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ACTION STRATEGIES:
From Community Workshop on
Gang Violence
in Santa Monica, Part II, April 9, 2005
All of the strategies identified here for reducing gang violence in Santa Monica are intended to:
Promote a sense of belonging, respect & identity
Reflect cultural/ethnic sensitivity and competence
Involve individuals and institutions communitywide
Be strengthened through improved resource coordination and interagency communication
The City of Santa Monica will take a coordinative role with the lead action partners.
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BRING
IT HOME |
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Action strategy 1: |
Coordinate services, provide information, involve residents, break down barriers to service access for at-risk youth and families, link with community resources, give youth a voice in the community. |
| Lead action partner: | City of Santa Monica |
| Commitment: | To evaluate current programs, encourage greater coordination and structure three-year grant cycle to address these needs. |
Action strategy 2: |
Create community-welcoming environment and collaborative programming at Virginia Avenue Park. |
| Lead action partners: | City of Santa Monica |
| Neighborhood organizations (Pico Neighborhood Association & Friends of Sunset Park) | |
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Commitment: |
To have the renovated Virginia Avenue Park operational and begin to phase in programming by November 2005 (city). |
| Commitment: | To encourage community celebration and use of the park (neighborhood organizations). |
Action strategy 3: |
Facilitate successful re-entry of incarcerated youth and expelled youth back into the community and schools by 1) establishing a means for peer mentoring by formerly incarcerated young adults who have said no to gangs, 2) helping families and the neighborhood be part of the re-entry/healing process, and 3) establishing a community day school in Santa Monica. |
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Lead action partners: |
L.A. County Probation Department |
| Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District | |
| Santa Monica College | |
| Pico Neighborhood Association (PNA) | |
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Commitment: |
Probation to educate youth workers, police, others on the re-entry process and advise on strategies to facilitate re-entry. |
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Commitment: |
School district to identify a site for the community day school and have it operational by September 2005. School will initiate contact with youth exiting penal system at least a month before re-entry (SMMUSD). |
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Commitment: |
Sharpen Pico Partnership focus on the target at-risk population (SMC). |
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Commitment: |
Reach out to families of incarcerated youth with information about the community day school (PNA). |
Action strategy 4: |
Encourage events in schools, churches and synagogues, neighborhoods to provide cross-cultural social experiences, share information and resources, offer training and capacity-building experiences for youth, youth workers and community leaders. |
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Lead action partner: |
Human Relations Council-Santa Monica Bay and Santa Monica Bay Interfaith Council, with SMMUSD and neighborhood organizations |
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Commitment: |
Human Relations Council (HRC) to expand the HRC’s Literature and Arts Program to deal with conflict issues and to add a youth voice to the HRC |
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Commitment: |
Interfaith Council to bring youth workers, youth groups from all churches and synagogues together on an ongoing basis |
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Commitment:
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Pico Neighborhood Association and Friends of Sunset Park to share information and encourage involvement in these activities among their members. |
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MAKE IT WORK |
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Action strategy 1: |
Involve 100 at-risk youth in mentor programs. |
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Lead action partner: |
Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce |
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Commitment: |
To work with Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Los Angeles and SMMUSD to implement a citywide mentor program, with focus on youth identified in the Pico neighborhood. |
Action strategy 2: |
Santa Monica-based businesses partner to target at-risk youth for potential employment. |
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Lead action partner: |
Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, with City of Santa Monica |
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Commitment:
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To partner with JVSWorkSource to recruit employers and hold a job fair for local youth, including job fair preparation workshops for Pico youth (job fair held May 25). |
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Provide job preparation and skill development for local at-risk youth. |
| Lead action
partner: |
California Employment Development Department, with State Building & Construction Trades Council of California (AFL-CIO), SMMUSD, Santa Monica College, City of Santa Monica |
| Commitment:
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SBCTC to speak to local youth about careers in the building trades and their apprenticeship programs. |
| Commitment: | City to refer trades interns to apprenticeship programs and to increase number of trade intern slots in city’s Maintenance Management Division. |
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Commitment: |
EDD to provide support as needed. |
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Commitment: |
SMMUSD to institute a program modeled on the national Valued Youth at Work program. |
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Commitment: |
SMC to partner with SMMUSD, John Adams Middle School, offering opportunity for coursework on the college campus and exploration of career options. |
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Develop a regional plan for job-related youth programs, with plan implementation to be overseen by a coordinating council. |
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Lead action partner: |
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| Commitment: | |
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KEEP IT SAFE |
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| Action
strategy 1: |
Expand and publicize mechanisms for dialog between the community and the police, using model community liaison and public information programs to increase access to the police department and inform residents, especially in the Pico neighborhood, about potential for becoming more involved in civic life through participation on and with boards and commissions. |
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Lead action partner: |
City of Santa Monica, with neighborhood associations |
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Commitment: |
To look at additional methods for enhancing community partnership in Neighborhood Centered Policing, for developing stronger relationship between individuals in the neighborhood with park and police staff assigned to the neighborhood, and to use all public information arms at the city’s disposal to communicate ways residents can connect positively with the police and staff in all city departments. |
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Commitment: |
To continue cultural sensitivity training and hiring practices resulting in an ethnically diverse workforce. |
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Action strategy 2: |
To maintain a safe and good-looking community, particularly the Pico neighborhood, conduct a neighborhood assessment, provide safe walking paths, involve businesses in beautification projects and establish a volunteer community clean-up corps. |
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Lead action partner: |
City of Santa Monica, with PNA |
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Commitment: |
To add a question about perceptions of neighborhood appearance to the annual/biannual resident satisfaction survey. |
| Commitment:
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Continue anti-graffiti/weed abatement/code enforcement efforts, attend to street and lighting needs in the neighborhood, implement 20th & Cloverfield streetscape project, plan for annual Pico neighborhood clean-up day. |
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Commitment: |
To assist in physical security measures for Edison School. |
This page was last modified on 10/25/2006