Not One More: Miami-Dade s Coalition to Prevent Youth Violence Key Partner Meeting November 3 rd, 2003

Transcription

1 Not One More: Miami-Dade s Coalition to Prevent Youth Violence Key Partner Meeting November 3 rd, 2003 Welcome: Dr. Judy Schaechter, Director, Not One More, welcomed all attendees to the meeting and introduced Brian Persons of PAIIRS. Brian Persons from PAIIRS, co-chair, NOT ONE MORE: Persons spoke about the escalation of violence in our community and commented on the fact that many citizens of Miami-Dade are unaware of the violence prevention services available to them. Also, there exists a lack of informative materials being distributed to the community at the present time. Additionally, Persons commented on the need for intervention programs for Youth in our community and on the gap in intervention information for early-middle school to late-elementary school students. Stating that the key critical age for starting violence intervention programs is yrs old (5 th grade-8 th grade), Persons urged organizations working with these age groups to get more involved. This included working with schools to address this issue and making parents and teachers more aware of the programs that Service Providers can offer. Dr. Schaechter welcomes Alex Delacruz. Alex Delacruz, Policy Analyst, Miami-Dade County Mayor s Office: Mr. Delacruz attended the meeting in place of Mayor Alex Penelas and expressed the Mayor s support of Not One More and its efforts to prevent youth violence. He stated that the Mayor was excited about the work that North Miami Mayor Celestin, The Melissa Institute and the Children s Trust is currently doing to reduce youth violence. Dr. Schaechter takes the floor. Dr. Schaechter: Dr. Schaechter briefly described the history of Not One More and its founding in 1999 in response to the gun violence epidemic. The Coalition was made up of a variety of service providers, including faith-based and community organizations and government entities, that came together to find ways to reduce youth violence, particularly gun violence. Half of the Coalition s original objectives were accomplished within the first 24 months of operation. Since then, NOM has worked to enhance Service Provider agendas through a variety of programs, such as the evaluation and grant writing workshops. In 2002, NOM expanded it focus and started collecting information about all violent deaths. Today, 80 Service Providers make up the coalition. Dr. Schaechter then presented the Youth Violence statistics in Miami-Dade County-2002, which was gathered by the Violent Injury Statistics System, Youth Crime Task Force and the National Violent Injury Statistics System. The study found that in the age group of year olds, homicide and suicide outrank other types of deaths. The study also found that 50% of unintentional injuries are preventable. Dr. Schaechter introduces Commissioner Jimmy Morales. Commissioner Jimmy Morales, Miami-Dade County, District 7: The Commissioner stated that one of the main goals of a community is to protect the lives of its children. Furthermore, Morales stated that crime in Miami-Dade County has decreased over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, one of the responses to federal and state budget cuts has been funding decreases in juvenile

2 justice programs. However, the need to focus on violence and gun prevention programs within Miami-Dade County still exists. 2 Dr. Schaechter continues with her presentation Dr. Schaechter: The causes of violent deaths in Miami-Dade County in 2002 are as follows: 49% suicide 44% single victim homicide 3% multiple victim homicide 1% unintentional firearm and 3% murder-suicide Thirty percent of homicides are crime related. Despite the fact that overall crime index is down, the homicide rate went up. In 2002, firearm deaths doubled. Suicide among children and adolescents, White males have the highest number of suicides with a 52% rate. The highest method of suicide among children and adolescents is by firearm with 59% with hanging and strangulation at 26% and drowning at 15%. Fifty-two percent of guns used in suicides are either self-owned, or owned by a caretaker or family member. Homicides among children and adolescents, Fifty-two percent of homicide perpetrators know their victim. Seventy-five percent of victims between the ages of 10 and15 were shot while playing with or handling a gun. The good news is that gun shot wound deaths are 36% lower in the period from January to September 2003 compared to the same period in Dr. Schaechter opens the floor for discussion. Brian Hannigan, Safe Kids: Why there are no statistics for motor vehicles crashes and intentional injuries? Most suicide cases involving teens are motor vehicle suicides and that this method of suicide is increasing nationwide. Mr. Hannigan would like to see more information on these topics especially single vehicle crashes. Dr. Schaechter: NOM can obtain this information if it is classified by the medical examiner as a suicide. Carmen Caldwell, Citizens Crime Watch: Schools are starting to get teachers more involved with children under 10 years of age, even as early as preschool, to teach kids to run away from violence and to teach gun safety. Also, in Washington, D.C. there is a program where teachers teach gun safety prevention to kids in pre-kindergarten and 1 st grade classrooms. They teach the children to run away from guns even when their parents are the gun owners. Bennett Brummer, Public Defender: Is there was any analysis on the outcomes of domestic violence rehabilitation programs and how effective they were in preventing homicides and suicides? Brian Persons: This is some of the most difficult data to obtain. Most people involved in treatment programs are there as a result of a court mandate. Only recently have people started to volunteer for these treatment programs. Most people in treatment programs are extremely hard to track to measure the effectiveness of the programs.

