Responding to Gang, Crew and Youth Violence in the District of Columbia

A BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION6.6 Develop atraining curriculum forall providers that participatein the continuumof services ongang and crew violenceprevention.6.7 Design and implementan ongoingpublic education planto build the capacity ofresidents to understand the nature, and dynamics of violenceand what theyyouth development and violence prevention intheir neighborhoods.can do to participate in positive6.8 Maximize neighborhood recreation/communitycenter’s capacity to develop and implement more positiveyouth development activities and to more aggressively engagehigh risk youth.6.9 Support programs that serve girls involved in orat risk of joining gangs and crews.Action Items: InterventionVoices from the DistrictWe need more“accountability from providers.They’re supposed to go outand get new recruits, and thenit’s found that a lot of kids thatthey had “recruited” for specialprograms were individuals thathad been with them formonths.”6.10 Engage organizations that self-identify as gang interventionservices to participate in the development of thecontinuum of services for gang-involved and at-risk youth.6.11 Align youth outreach, community engagement,mediation, and critical incident response efforts aroundcommon protocols grounded in best practice.6.12 Target capacity building for community-basedstaff and Roving Leaders in the areas of critical incidentresponse, anger management and trauma work, crisis intervention,and partnership development.6.13 Develop a Uniform Mediation Protocol that is recognizedby the court system injuvenile justice cases.6.14 Seek the support of the DC Superior Court tobring more transparency to the operation of Court SocialServices, and to integrate the community based programsthat they fund into a comprehensive city-wide continuum.6.15 Modify the Crime Victims Assistance eligibilitycriteria to include families of allvictims.6.16 Develop supports that provide effective and safeexist strategies for gang and crew members, including tattooremoval and relocation assistance.Action Items: Suppression6.17 MPD to expand its efforts in working with communitiesto build their capacity to implement neighborhoodsafety activities.6.18 Train all officers in gang and crew awareness andidentification.6.19 Standardize coding and reporting standards relatingto identification of gang and crew members.6.20 Establish an inventory of all PSA level youth violence-preventionefforts, document their successes andchallenges, and make the information available on theMPD Web site.6.21 Expand the use of community policing with strategicsuppression strategies such as diversion programs.Recommendation 7: Program interventions shouldbe outcomes driven, have clearly defined goals andmeasurements of success and reflect best and evidencebased programs and proven strategies.Action Item: Effective Programming7.1 Adopt citywide goals for violence reduction.7.2 Identify the outcomes all programs should bestriving to achieve, and assure that these expectations,along with the measurements that will be used to determineprogram success, be written into all contracts.7.3 Develop a common vocabulary with clear definitionsof the key terminology used in violence interventionand prevention work.7.4 Expand the use of evidenced-based, promisingand best practices by providing technical assistance, trainingand support to organizations desiring to implementsuch models.Recommendation 8: The District should develop adata-tracking system to ensure that the disparate datacollectionsystems of public and private agencies arealigned and document progress. This action supportdata-driven decisions and facilitate services to youth.49