MINNEAPOLIS
A Minneapolis committee leading a campaign against youth violence will submit a list of 34 recommendations to the city council today to prevent and reduce violence in the city. The group™s plan calls for developments ranging from more mentoring programs to conducting "bold door-to-door" street outreach. Some of the ideas could have an immediate impact, such as the creation of a hotline to give young people a confidential way to report trouble or seek help.
The plan was built on months of painful testimony before the committee. The group heard from kids candidly discussing their disappointment with adults who let them down. Parents told stories of their murdered children and youth service providers in the hardest-hit neighborhoods fretted over shoestring budgets.
No funding has been attached to any of the recommendations, but the committee has 100 days after full council approval to come up with a detailed implementation plan.
Rybak, one of three co-chairs of the committee, said these goals bring together the words, fears and hopes he has heard from people at shooting scenes, funerals, schools and neighborhood meetings. Rybak said this plan will bring it all together and identify improvements. "It's a monumental effort, but the community has the desire to stop the horrific violence affecting children," Rybak said. "When you see children killing children, you have to take dramatic and sweeping action."
The plan targets youth aged 8 to 17 who face factors that place them at higher risk to commit a crime or be a victim. They include people brought to the juvenile center for curfew or truancy violations, gang members or those in an unstable family situation.
The recommendations suggest private businesses provide more jobs, parents receive training opportunities to prevent their children from engaging in violence and restorative justice programs be expanded. They also say a standard protocol should be developed for use in parks, schools and health-care facilities that deal in the aftermath of critical incidents to educate young people on ways to prevent and deescalate violent incidents.
The plan will connect with the Minneapolis
Police Department's work to reduce juvenile crime that started two years
ago. In 2006, robberies and aggravated assaults by juveniles were a
major contributor to a rise in violent crime, prompting Chief Tim Dolan
to start a juvenile unit focused on youth with arrest warrants.
News item
7 January 2008
