Make a commitment to curb youth violence
Reducing violence over time takes not just time, but the will to do so, continuing effort, consistency and education.
Seeing and listening to reaction to Mike DiMauro’s column about the murder of Ronde Ford and listening to people talk about why the murder happened brought us back to the murders of Matt Chew and Travon Brown. It also reminded us of Yogi Berra’s famous saying, “It’s déjà vu, all over again.”
There were and are immediate responses. “We must do something!” And, in each case before Ronde Ford’s murder, there were meetings, much anguish and anger, and good intentions.
Yet we as a community did not sustain the initial efforts to “do something.” The exception was the New London Youth Talent Show started in the aftermath of the Matt Chew murder and led by Curtis Goodwin, Frank Colmenares, Susan Connolly, the Sigels, among others. And the Talent Show continues.
(We have worked with young people and community members over the past 11 years both during Nick’s time as superintendent in New London, and since then as academic coaches for New London High School athletes and students.)
Let’s change. Let’s implement effective follow-up to prevent youth violence before it even starts and respond more effectively when it happens. There are two things we can and must do.
First, effective prevention requires a cross-community effort as suggested by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s STRYVE violence prevention program. (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/stryve/ index.html).
STRYVE helps communities take a public health approach to preventing youth violence. Public health emphasizes a science-driven, comprehensive approach and brings diverse groups together to take collaborative action.
It requires senior level leadership, key staff and commitment from the mayor’s office, the City Council, the Board of Education, the school superintendent, parole and probation services, social services like Sound Community Services, school health services, churches and civic organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis and the Boys and Girls Club. Youth must both be at the table and leading prevention efforts as appropriate. New London has some programs and systems in place but there are significant gaps in interventions and in systematic coordination.
Second, we must have a system in place to respond to youth violence effectively using evidence-based interventions. Project Longevity is a model to consider: https://www. project-longevity.org/strategyandoutcomes. It is state-funded and in place in New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford.
Project Longevity uses a unique combination of community involvement, social services, and focused policing to positively influence group dynamic. Youth involved in criminal activity receive the following message:
1. Group members are valued members of the community;
2. Violence will no longer be tolerated in our community and must stop;
3. We will provide support in securing a range of needed services to help you avoid engaging in criminal activity (ex: addiction services, employment, medical/mental health services, etc.).
Among the leading causes of suspensions and expulsions in schools are defiance of authority and fighting. As described in: “Giving young offenders a second chance means system-wide reform,” Nicholas A. Fischer, July 13, 2015, Connecticut Mirror, we need to take a much closer look at what leads young people to violence. We discovered that virtually every student who had been recommended for expulsion had been doing fine in school until they experienced trauma such as a parents’ divorce, or death of a significant person in their lives, such as a grandparent or aunt.
Violence is learned behavior. In some cases, youth see it when parents hit each other, or when they are hit as a part of discipline, or in abusive behavior between men and women. Youth need to learn, they need to be taught ways of problem solving that include identifying feelings and expressing them without violence.
Reducing violence over time takes not just time, but the will to do so, continuing effort, consistency, effort and education. Reducing violence requires telling people what we want them to do instead of what we don’t want them to do (for example, instead of don’t run, walk). It also requires that we all take responsibility for working with young people, to mentor and model appropriate behavior.