Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces $9.2 Million in Grants to Combat Gang Violence in California Communities

View the entire press release by clicking here

Webinar Invitation YouthBuild Special Topic - Working with Youth: Gangs 101 A YouthBuild Special Topic Webinar-"Working with Youth: Gangs 101". This Webinar will provide participants with information on national trends, and regional information. Participants will learn how to identify the early warning signs that their youth are participating with gangs and hate groups. This session will serve as a precursor for additional training, instruction and action planning that will occur at scheduled regional and national YouthBuild gatherings. Presenters:  Ron "Cook" Barrett, Gang Prevention Specialist, Albany, New York Police Department Wayne Sakamoto, Director of Safe Schools, Murrieta Valley Unified School District Moderator:  Michelle Loosli, Project Director, Partners for Community Solutions Date:  10/13/2009 Time:  2pm Eastern (1:00pm/Central, 12:00pm/Mountain, 11:00am/Pacific) Length:  90 minutes A YouthBuild Special Topic Webinar-"Working with Youth: Gangs 101". More and more communities throughout the United States are finding that dealing with gangs and hate groups is a priority safety issue. Gangs and hate groups are directly tied to violence and harassment, narcotics use and trafficking, fights and aggression, assaults on agency staff, community dysfunction and fear. This Webinar will provide participants with information on national trends, and regional information. Participants will learn how to identify the early warning signs that their youth are participating with gangs and hate groups. Topics will include assessing your community for risk factors, and recognizing and reading gang related graffiti, tattoos, hand signs symbols and attire. This Webinar will serve as a precursor for additional training, instruction and action planning that will occur at scheduled regional and national YouthBuild gatherings. Register Now!!! Registration for this Webinar is limited and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please click the link below to login to Workforce3 One and register today! http://www.workforce3one.org/view/5000926452677511665/info Please click the following link to perform a simple system diagnostic before you attempt to join the live Webinar: http://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm If you are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or have speech disabilities and captioning would facilitate your participation in this Webinar, you can register for captioning service through the Federal Relay Conference Captioning. Please note the Federal Relay Service requires at least 48 hours notice (2 working days) to guarantee coverage. For more information, visit http://www.workforce3one.org/page/webinarcaptioning.

If you are interested in attending the webinar, but find the webinar is full, please contact Debra McKenzie at dmckenzie@co.fresno.ca.us no later then 9:00AM October 12, 2009. She has a reserved a space and will host a limited number of seats for Fresno County residents to participate at a central location. Please contact Debra only if the webinar is full.

1.     Go to http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/GANGINFO.

2.     Click Application Form.

3.     Complete the form and hit Submit.

4.     You will then receive an e-mail confirmation—click on the URL to confirm your request to start a new account.

For a complete copy of the report click here.

National Gang Threat Summary Gangs pose a serious threat to public safety in many communities throughout the United States. Gang members are increasingly migrating from urban to suburban areas and are responsible for a growing percentage of crime and violence in many communities. Much gang-related criminal activity involves drug trafficking; however, gang members are increasingly engaging in alien and weapons trafficking. Additionally, a rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships with U.S.-and foreign-based drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and other criminal organizations to gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs. 

Key Findings The following key findings were developed by analysis of available federal, state, and local law enforcement information; 2008 National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) data; and verified open source information:

• Approximately 1 million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs were criminally active within all 50 states and the District of Columbia as of September 2008.
• Local street gangs, or neighborhood-based street gangs, remain a significant threat because they continue to account for the largest number of gangs nationwide. Most engage in violence in conjunction with a variety of crimes, including retail-level drug distribution.
• According to NDTS data, 58 percent of state and local law enforcement agencies reported that criminal gangs were active in their jurisdictions in 2008 compared with 45 percent of state and local agencies in 2004.
• Gang members are migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural communities, expanding the gangs’ influence in most regions; they are doing so for a variety of reasons, including expanding drug distribution territories, increasing illicit revenue, recruiting new members, hiding from law enforcement, and escaping other gangs. Many suburban and rural communities are experiencing increasing gang-related crime and violence because of expanding gang influence.
• Criminal gangs commit as much as 80 percent of the crime in many communities, according to law enforcement officials throughout the nation. Typical gang-related crimes include alien smuggling, armed robbery, assault, auto theft; drug trafficking, extortion, fraud, home invasions, identity theft, murder, and weapons trafficking.
• Gang members are the primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs. They also are increasingly distributing wholesale-level quantities of marijuana and cocaine in most urban and suburban communities.
• Some gangs traffic illicit drugs at the regional and national levels; several are capable of competing with U.S.-based Mexican DTOs.
• U.S.-based gang members illegally cross the U.S.–Mexico border for the express purpose of smuggling illicit drugs and illegal aliens from Mexico into the United States.
• Many gangs actively use the Internet to recruit new members and to communicate with members in other areas of the United States and in foreign countries.
• Street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs pose a growing threat to law enforcement along the U.S. – Canada border. They frequently associate with Canada-based gangs and criminal organizations to facilitate various criminal activities, including drug smuggling into the United States.

