Racine is seeking a three-year, $450,000 stimulus grant to coordinate gang prevention activities in the area.
The money would be used to hire a director and to create a database that tracks young adults who have had contacts with gangs. The director would work with local organizations already in place and the database likely would be made available to nonprofits, schools and other agencies.
If successful, the city would likely subcontract the program to an agency like Racine Vocational Ministries, which runs the Community Re-entry program for people coming out of prison.
The City Council's Personnel and Finance Committee unanimously approved the grant application. Grant Coordinator Debbi Embry said her discussions with state officials led her to believe Racine had a good chance at receiving the money.
"After meeting with the state, we felt we had a good chance because we have all of the pieces in place," Embry said.
Alderman Q.A. Shakoor II was enthusiastic about the grant.
"This is exactly what we need, and this will make a difference," he said.
$150,000/year for a cooridnator ??Don't we already have gang prevention programs ?? Where do I sign up for this job ?? I'd do it for less $$ !!!
ReplyDeleteDid Embry write it or any part of it? Or did she just get part of her what, $85,000 per year, to assess enthusiasm for the grant while someone making 1/3 her salary actually wrote it?
ReplyDeleteKeep your eye on the grant term, then wonder where the sustaining funds will come from.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I thought I was the only one who wrote, edit, reviewed and researched a grant for her!
ReplyDeleteJust shows how out of touch city hall is.
ReplyDeleteIs there any wonder why she departed from the YWCA?
ReplyDeleteLet's assume that the $450K grant comes with no strings and is truly a grant of $150K for three years running. After the first three years are up, where is the money going to come from to continue the program in its fourth year and beyond? The property owners in Racine simply can not continue have their property taxes increased anymore to pay for it. City Hall surely can't believe that the problem is going to be solved in only three years. And, yes, what about the programs that are already in place? Do they get discontinued or abolished after three years to redirect their funds to the new coordinator? Looks like another case of City Hall jumping first and looking afterward. Let's get some questions answered before jumping into this thing with our eyes closed.
ReplyDeleteCome on, folks. Let's do the math before we complain.
ReplyDelete$450k is not just salary. At a minimum, the article says the grant would also fund a database. Also, paying social security (7.65%), health care ($2500/ yr? for the employer's share),retirement, disablity, etc. all increases the cost. And that assumes the program has no office, no website, no advertising, nothing. Not even a stapler.
And even if it WAS $150k / yr., this to me sounds like a great investment to further combat gang activity in Racine. IMHO, the biggest challenge to Racine's growth is that people are leary of moving here because we had a rep. for being "high crime." This addresses one of the root causes of that.
It's also good, if it keeps our youth and community safer. ... Remember the men who shot that young man at the custard stand in Kenosha are supposed to be gang members.
Kudos to Alderman Shakoor and all those that sought and supported this grant. I support you and your good work for Racine. If it matters, I pay property taxes and vote, too.
To be clear, what I meant to say (at 5:34; "...sorry, my English is -- how do you say it? inelegant..."), is that it is unlikely the coordinator's salary will be the full $150k. It's very possible the entire program could cost that per year, because of the other costs.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still think that's worth it, to address one of the biggest challenges we face in Racine. The notion that we should avoid federal funding of good program because it might obligate us to pay for it in the future is not right. The program could just be cancelled or (as noted in the article) handed off to another non-profit, at no cost to us taxpayers.
AND EVEN IF we have to pay something for it someday, it sounds like a good investment to me!
Kenosha got a gang "social wrker" who announced gang activities were increasing, they do every summer! Then she threw a "party" to make citizens aware! Then the gangs started killing citizens! The gang bangers find this amusing, as the gangs have their own "coordinators"!
ReplyDeleteI thought we had a wide range of groups working on gang prevention now? From RUSD to Probation? Would it NOT be better to look at ways to get these groups to do the database together perhaps a on line database they all could use without another layer work work with?
ReplyDeleteIf so this could be done NOW with free tools found on line.
Other then Domain/storage space bandwidth costs would be low.
Hell give me a wage for the forming of the database and other set up costs. I could do this in about a month and the groups wanting to use the system could go nuts.
If The City is interested they know where to find me. Be a huge savings however I think this is nothing more then Q.A. gearing up for his run for Mayor or Turner's office
colt-
ReplyDeletePer the meeting, the grant money would be used to create a database several organizations and schools could access. You're idea on using free online database makes sense, but this is highly sensitive and confidential information that needs to be carefully protected. That said, if you can do the job, put in a bid and save the city thousands of dollars.
