Friday, June 11^th

L.A. Unveils an Educated Weapon to Combat Gangs

Class was in session the other day in a squat building overlooking Los Angeles' MacArthur Park. The assignment was labeled: "Baby Mama Drama."

Scenario: A man is "pinned down" inside a house, because he's in the "wrong" neighborhood – outside his territory. He's just visiting the mother of his child, who lives in your neighborhood, but the woman's new boyfriend is out front, and not happy. The situation is tense and deteriorating quickly. What to do?

Los Angeles officials are preparing to graduate their first class of city-sanctioned gang intervention workers, a significant step in the city's groundbreaking adoption of street outreach efforts designed to augment traditional policing. Read More

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Mentorship Program Gives Inmates Hope and a Chance

In the prison gymnasium, the faint smell of bleach wafts through the air. The graduates, in the crisp new blues they requested, hug and mingle before their ceremony.

They have much in common: 13 young black men, caught up in drugs, in and out of jail, and now part of a statistic that offers little hope beyond these jailhouse walls.

Pastor Ernest McNear, standing off to the side, wearing a dark suit and clerical collar, is working to change that.

The inmates - ages 24 to 35 - are the first to graduate from his latest effort, a program that works with inmates and then mentors them for a year after release to help keep them focused.

"If you are going to have successful reentry," McNear says in his raspy voice, "you have to have someone welcoming you into the community, not just a program." Read More

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Rhode Island One of Two States Selected as a Pilot

The Rhode Island Department of Corrections has been selected to become a Pilot Site for a U.S. Department of Justice Reentry Information Sharing Project. Rhode Island is only one of two states in the nation (the other is Maryland) afforded this opportunity. This initiative allows Rhode Island to design, develop, and implement a set of electronic data sharing capabilities to exchange information among agency partners about reentering offenders with the goal of improving the chances of successful reentry and reduce recidivism.

Through the efforts of staff in many state agencies and community-based agencies, Rhode Island has seen great advances in effective prisoner reentry since Governor Donald Carcieri made this issue a cornerstone of his criminal justice policy in an Executive Order in 2003.
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The Cost of Incarceration, Black Offenders Still Face More Difficulty

When Robert Ervin came home from prison in 2007 he was dependent upon the community to assist him in getting back on his feet. But like thousands who have committed crimes and served their time, Ervin found employers reluctant to hire him. This practice of discriminating against offenders, which falls disproportionately on Black people, is as harmful and deliberate as the segregation and Jim Crow laws of the past. Read More

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UniteFW.com targets youth violence and gang activity in Federal Way

A website geared toward steering youths away from violence and gang activity has launched in Federal Way.

UniteFW.com is the latest effort in attempting to address what city leaders classify as a concern, but not a full-blown problem. Gangs members live in the city, but Federal Way is not known to be home to any gangs. The website was started by the most recent graduating class of the city's Advancing Leadership (AL) class.

Advancing Leadership is a leadership building course offered through the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce. Annually, at the conclusion of the course, AL members brainstorm community projects, then vote on one to complete. The latest graduating class looked to the City of Federal Way for advice on a project that would impact the community, resident and 2010 AL graduate Kathryn Dunn said. The city was interested in educating residents about youth violence and gang activity. Read More

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Councils to Assess Gang Life

The Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils of Edgecombe and Nash Counties have come together to assess the community's gang problem.

After years of hearing isolated reports of gang-related incidents throughout the Twin Counties, the state of North Carolina has at last supported the efforts of a comprehensive gang assessment for Edgecombe and Nash counties.

Last November, a steering committee was formed to oversee the direction and progress of the assessment. The steering committee is comprised of partners from various entities throughout the community, including schools, community organizations, law enforcement, health care agencies and faith-based groups. Read More

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