommended that the education include decision-making skills, critical thinking, peer mediation and problem solving.

Young people should see violence prevention messages every day when they go to school, on the school bus, in church, in the community and in recreational centers. Their parents and guardians should hear this message regularly.

The only way to do this well is to make it a deliberate process.

The campaign should embrace printed materials to educate parents on the dangers their children face if they become involved with a gang. This information should be available on the city and school websites and available throughout the community. We recommend using the best practices multi-media model developed in the province of Ontario, Canada as a model for the effort.

Recommendation 4

Expand the Current Targeted Outreach Program of the Boys & Girls Club to Other Youth Serving Agencies in the Community

When youth in the community are identified to be without focus and direction they should be targeted for specific prevention community strategies. We are recommending that the current model of targeted outreach prevention be deployed by Keeping Our Kids Safe and Boys & Girls Club to educate and include other youth servicing organizations.

Recommendation 5

Provide Safe and Secure Environments for Youth Activities within their Neighborhoods

Currently, the City has effective recreational opportunities for young people, but many of these activities are limited in certain at-risk communities throughout Newport News.

The Operational Council seeks to provide a safe and secure environment for youth activities in certain neighborhoods.

Many of the community’s at-risk youth struggle with the issue of transportation as well as a prohibitive fee structure in the existing programs that are now available. It is recommended that the City, School Division and selected youth serving nonprofits work together to establish a way to expand the current use of school facilities in selected neighborhoods after hours, on weekends and during the summer.

This would include homework clubs, open athletic and arts programs.

 It is recommended that a possible selection of an existing secondary school within the South East, Central and Northern end of the city be focused on this activity recommendation.

The availability of this activity would go beyond the scope of standard recreation centers that are already located within the community. These centers exist on a strict schedule of use and activity that center around organized athletics. While our current structure of youth recreation team sports is important, it is not meeting the needs of at-risk youth who fail to have transportation, finances or, at times, parental support to join organized athletics.

Recommendation 6

Expand After School Educational Opportunities for Students within their Neighborhoods

Within the City of Newport News, a number of students do not attend school in the community where they live. Many students return from school to a neighborhood where continued learning opportunities are limited. It is recommended that the City—working with the schools, local nonprofits, faith-based partners and businesses—expand the use of existing facilities and available resources for youth as well as educational opportunities. This will include the establishment or expansion of the following:

  1. Homework clubs (within schools, churches and businesses)
  2. No cost tutoring opportunities (utilizing local high school and college students)
  3. Technology/computer training
  4. Arts education (band, music and theater)

The action on this recommendation should not be limited to school division resources but should be expanded to include a greater involvement by faith-based and community partners. These educational opportunities need to be coordinated but not necessarily operated by local government.

Recommendation 7

Establish or Expand Youth Art Opportunities with an Emphasis that Targets at Risk Youth

Our community needs innovation when it comes to the arts. We need to step up and try something new, a new form of engagement, a new way of building relationships, and a new way of dispelling the fears that are dividing our community. Gang culture arises in places where a normal pattern of community engagement is missing. How do we re-create community engagement through the arts? We recommend:

  1. Partnering with existing arts and cultural organizations to bring the arts into troubled neighborhoods: Peninsula Center for Fine Arts, Christopher Newport University, Downing Gross Cultural Arts Center, Mariners Museum and the Virginia Living Museum
  2. Develop free workshops where kids can participate in experiential activities that bring a greater understanding of the arts and the power that art can have on a child’s mental development.
  3. EPIC International-Tell the stories of the Community involving all generations of citizens
  4. Expand El Sistema youth music programs – to every challenged neighborhood.

  (See Appendix VI for Epic International Information and V for El Sistema)

Recommendation 8

Establish Youth Opportunity Zones to Provide Employment, Job Training and Career Education

Modeled successfully throughout California, and most notably in Harlem, youth opportunity zones provide a community with a focus to aggressively make opportunities available to the kids who need it the most.

Providing jobs, internships and training for at risk youth is the most direct and meaningful initiative a community can do to pull a kid away from the streets. Without these opportunities, many are drawn to a life of drugs, gangs and guns because there is no hope for anything else.

The City of Newport News should look at ways to incorporate job placement and internships for targeted youth during the summer and after school. Each city department should provide internships and possible job opportunities for youth.

