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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2009)
8 street roots. Education * Dialogue * Independence NATIONAL Good money after bad Seattle puts $8 million behind grassroots initiatives to stop youth violence on the streets C Y D N E Y G IL L I /STFREETT NEWS SfeRVIGE SEATTLE,. W ASH. t ’s high noon at R ainier Beach High , School, and inside a classroom , 20 teenage boys, all African Am erican, are sitting a t a. circle of desks talking about w hat th ey can do to survive th e sum m er ins South Seattle. If only th e session Were ju st about beating th e h e at. It’s early May and, two days before, five boys w ere coming out of a doughnut shop ’ on R ainier Avenue South When a shooter fired on them , wounding two. One of them should be in the circle today talking about going ,to Wild Waves. Instead, 16-year-old Daveon Braxton is recovering from a bullet in the , back — a victim of being in th e wrong place at the wrong . .7 ' 7 ,, P H O TO BY JO S H U A H U STO N "When I was a child, I spent tim e, says Gabriel Initiative director Mariko Lockhart says the youth violence initiative is “really about Does someone care about me?’” my tim e at the Parks Ladd, the m eeting’s The initiative seeks to cut violent incidents in h a lf by providing community-based services to 800youth. leader and founder of Department. The parks had programs where they took ns Youth 180, a m entoring group Som e people m ight b e ou t th ere b e c a u se and relationship-based effort th a t te e n s,/ . camping, they signed ns np working to ste e r teen s som ebody else is ou t th ere [or] because parents and comm unity leaders have called clear of stre e t life and lor arts and crafts, they they’re w ith th e ir hom ies,” M yles says. for in recen t city forum s leading up to th e th e violence th a t taught ns swimming. A ll that “Som e people do it because th e y ’re having a cerem onial launch of th e initiative’s serv ices gangs can lead to. hard tim e with th eir mom, th eir dad.” was free. So while we've on July T a t th e R ainier Vista Boys & Girls In the hot days “O thers,” he says, “they ju st do it Club. spent money putting people ahead, “I don’t w ant to because they don’t got nothing e ls e to do.” T he initiative seeks to cut violent be picking up bodies in prison, we've cut back a ll Ladd opee worked as a truancy officer at incidents am ong youth in half by providing off th e ground,” th e types of programs for Cleveland High School. He founded Youth community-based services to 800 middle- 29-year-old Ladd tells 180 one year ago to give tee n s hanging out schoolers and youth up to age 17 with $8 recreation and how we're th e boys. “I don’t want on c o rn ers like H enderson and Rainier million in funding over th e next two years. asking what are we supposed to b e m oderating no som ething m ore to do, som ething m ore Som e tee n s will get anger replacem ent funerals. I did two to do?" th e ir lives can be th a n selling drugs or therapy, som e a personal m en to r and o th ers ~ YVONNE NEWSOM funerals this past accepting violence as a'way.of life. B esides full-service case m anagem ent, all arranged M O TH ER OF A TEENAGE D A U G HTER year.” leading the group sessions, he walks the through th re e “netw ork hubs” o r lead The room falls streets to recruit new m em bers and, with agencies in th e city’s m ost affected areas - s ile n t From a c o rn er th e help of his young crew, has tu rn ed the th e C entral D istrict, R ainier Valley and outside the circle, family hom e w here h e grew up into a “safe Southw est Seattle - w here police “em phasis Tavares Jackson, a friend of Ladd’s and house” w here he hopes one day to teach job officers” have also b e e n assigned to get to form er ganghanger who volunteers w ith th e skills like c arpentry and plumbing. know students a t five middle schools. group, asks th e question o f th e hour. Separately, th e police d ep artm en t has “W hat m akes you hang out on th e corner? also funded a new daytim e gang-unit squad W hat m akes you ju st walk up and down the V T o u th 180 is o n e o f th ree existing / of four officers and a sergeant and is sam e spot all day, every day? I need a real program s th a t got $25,000 this year currently negotiating w ith King County, says answer,” Jackson says. Fifteen-year-old Will under the m ayor’s new Youth Violence Myles replies. Prevention Initiative. It's th e type of culture- See MONEY page 9 “Some people m ight be selling drugs. S X
