TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to draft a comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan and report back to City Council for approval within 90 days.
DISCUSSION
Youth violence and crime affect a community's economic health, as well as individuals' physical and mental health and well-being. Homicide is the second leading cause of death for youth in our country.
In 2008, more than 656,000 young people ages 10-24 were treated in emergency departments for injuries sustained from violence.
The National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention was created in 2010 by the Obama Administration to assist cities in preventing and addressing youth violence. Cities with a comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan are eligible to receive grants from the Federal Government to help these localities combat violence.
The City of Long Beach operates a variety of programs that address violence prevention, including The Long Beach Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Project (LBGRIP Project), youth and afterschool programs, workforce development services, targeted gang interventions, collaborative efforts with LBUSD, mental health interventions, and other programs and services.
These programs and services, however, have not been organized into a comprehensive, written Violence Prevention Plan to be adopted by Council. Such a plan would highlight the City's many efforts to reduce and address violence, and would include city-level strategic plans with a combination of prevention, intervention, enforcement, and re-entry strategies. Once such a plan is developed and adopted by Council, the City will be eligible for new Federal grants that can greatly assist Long Beach in creating violence prevention programs and interventions.
Many cities, including Los Angeles have developed Violence Prevention Plans. These plans include successful ongoing city programs, community resources, and recommendations and strategies.
The National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention website contains ...
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