Establish careers zones and selected at risk neighborhoods. The City should leverage existing programs such as the school division Career Café, Boys & Girls Club workforce development program and encourage youth job preparedness programs to partner with local business partners to adopt local career zones. This program would call for a specific business to agree to select targeted at-risk youth who live in designated at-risk neighborhoods for job training, job placement and internships. This effort should be directed to target troubled neighborhoods.

Recommendation 9

Develop a Community Plan of Positive Messaging Directed Towards Youth

  1. It is recommended that the City use existing resources to include the City channel and the City’s school channel to consistently create and place on the air positive messages and programming which enhances the climate of the city toward a positive quality of life. In addition, the City should work with current news media representatives and community partners to demonstrate positive messaging in local media outlets and online resources.
  1. These messages should be developed by youth and coordinated by youth serving organizations within the community. It is important that positive messages come from teens to other teens in the community and not just from adult community leadership. This will assist in showing that teens in the community are part of the solution.
  1. It is recommended that the City use the existing model of the school’s channel in training youth to work in the broadcast industry, as well as all other aspects of City public relations.  In addition, the community should leverage existing media outlets, such as local news, radio and TV outlets to provide opportunities and training for selected youth.
  1. The City should work with community partners at each of its major festival events to include activities at City Center and Newport News City Park to highlight prevention efforts and messaging throughout City. In addition, it is recommended that the City offer family prevention festivals in targeted neighborhoods as well as selecting a major prevention event in City Center.
  1. Establish a City-wide youth newsletter to be distributed both online and through the City’s school division that would highlight the positive opportunities and various programs that target youth involvement. Included in this monthly publication would be a way for youth and all parts of the community to speak out. In each issue there should be a focus on positive messaging and opportunities.

Recommendation 10

Establish Family P.I.E.R. Centers in Selected Targeted Neighborhoods

While the City has a history of providing various valuable programs to youth, it appears that a number of these efforts have not reached our most affected neighborhoods. It is difficult in various neighborhoods for youth and their families to access wholesome activities and City services.

The Operational Council, as well as other selected leaders in the community feels strongly that the City must refocus its efforts within these neighborhood settings.  Because of economic realities, we believe every effort should be made to retrofit existing buildings to accommodate these important family centers, where possible. Based on the One Stop Model in Richmond and the success enjoyed by the community of Orlando, family centers can be a major deterrent to youth violence.

We recommend that the community establish multifaceted P.I.E.R. Family Centers within targeted neighborhoods, tackling the most dramatic needs first – based on crime data.

The community should work with nonprofits, faith-based and citizens groups to establish the centers. It is important to note, that the size of the individual centers is not as important as the types of services. It is important to note that while these family centers may have recreational programs, they are glowingly different from simple recreation centers. A model family P.I.E.R. Center would be outfitted to provide a sample of the following services:

  1. Youth athletic opportunities (basketball, wrestling, boxing, baseball)
  2. Opportunities for the arts (Theater, music, dance and band)
  3. Educational opportunities (Dropout prevention, GED programs, Technology training/Computer Labs, Tutoring and Homework clubs)
  4. Youth Internship/Job Counseling
  5. Health Screenings
  6. Faith-based programs
  7. Police Community Programs (community and school resource officers, Police Athletic Leagues)
  8. Various interventions services (see Intervention section)

While the initial center may be housed in a de-commissioned school, it is important to note that churches, public housing complexes and nonprofit buildings may eventually be utilized for P.I.E.R. Center applications. In fact, during the development of this plan we consulted with Karen Wilds, the director of the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NNRHA) and she pledged her support to make available additional sites to replicate the P.I.E.R. Center Model. Current sites identified for future P.I.E.R. Centers are Ridley Circle and Aqueduct. These sites can be made available and funded via the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fund.

A significant aspect of the adoption of the P.I.E.R. Center Model is that people who live in the community should be directly involved in its development.

Neighborhoods in our community have various needs and gaps and services. The P.I.E.R. application may be different in each neighborhood.

Recommendation 11

Immediately Establish the First P.I.E.R. Family Center at South Morrison

Early in the operation of the Mayor’s Task Force, it became evident that the city had a facility that could house the first P.I.E.R. Center. The vacant South Morrison School on Dresden Drive could serve as an excellent start and model for other troubled neighborhoods. During the research and development of the strategic plan, we were part of community stakeholders that took a tour of the South Morrison facility and attended meetings for early discussions of its purpose.

Currently the City has selected South Morrison to be occupied by a selected number of City and nonprofit organizations. The city and the school board have identified this process as Phase I of the reallocation of South Morrison as a location for chosen city departments and their staff. While we acknowledge that Phase I is just the beginning of the planned use for this facility, we also realize the immediate need for direct services in the community where it is located.

