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