by Michael Karpman

NLC has initiated a network of major cities in California to combat gang violence and victimization.

This new California City Gang Prevention Network, the first of its kind in the nation, will focus on successful policies and practices that interweave prevention, intervention, enforcement and a community?s ?moral voice? as an alternative to prison-only solutions.
NLC is partnering with the Oakland-based National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) to launch the three-year project with support from the California Wellness Foundation.

Participating cities in California will include Fresno, Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley), Oakland, Richmond, Sacramento, Salinas, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Stockton. Insights from this effort will be shared broadly with other communities in California and throughout the nation.

?Mayors and other city leaders across America have no higher priority than building safe and healthy communities,? said NLC First Vice President Bart Peterson, mayor of Indianapolis. ?NLC is determined to help cities keep their young people out of gangs and protect their residents from gang-related violence in their neighborhoods.

?We see this as the first in a series of initiatives sponsored by NLC to assist municipal leaders in addressing a variety of public safety problems. With the assistance of our partners, this network will allow us to focus attention on one geographic area and develop workable strategies that can be shared and used across the country.?

Collaboration Between and Within Cities
Led by the mayor?s office and law enforcement officials, each city will assemble a five-member team that includes key stakeholders such as probation and public health offices, schools, community-based organizations and the faith community. The teams will work together to develop or refine comprehensive, locally appropriate action plans addressing gang violence.

Through inter-city collaboration, information sharing among peers and technical assistance from NCCD and NLC?s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families, the project offers city teams the opportunity to learn and share successful anti-gang strategies and to help frame state-level policies that assist local efforts.

?At a recent summit on violent crime, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton warned of a ?gathering storm of crime,?? noted John Calhoun, a senior NLC consultant who helped design the initiative, and who is also former president of the National Crime Prevention Council and former U.S. Commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families. ?The goal of this initiative is to get in front of this storm by helping cities address the gang problem successfully before public fears give rise to ineffective and counterproductive responses.?

Project Identifies Promising Strategies
NLC and NCCD will assist city teams by helping assemble data, sharing strategies from other jurisdictions, conducting site visits, organizing regular meetings, providing advice and support, connecting teams with national experts and city peers, monitoring local progress and recording and highlighting lessons learned and recommended policy changes.

Monthly bulletins, periodic white papers, and semi-annual strategic briefs will document each city?s activities, identify promising approaches and showcase innovative city responses.

Research by the Department of Justice?s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention shows that gangs are responsible for a disproportionate amount of today?s unacceptable level of violence and criminal behavior now occurring in cities across the country.

?Gang violence is a growing public concern throughout California,? said Dr. Barry Krisberg, NCCD president. ?We believe that communities need comprehensive, evidence-based and data-driven plans to guide their efforts.?

A statewide advisory board will be assembled and will include such entities as the California Office of the Attorney General, the Governor?s Office of Emergency Services, selected state legislators, the California Police Chiefs Association, the League of California Cities, the Urban League, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, The Prevention Institute, foundation representatives, and service providers such as Youth Alive, Barrios Unidos, Homeboy Industries, and California Youth Outreach.

The first meeting of the California City Gang Prevention Network will take place in January 2007 in the San Francisco Bay area. Prior to the conference, the project will seek to deepen the relationships between city teams, focus on what each city recognizes as the most serious problems and establish baseline measurements.

The first phase of the project culminating in the conference will give participating city teams the opportunity to maximize their efforts through optimal use of local resources, share successes as well as ineffective strategies and determine what help is necessary from state and federal sources to augment local efforts.

Details: To learn more about this project and other NLC initiatives to protect the safety of children and youth, visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Leon Andrews at (202) 626-3039 or andrews@nlc.org.