3 3 Mr. Brummer: It seems very important to have some kind of outcome analysis for this area. There has been some legislation aimed at reducing the use of firearms but he noticed that on NOM s current data that firearm use has increased. He wondered if anyone has taking a look at that situation. Although funding problems exist now that funding for domestic violence treatment programs have been cut. Dr. Schaechter: The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has reported on firearm legislation and its effectiveness on curving violent death. The report went as far as stating that legislation is effective, but that President Bush s policies will impact legislation from state to state over a period of time. They released an evaluation of home visitations and found that it substantially impacted child abuse but not violence between the partners. Mr. Brummer: The point is that gun legislation does not produce the intended results, but it does pull scare dollars away from domestic violence treatment programs, as well as other similar programs. Mimi Sutherland, The Gate Program UM/JMH: Agrees with Mr. Brummer s statements. Even though most of the Youth in her program have been in trouble for having guns or taking guns to school, most still have guns in their homes. The parents do not understand why guns should not be in the home. Another big issue where homicide is concerned is gender identification, since the suicide rate is high among Gay/Lesbian Youth transitioning between 12 and 13 years of age. Dr. Schaechter: Most of the cases that she has seen involving gender identification issues are related to relationship and family issues similar to those found in heterosexuals. Lt. Donna Kinsley, City of North Miami Police: Lt. Kinsley introduced a new federally funded program in the City of North Miami where North Miami Police Officers participate in after school programs. In North Miami, 4,000 students are dismissed from school daily with nowhere to go. Although the Police Department runs a successful police athletic league, it was important to do more for children with interests outside of athletics. North Miami s program will be a place where kids can achieve positive results while working with police officers. With a 25 percent matching grant that has just received approval, the program will be starting within the next couple of months. The grant pays police officers salaries for overtime to work with these children, provide after school tutoring, sports programs, and other activities. Additionally, the police work with local elementary and middle schools to identify youth who should be in the program. They have formed a new team called the special enforcement team, which is separate from the programs that were established from the grant, where Police officers in North Miami get together on a weekly basis to track crime hot spots and trends and identify the offender. This also helps to identify the students who are out late at night who are not causing any crime. The youth program will be open for any student who wants to attend. This program costs the city nothing, besides for a 25% matching funds. The effectiveness of this program will be measured by quarterly reports that will measure the impact of reducing youth crimes during the times when this program is in place. Dr. Schaechter: Introduces Wayne Rawlins

