Friday, June 24^th

Camp for Young Offenders Offers Clean Slate

The screeching whistle jolts 21 boys out of their pre-dawn sleep. They climb out of their bunks, scramble to fix their beds and head downstairs for physical training at the Tennessee National Guard Armory in Smyrna.

In nearby barracks, 17 female teenagers are also scurrying at the start of the Positive Beginnings life skills camp, held by the YMCA Community Action Project.

The 5 a.m. wake-up is a reminder for Jordan Alexander, 14, of some of his misdeeds. He shouldn't have stolen those GPS devices from vehicles. He'd still be sleeping in his home in the J.C. Napier public housing development, where even the random gunfire doesn't wake him.

"I'm getting used to waking up this early, and I like the food," said Alexander, who was getting into trouble shortly after being recruited in the seventh grade by local Gangster Disciples. "But when we're done, I have to not get into trouble." Read More

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New Haven Initiative Awards Seven Mini-Grants to Local Organizations

The City of New Haven's Prison Reentry Initiative has awarded seven New Haven-based community organizations with Reentry Mini-Grants. The mini-grants are a part of the Prison Reentry Initiative's Community Empowerment Project, funded through a two-year federal grant from the Department of Justice, and will be used to expand the services available to individuals reentering the New Haven community from incarceration.

The Community Empowerment Project's objective is to enhance public safety and empower underserved neighborhoods by expanding community-based services that offer individuals returning from incarceration, as well as their families, the opportunity to enhance their own lives and the lives of their peers. Read More

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Program To Keep Kids Off The Streets Growing

Fighting gangs, not with handcuffs, but with boxing gloves.

It's training that goes beyond the bag.

A group of ex-gang members are trying to keep kids off the street and teach them responsibility.

"If the youth don't have anything to do most likely they'll end up finding drugs and gangs, they are going to find something to do to burn energy and make time go by," Dustin Martin, owner of "Born Again Soldiers Fighting Academy."

Dustin Martin would know, he used to be in a gang.
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Unlikely Team Creates Vibrant South-End Mural

"It's almost a timeline mural from left to right. The seniors' perspective to the youth perspective," says Youth 180 founder Gabriel Ladd as he shows us a new mural put together by members of the Southeast Senior Center and teens from the gang prevention group Youth 180.

The two groups spent 8 months designing and painting the mural, and along the way, something deeper developed. Read More

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Sheriff's Office Uses Gang Prevention Grant Money to Fund Martial Arts Classes

The Victoria County Sheriff's Office held its first martial arts classes as part of a revamped strategy on gang prevention.

A $101,795 state grant the department received in March helps to fund the free, summer-long martial arts camp for incoming sixth-graders and parents.

"We're focusing on belt colors, not gang colors," Lt. Chris Garcia, the class instructor, said.

Garcia has 37 years of martial arts experience and was in charge of a similar program with the Victoria Police Department. That 10-year program attracted hundreds of kids each summer, Garcia said. Read More

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