Burns points out that I’ve neglected to mention that there will be a Gang Prevention Summit held at the Boys & Girls club on January 17th. The Agenda (so far) is here. This issue, and others like it, will take some time to solve so this won’t be a one and done kinda deal and this seems like a good place to start. There has been some consternation out there (justified in my view) that this has turned into some sort of love-in. I hope that the updated agenda has allieviated some of these concerns.
A final and more detailed agenda will be released tomorrow. I’ll post it then.
Here’s the latest agenda:
6:00 p.m. Welcome, introductions (Mr. Lawrence D. Hughes, City Manager)
6:05 p.m. Agenda overview and goal/purpose of summit (Chief Doug Keen)
6:20-6:30 Northern Va. Gang Task Force history and summary (Director Ray Colgan)
6:30- 7:00 NVGTF Operations overview, including recognition/response (Lt. Dan Hess)
7:00- 7:20 NVGTF GRIT (prevention) overview (Mr. Rick Buchholz)
7:30-8:00- Limited Q and A session
Thanks for the reminder DB.
January 4, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Our Chief spoke at Unity in the Community last month (drifted over to hear him). He said the first hour will focus on the law enforcement side of the Gang Task Force, then the second will focus on what they are doing for prevention.
Chief said, in response to a question, there will not be sessions in Spanish. However, our Police Officers who are bilinqual will be there to assist in translation if needed.
January 4, 2011 at 3:47 pm
The Chief also said he was booking a Spanish-speaking officer to tape Panorama Latino with Stephanie Williams tomorrow night. The show will run on Comcast for two Friday nights before the summit.
Thanks to Maureen Wood, who gave it a plug last night at the Legislative Town Hall, and Lindy Bowie, who brought it up in the first place at a council meeting after the incident.
Notices about the summit are running on several neighborhood HOA websites, and have been circulated to all the active neighborhood watches in the City. The Gang Prevention Summit is listed on page 27 of the premier edition of Prince William Living magazine. The Chamber of Commerce and HMI have it on their event calendars.
Opportunities for youth – jobs and recreation — are good ways to prevent youth from joining gangs. Unfortunately Del. Miller talked about cutting funding for the 4-H program last night, despite the owner of Manassas Shell getting up to speak about how 4-H made him the productive citizen he is today. The perception is that 4-H is just agriculture, and it’s definitely not. All you have to do is see one 4-Her’s scrapbook for the year to see it is wide and far-reaching. 4-H is often the social complement to homeschooling as well.
January 4, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Also, the Georgetown South community, on their own, have created a flyer for the event. It’s available by email for anyone to print out and copy. Just email their community manager, Christie Strader, at cstrader@gtownsouth.com. Help spread the word.
January 6, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Agenda for the Gang Prevention Summit is posted on the City website:
http://www.manassascity.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=835