[Mpls] Gangs & Violence

[V.L. Freeman]

Michael Hohmann ask the following:

And who will pay for this job training with paid apprenticeship programs,parenting support classes, etc.? The MPS already provides public education and parenting support classes and roughly half of incoming 9th graders drop out before completing their training.

And why is that? Could it be that there is problems at home, could it be that they continue to go without food, could it be that they have to baby-sit younger siblings so the adults can look for work, could it be that they are homeless.


Michael Hohmann ask the following:

The City Council is largely dependent upon property taxes for revenue, and it has recently announced a spending plan that includes 8 percent tax increases annually through 2010 to maintain current services and pay off old debts. How much would your proposed new programs cost, who would implement them, and who would pay for them? Do you propose increasing property taxes further to pay for these new programs? If so, how much more will taxes need to be increased? If not, what current programs/services do you propose to cut in order to provide these new education/job training/parenting programs?

Michael Hohmann
Linden Hills


Look, every time we want to address the needs of the communities,
we don't have to use city taxes to do so. There are other alternatives and federal agencies that are providing funding for cities to develop and implement comprehensive strategies to address the issues around gang violence. One office in particular is the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The following is a link of all the awards that were given out in 2002, to cities and states.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ocpa/ataglance/youth.htm

I believe also that youth programming and funding can be supported through self sufficiency. Such as youth ran businesses, using support and assistance from retired business owners helping to write
business plans.

I attended a National gang seminar in Dallas Tx. Sponsored by the office of OJJDP, it was truly amazing for me to see cities across the country with positives success stories in their prevention and intervention struggles. One of the biggest keys to success was not to duplicate services and the other was, using existing service that are already in the trenches fighting for safe cities. Many places are successful because they thought outside the box.

"If not, what current programs/services do you propose to cut in order to provide these new education/job training/parenting programs?"

As far as programs to cut, I would suggest the taskforce, or some other city entity address and identify what is and isn't working. Programs that are not able to produce measurable results, should not be allowed to continue funding, Period. It is a waste of time, effort, resources and money.


Vanessa Freeman
Northside~Hawthorne







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