Recommendation 12

Park and Recreation Division Work to Immediately Establish a Summer and After School Program in the South Morrison Facility

The purpose of this recommendation is to start youth opportunities in the targeted area of South Morrison, outside of existing youth activity programs.  The youth in this area are in immediate need of multiple youth activity outlets.

The Operational Council should guide its development and conduct immediate resident outreach/involvement meetings, by creating a P.I.E.R. Family Center Program Planning Team. The team would recommend to the Mayor’s Task Force additional recommended use of the South Morrison facility with the overall objective of establishing it as the city’s first P.I.E.R. Center as soon as possible.

Recommendation 13

Relocate the Boys & Girls Club on Dresden Drive into the South Morrison Facility

Currently, according to the executive staff of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula, the existing facility on Dresden Drive is filled beyond capacity.

In addition, the facility does not possess an adequate recreation site to conduct sporting events and group activities due to its size.

The current club on Dresden Drive is not equipped with a gymnasium or multipurpose area. Youth in this at-risk section of our community are without a place to participate in indoor team sports. Transportation to the nearest recreation facility at Midtown is limited. We believe that the community should partner with the Boys & Girls Club to provide operational space in Phase I of the South Morrison Project. The availability of the gymnasium/multi-purpose room and its adjoining space would address an immediate need within this community.

Recommendation 14

Create a Cal Ripkin Youth Development Park as a Bold Statement of Hope

A feature of the South Morrison site is a ball field with parking, lights and ample land.  It is located within view of a failed community swimming center and surrounded by subsidized housing.

At a meeting on April 26, 2011, national partners representing the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation pledged $200,000 toward building a youth development park which could be located on the existing South Morrison property.

This park, which would be one of the first in the United States, would be a bold statement of the City’s intent to improve the quality of life in this troubled neighborhood.

During the meeting, community leaders appeared very interested in pursuing this initiative. In addition, the placement of this park would show a visible sign of Newport News’ commitment to establish a national partnership with one of America’s most treasured sports names in youth development.

This collaboration would also demonstrate to grant offices of the Department of Justice that Newport News is interested in developing national service organizations-community partnerships. This action would be a favorable factor in future receipt of federal support.

Recommendation 15

Partner with CNU for Independent Assessment of Community Investments in Prevention

In the City of Newport News, there are a number of well-meaning programs and nonprofits.

The requirement for any prevention plan to be successful is to have the organizations and individuals work together in an effective manner.

Just as the needs of the City have changed, so have the methods that are required to prevent the upsurge in violence now faced by Newport News.

We are recommending that the prevention plan be supported by a fair and consistent evaluation plan to monitor results.

In order to evaluate the success or failure of this effort, the community needs to be supplied with an impartial and carefully conceived plan of documentation and facts. It is recommended that the City enter into a partnership with Christopher Newport University (CNU) who will conduct an independent assessment of the P.I.E.R. Strategy and its effectiveness. For over 20 years communities across America have used prevention application measurements as a key factor in successful strategic planning.

The decision for a community to fund ongoing prevention efforts should be made by evaluation of the results of the programs funded. When funding is approved, it is approved with measures and reporting requirements.

A great deal of attention in the evaluation process will be placed on the emphasis of proven best practice models for the greatest return. The benchmark practice on this is to partner with the community’s four-year University to accomplish this important feature of effective violence prevention programming.

Recommendation 16

Appoint a Formal Study Group to Replicate Initiatives of An Achievable Dream Elementary School in all 25 Elementary Schools

Newport News is the birth place and headquarters of one of the Nation’s most sought after educational models, An Achieveable Dream. It is time for the School Division to replicate this internationally recognized and community supported program for all children. To insure the application of the An Achieveable Dream model, which includes: greater involvement toward civility as exemplified in the schools Speak Green program, positive messaging that leads to an enhanced learning environment and heightened parent accountability. We are recommending that an independent committee be established and led by the Newport News Educational Foundation. The objective will be to duplicate An Achievable Dream style educational services in the City’s School Division.

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

While the majority of programs within the community in the area of prevention are intended for youth K-12, localities are now experiencing the need to expand their prevention efforts to young adults between the ages of 18-25. Based on a need to address specific ways within this age group to prevent a life of crime and violence, the Task Force is making the following recommendation

 Recommendation 1

Expand Existing Resources in Young Adult Educational Opportunities

National, state and local statistics show a disconnection between the number of young adults in the community and their ability to complete standard education.