Visit www.dosomething.org for ongoing grant opportunities to get up to $500 for a youth led gang prevention project (other types of projects are also eligible). In addition, the site boasts resources on young people as change agents, a network of youth driven projects across the country and in Summer 2010 they'll release applications for the Do Something Awards where youth could win up to $100,000 in support of their projects to make the community a better place.

The following is a digest of information from the 2009-2010 Fresno Mayor's Proposed Budget of items directly and indirectly related to gangs. As updates are learned they will be provided.

Mayor’s Gang Prevention Initiative: The Mayor's Gang Prevention Initiative (MGPI) will be reduced to one Community Coordinator funded by the General Fund, and two grant‐funded staff assistants. MGPI will become more reliant upon grant funding and will take advantage of existing service providers and community partnerships. MGPI will increase its focus on intervening in the lives of gang members, and will allow ongoing proactive prevention efforts to be addressed by Parks and Recreation and the Police Activities League. The following highlights statistical outcomes of the program.

• 548 referrals were made to the program in FY 2008‐2009 as the result of outreach community recruiting efforts.
• A total of 3,333 gang referrals have been received since the inception of the program on July 1, 2006.
• 205 participants completed the clinical assessment process in FY 2008‐2009.
• 747 participants are in various stages of their prescribed treatment plan, based on priority of need since February 2006. Upon completion of one service, a participant enters the next stage of prescribed services until the entire program is completed.
• A total of 222 validated gang members, 287 gang associates, and 486 “wanna‐be’s” are currently receiving services.

The Department is actively tracking arrest rates on all participants in the MGPI program on a weekly basis. The participants who are receiving services from the MGPI are showing progress in recidivism rates. According to the Fresno Police Department’s Crime Alert Notification program, the current recidivism rate for MGPI participants is 7.19 percent compared to 14.2 percent observed last year. Cost: $110,700

Download a referral form here Gang Referral Form.doc (46.00 kb)

These services are made possible through a CalGRIP grant.

Boys & Girls Club Fresno County has established a teen center in Del Rey in part with funds from the 2008 CalGRIP state initiative. The grant is a partnership with the City of Sanger as lead agency, seven other communities in Southeast Fresno County, and County of Fresno. The teen center fills a huge need for the community as a positive social outlet for older youth who expressed to Club staff that they didnt have anyplace to go our hangout away from gangs and trouble. The building for the center was donated by Shining Light Ministries one of the CalGRIP faith-based partners and funds were used by the youth to redecorate, paint, and bring in games and activities to engage older youth.

An open house is scheduled for Friday, April 24 and Thursday, May 7 from 4 - 6PM

Call 559-888-2324 for more information

Romeo Garza, of Sanger Paint Supply, and the Sanger District Chamber of Commerce have been collaborating and working extra hard to find ways to rid Sanger of graffiti.  With the help of friends from Frazee Paint and Eco-Solutions, they were able to get approximately 240 gallons of paint donated. They will be distributing the paint in front of Sanger Paint Supply on Friday, April 17^th and Saturday, April 18^th from 9 AM-4 PM to Sanger residents/business owners who have been affected by graffiti.  The best part about this is that the paint is completely FREE!    

Prior to the pick-up days, individuals will need to come into the Chamber Office and fill out a brief application.  They have been asked to bring: a photo that shows vandalism (photo will not be returned), proof of Sanger residence (by water bill, graffiti citation, etc.), and a color sample of their building so that the paint can be matched exactly to its original color. 

The paint distribution made the Sanger Herald and included is the link in case you want to check it out.  It will be posted on the site until this Thursday, April 16th.  http://thesangerherald.com/  The effort falls on the heels of a recent town hall meeting on graffiti hosted by the City of Sanger.

Would love to hear your comments and experience with this great opportunity - did you participate in the free paint giveaway? Post a comment

For more information on tackling graffiti - visit these previous blog posts

Reporting Graffiti Information

Is Your Child A Tagger

Governor Passes Graffiti Legislation