4 4 Wayne Rawlins, National Community Justice Consultant, Project Safe Neighborhoods: Mr. Rawlins introduced Project Safe Neighborhoods: America s Network Against Gun Violence to the audience. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a comprehensive approach to combating gun violence by linking together local, state and federal law enforcement officials, prosecutors and community leaders to implement a multi-faceted strategy to deter and punish gun violence from all sides. The program is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime by networking local programs that target gun crime with state and federal efforts, and providing those programs with the tools and resources they need to succeed. Across the nation, 94 Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Forces are working to implement the coordinated strategy to reduce gun violence, led by the U.S. Attorney in each of the federal judicial districts. In fiscal year 2002, Project Safe Neighborhoods resulted in dramatic increases in federal and state gun prosecutions. It recorded the largest increase in federal firearms prosecutions, a record number of defendants charged and convicted, defendants being sentenced to serious jail time, and an increase in state and local prosecutions. Project Childsafe, a firearms safety education program and a key component of Project Safe Neighborhoods, is pledged to distribute 65 million gunlocks throughout the nation. Dr. Schaechter introduces Patricia Ramsay. Patricia Ramsay, Education Coordinator, The Melissa Institute: Ms. Ramsay began her segment by telling the audience how The Melissa Institute derived its name from the murder of Melissa Aptman in St. Louis, Missouri on May 5, A Miami native, Aptman was just two weeks away from graduating from Washington University when she was killed. A year after her death, Melissa s family, friends and violence prevention experts established The Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment to honor her memory and make a difference by working to prevent violence and assist victims. The Melissa Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and prevention of violence through education, community service, research support and consultation. The Institute s mission is to bridge the gap between research and direct application of information to reduce the incidence of violence and to assist victims and their families. Ms. Ramsay stated that bullying is one of the significant causes of violence in schools. She stated that bullying evolves with power and balance issues and leads to other crimes and abuse later in a bully s life. Dr. Schaechter introduces Modesto Abety Modesto Abety, President and CEO, The Children s Trust: The Children s Trust was formed when a referendum was passed that increased property taxes in Miami-Dade County to fund the organization. The Children s Trust is committed to providing over 300 million over 5 years through grants and other funding opportunities to provide quality programs to Youth. Grants will be available in January Abety presented detailed information on how the Trust s finances will work and how the Trust is organized. For more information about The Children s Trust please visit Dr. Schaechter: All organizations working with Youth should attend the Public Health Trust meetings.

5 Dr. Schaechter introduces Samaki Variety 5 Samaki Variety, Community Relations Director, City of Miami: Ms. Variety discussed some of the City of Miami s community outreach programs that involve Youth and Violence Prevention issues: The City of Miami has a program where every 4 th Sunday, where 13 churches will receive information on gun safety The Keeping It Real With the Help You Need Program provides counseling to kids once a week. Kids receive a free counseling session through the University of Miami and Nova University Additionally, the City of Miami has a program where employees get paid to leave work to volunteer for one hour a week The City, along with the County and local organizations, including NOM, are planning a Memorial Wall, a monument dedicated to the memory of those who have died from gun violence, to be dedicated in April on the anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior s death. The Memorial Wall will be located at the City of Miami/ Liberty City Police Station. The monument will contain a section with computer monitors where visitors can look up information about the wall and organizations involved with the project. On December 1 st, 2003, World AIDS Day, at Bayfront Park a Tree of Life will be lit, commemorating the lives lost to AIDS. Furthermore, on December 6 th, the Youth Victory March for Life and celebration will take place. The Youth Victory March for Life will begin at Government Center and end in Bayfront Park with an entertainment program. Ten to fifteen thousand Youth are expected to participate in the march and celebration. All Youth participating in the event will receive free admission to the Christmas Village Amusement Park in Downtown Miami adjacent to the event. Julio Avael, Operations/Compliance Manager, The Non-Violence Project: Presented an award to Dr. Schaechter and Not One More in appreciation of its grant writing assistance program. Through Not One More s Grant Writing Workshop, The Non-Violence Project, received a $204,000 grant from the Center for National and Community Service that will allow 15 AmeriCorps *VISTA members to be placed with the Non-Violence Project for a three year duration. Claudie Chassagne, Director, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Thanked the participants for all the information presented at the meeting and requested help for her organization. Ms. Chassagne praised the resources that are available through the Coalition. Dr. Schaechter adjourned the meeting at 4pm.