Newport News is not alone in this issue.

Understanding that a core group of young adults within the City is not prepared or selected for gainful employment leads to an increase of crime and violence. The issue for the community is how to provide an alternative for these individuals to continue or complete their high school education.

It is recommended that the community partner with the School Division to examine its existing level of service through GED preparedness and young adult prep programs and develop a plan to expand and enhance the availability of these needed services.

It is recommended that these services be decentralized into targeted at-risk communities and be made more available to the population in need. In addition, it is recommended that community partners to include faith based and nonprofit organizations be utilized to provide a higher level of these services. 

Recommendation 2

Partner with Thomas Nelson Community College

It is recommended that the City partner with Thomas Nelson Community College to increase the City’s young adult population in the Middle College program. The Middle College program is an educational and career development training program offered at Thomas Nelson Community College free of charge to young adults between the ages of 18-24 who did not complete high school or have a desire to improve the quality of their lives. Through the Middle College program, participants are given the opportunity to:

  1. Obtain a GED
  2. Enroll at Thomas Nelson Community College and earn up to 5 college credits
  3. Earn a Virginia’s Career Readiness Certificate (bronze, silver or gold) credential
  4. Explore career paths and obtain short-term occupational training (Welding, HVAC, Medical Coding, Automotive, Carpentry, and many more)
  5. Enhance basic workplace readiness skills (helping to develop responsible, well-trained young adults, ready to enter tomorrow’s business world)

Alvin Schexnider, the President of Thomas Nelson Community College is also on the Mayor’s Task Force – Advisory Committee.

Recommendation 3

Job Training/Readiness Programs to be Established in P.I.E.R. Centers

In an effort to enhance the availability of needed job training and job preparedness programs, we are recommending that many of these efforts be decentralized into the P.I.E.R. Center Model within targeted communities.

The availability and affordability of job readiness programs, coupled with the issue of transportation cost are barriers for young adults who wish to participate in these services. Placing these services closer to the needed population could increase job preparedness opportunities.

Recommendation 4

Develop Focused Organized Recreation Opportunities for Young Adults

This community must increase recreation opportunities for young adults. In our community young adult recreation opportunities should be met with operational objectives and not targeted to solve a community crisis.

Currently the community has a number of organized adult sports activities. We would recommend that existing adult recreation opportunities also encompass a positive prevention message to the community. Compare the offerings to Ft. Collins, Colorado which has created a year round basketball league with almost 100 teams to keep at-risk young people out of trouble.

There is a need to provide more availability for locations where the young population between the ages of 18-25 can have the opportunity to participate in an open athletic environment outside the team environments.

In an earlier recommendation in youth prevention we suggested that selected schools be targeted for further community use. The Task Force is recommending the community bring all resources to bear on using secondary schools in selected neighborhoods to develop an open athletic model. An open athletic model is where citizens from the neighborhood/community can come to a school gym and play basketball or other sports without it be officially organized with referees and scoreboard. 

Recommended Action Steps for Prevention

  1. Establish Citywide Commission on Youth and Young Adult Prevention
  2. Conduct a Community Resource Inventory on Active Prevention Services for Youth
  3. Create a Permanent Youth Gang Prevention Education Campaign
  4. Expand the Current Targeted Outreach Program of the Boys & Girls Club to Other Youth Serving Agencies in the Community
  5. Provide Safe and Secure Environments for Youth Activities within their Neighborhoods
  6. Expand After School Educational Opportunities for Students within their

     Neighborhoods

  1. Establish or Expand Youth Art Opportunities with an Emphasis that Targets at Risk                                               Youth
  2. Establish Youth Opportunity Zones to Provide Employment, Job Training and Career Education
  3. Develop a Community Plan of Positive Messaging Directed Toward Youth
  4. Establishment of Family P.I.E.R. Center in Selected Targeted Neighborhoods
  5. Immediately Establish the First P.I.E.R. Family Center at South Morrison
  6. Park and Recreation Division Work to Immediately Establish a Summer and After School Program in the South Morrison Facility
  7. Relocate the Boys & Girls Club on Dresden Drive into the South Morrison Facility
  8. Create a Cal Ripkin Youth Development Park as a Bold Statement of Hope
  9. Partner with CNU for Independent Assessment of Community Investments in Prevention
  10. Appoint a Formal Study Group to Replicate Initiative of An Achievable Dream Elementary School in all 25 Elementary Schools
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