News
Rob Ingram Youth Summit Against Violence
Gang Task Force to add evening meeting so more can atttend
T
he Multnomah Youth Commission is
organizing a youth-led summit, for
April 21. Marc Fernandes, youth
development coordinator for the commis-
sion, said the Rob Ingram Youth Summit
Against Violence will take place from 10 to
4 p.m. on April 21 at Highland Christian
Center. The goal is to bring along 300
youth to talk and network in the morning.
From left, Joyce Harris and friend
In the afternoon selected adult leaders will
be invited to attend. All youth under the age
of 21 are urged to attend.
Fernandes announced the summit at Port-
land’s gang task force meeting Feb. 17.
Police, community justice workers,
churches, health workers, outreach organi-
zations, mentoring groups, schools and
neighborhood associations were represent-
ed at Friday’s task force along with
community members.
The expanded task force currently meets
at 10 a.m. every other Friday in the North-
east Police Precinct, but now plans to add
an evening meeting so community members
who work during the day can attend. With
a wide range of private, nonprofit and gov-
ernment partners now at the table, Mayor
Sam Adams said the task force is closer to
its goal of working to prevent youth vio-
lence. “This is no longer a meeting about
enforcement,” he said. “It is our individual
responsibility to come to the table and ask
for what we need because I’m not going to
be able to read your mind.”
The move to add an evening meeting has
been under discussion for some time. A time
and place for the community meeting is not
yet fixed. Adams and Antoinette Edwards,
director of the Office of Youth Violence
Prevention are looking at venues where
food is available in North Portland and in
East County. Currently the task force meets
at 10 a.m. every other Friday in the North-
east Police Precinct.
Under discussion were efforts to build
community support networks for youth and
families. The 11:45 movement is building
on its energetic kickoff and has added more
churches. Connected provides a caring adult
presence at Holladay Park every Friday
afternoon and evening. Stryve has hired
three new health workers to work on pre-
vention, said Rebecca Stavenjord,
coordinating the federal Stryve grant at
Page 6 The Portland Skanner February 22, 2012
Multnomah County.
“We’re working on making kind
of an inverse map of the hot spots–
we’re mapping the places that are
good for youth – the ‘cool spots’.”
Outreach workers said they need
more resources to help them reach
out to youth. At-risk youth are
hungry – both for food and also for
healthy, fun experiences. Meal
tickets, concert tickets, sports and
recreational opportunities of all
See YOUTH on page 8
Youth outreach workers keep the gang
violence task force in the know. Pictured here
from left are Hiag Brown of Brothers and Sisters
Keepers; Valerie Salazar from IRCO, and
Robert Blake, also from BSK.
Youth advocate Royal Harris said he is working with Highland Christian center
and other partners to revitalize the Restore the Village movement that brought
together a series of public discussions last summer on how to end violence.
The first discussion – under the name ‘The Village Speaks’, will be held 12:30 –
2 p.m. on Feb. 25 at Highland Christian Center, 7600 N.E. Glisan St.
Also on Saturday, Pastor Cliff Chappell and Professor Andrae Brown are putting
out a call to men to ‘Man-Up to End Violence’
“If we want to end violence in our communities and in our lives, we’re going to
have to Man-Up.”
Chappell, pastor of St Johns All Nations Church of God in Christ, and Brown, a
professor at Lewis & Clark College, say we won’t end violence until we start giv-
ing men what they need to get healthy – spiritually, physically, emotionally and
mentally. That’s not easy in a world which denies many men –especially men
of color— the means to be all they can be. And that’s why they’re launching
Man-Up.
What will Man-Up look like? Brown and Chappell are inviting men, women and
young adults to the vision casting of “Man-Up,” at 3:30 p.m. Saturday Feb. 25,
at Concordia College, 2811 N.E. Holman St., in the Luther Hall, Room L121.
“Let’s Man-Up for: happier, healthier families; safer neighborhoods; a more liv-
able city.”