Dollars Delivered to Program to Prevent Gang Involvement
Sunday, March 18, 2012 @ 7:35 AM
Prince George B.C. – A special project is about to get off the ground, aimed at preventing youth in Prince George from hooking up with gangs.
The Province has awarded $175 thousand dollars to a program in Prince George called, “Step In- Step Up”.
The program has been developed with the involvement of School District 57, Community Policing, Youth Around Prince George and RCMP Victim Services. Corporal Carissa Hornoi is involved with the project “We know that to connect with youth, we need to do what youth do so we know we will have to do a social media type of connection. The first thing on the agenda is a video contest”
She says youth will be encourage to create videos with anti gang message. “Ultimately the videos will become our awareness campaign” says Corporal Hornoi.
She says the second phase will have a youth forum. “We’ll be using alocal theatre company and get youth involved in having the opportunity to make good decisions in changing the direction or flow of the play.”
She says all youth in Prince George will be targeted for this project “We are hoping to connecting with the kids who are still connected with the school and alternate programs, so we have a lot of help from other community partners including Youth Around Prince which are able to connect with youth who may not be connected with school.”
Comments
Recent MSNBC poll of 31,000 Americans says 75% now support legalizing marijuana. Apparently Pat Robertson the so called far right Evangelical is leading to call for legalization now.
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/03/poll-75-say-its-okay-for-christians-to.html
Some people think that if we legalize pot, gangs will go away. They won’t. They’ll just find other sources of revenue.
Some people also think that the government will get this huge influx of tax revenue from legalized pot. They won’t. If pot were legal, would people buy the govenrment (heavily taxed) pot, or the stuff from the guy down the street?
That all being said, I still think pot should be legal, because it wastes a lot of police and legal resources. Do I think pot will be legal in our lifetime? Probably not.
To keep youth from getting into gangs, we would have to start with kids just entering school or before. The problems often start in the home with the attitudes and the way kids are raised. Also, if gang involved people have kids, guess just where they may end up?
Puff,puff,pass!
This is a good news story. Anything we as a society can do the limit the gangs is a positive step forward. This program may prevent a few kids from falling into the hands of the criminal drug gangs.
Antother thing that would help is for the police to put more pressure on the drug sellers.
metalman.
It starts at home and then neighbour hood, the community environment as a whole, then it is added to by the schools âthe educational systemâ we currently donât enjoy. Kids need nurturing and discipline in the home and something to do our side of home with friends in a constructive and enjoyable manner. The schools are just mills, little if no actual input into the kidâs development. The kid canât learn, cast him/her aside and move on to the next one. Teachers who teach classes who are not qualified to even be teaching the class. I have seen it with my own eyes.
Kids in a group milling about the mall, down town, nothing to do and no where to really go that doesnât cost a small fortune to be involved in (sports, activities etcâ¦.) Kids from single parent families, kids from high-income families that just donât fit in. Seriously we are just disinterested in this small group, however the gangs are prime for these âoutcastsâ, out cast in there peer group, out cast in the eyes of the communities, out casts in the educational system. So what do you think is going to happen? Some place to belong, some one who listens (all be it with ulterior motives), they grab these kids lure them in and âpoofâ a new gang member.
Donât kid yourselves, the gangs arenât just a bunch of lost kids, they are organized by legal adults, no different than the gangs of the past other than the fact new gangs have no code of conduct. So whom do you want to blame? Better yet lets not blame anyone and look at having the community share itâs wealth with those who could use the help. It a need to belong and feel like one is not just wasting time but actually accomplishing something.
Legalizing drugs doesnât solve anything, as stated before by another poster, they just move to something else. The schools need to educate, not dictate. Ever try to walk down the hallway of any school during class change or recess? No order, no manners, no education. Parents need to actually âparentâ and not just brush the annoyance off to another room with a game console. Kids need mentors female and male, if they donât find those key people in the community they will find them in the gangs.
If there are activities and resources available to all the kids regardless of income level then, and only then, we can possibly turn the tables on the gang issue. If the kids are left to there own devices, some will figure it out and some wonât, lets give the ones who are leaning towards the âwonâtâ a fighting chance to win.
Girls and boys can learn trades at home by their grand parents or other mentors, trades like welding, carpentry, cooking, baking. When a senior member of a family spends time with the young person that young person gains self recognition and a purpose in life. Then there is no attention placed on crime or gangs.
The above post by Professional really says it all.
Well done.
metalman.
Professional has some of it right except I wouldn’t exactly call them legal adults as the only thing legal about them is their age of consent.The governments should legalize pot as it is truly a lost cause fighting this any longer.As for other people,most are just too naive to know anything about the people involved in the gang life.All one has to do is go on facebook and see the support and friends these people have from all walks of life.
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