I love the "Death Wish" movies. My husband always says, "A bullet is cheaper." There's no deterrent for gangs. Adriel White was right. Let'em know there's payback. Scare the crap out of'em and maybe they'll go away. Our society needs to stop breeding violent gang members, but if jail doesn't scare'em, maybe a vigilante would.
ReplyDeleteAnen, Bystander. Violence and death is the only thing gangs understand. Fight fire with fire. Give our police fully automatic weapons and all the body armour they need to finally give them the advantage over the gangs. Then go in an wipe them out. They'll soon learn that, in Racine at least, if you live by the sword you will die by it. Fight as dirty as they do (or dirtier) and give them no quarter. It's eventually going to come down to that anyway, because we all know that throwing money at the problem hasn't worked for years.
ReplyDeleteOops! I meant: Amen, Bystander.
ReplyDeleteDustin
ReplyDeleteThe free on line tools with encryption the NSA would not be able to get into.
That being said I think I will good idea.
Right now as a type this no one in the City is taking bids until if I understand right get the grant.
One would hope that a proposal to do something like this for much less would get the groups who could use it to chip in to fund it.
Colt - please read your posts before you submit them. Better yet put them in Word - then cut and paste.
ReplyDeletePart of the brand
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolute waste of money....and just another layer of "feel good" bureaucracy.
ReplyDeleteDustin:
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that the database could be accessed at will by schools. I thought that juvenile records were supposed to be confidential.
Sorry, I don't know much about juvenile records. If the city gets the grant, we'll find out if the information is confidential and who will be able to access it.
ReplyDeleteDustin - this looks like something for you to find out about. Either the "grant coordinator" ("grant czar?") doesn't recognize this issue and the grant will not be funded after much time and effort because of it OR the city will get the grant and not be able to use it as stated in the grant, thus taking the money away from a more deserving project.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:08--Thanks for echoing my (and my husband's) sentiments. When I mentioned this article to him, he told me that he had to carry a hunting knife to walk anywhere in his childhood neighborhood. He was stopped by the police and had to explain his weapon he carried for protection. He told me some real hair-raising stories of growing up in Racine and going to Park H.S. Yeah, the only thing gangs relate to and understand is violence. You gotta get their attention and then scare'em! Scare'em good. Every citizen should be allowed to carry a weapon on their person for protection. The only people the police need to worry about are the criminals carrying them! Aren't you just sick of the interviews on TV news where the criminal's mom or grandma states, "He was just turning his life around. He's a good boy!" Yeah, right!
ReplyDeleteYes Bystander, I am sick of it. I'm sick of the bleeding hearts telling me it's "society's fault" (yours and mine) that theses animals turn out the way they do. I'm sick of all the rights and priviliges this scum gets after they have been convicted and sentenced to jail. I'm sick of having to be scared to drive through certain areas of the city for fear of what might happen. I'm sick of our state officals continuing to put law abiding citizens at risk by not allowing us to carry weapons to defend ourselves. I'm sick of politians that want to let this vermon out of prison early and release them enmass on a defenseless population. I'm sick of throwing our tax dollars away on programs that don't work. Money isn't the answer.
ReplyDeleteThe way to curtail gangs is to set an example for the kids growing up today that have not yet joined gangs. Move to a zero tollerance posture with gangs. Let our young ones see that joining a gang is literally life threatening. Make being a gang member a crime punishable by death. Just look all the old westerns and crime dramas and learn from them. The gangs are the bad guys and the only way to eradicate them is to eliminate them with extreme prejudice. Arm our cops to the teeth and give them the authority to deal with the problem!
Youth and gangs – this is a complex topic with many causes and effects. The topic is worth educating ourselves about, not only to save the next generation of our young people but also to make our communities safe and prosperous.
ReplyDeleteYouth who join gangs invariably have suffered some kind of trauma – abuse, abandonment, emotional and physical neglect, to name a few. All experiences of trauma involve some kind of loss of physical or psychological power. When people have experienced trauma they want one thing only, and that is to feel powerful again.
Gangs help many youth feel some semblance of power in their lives. They are connected to a powerful group, for instance, or feel the power that comes with being accepted by others, taking daring risks and surviving, being feared by others, using mood-altering substances, —again, to name a few.
Effective gang diversion programs for youth should help the traumatized to feel powerful again – in good ways. Not every young person is able to respond in exactly the same way to exactly the same kind of program, so the programs need to be flexible and varied. Designers of programs also need to understand and be able to apply the most up-to-date research about trauma and the brain – which affects the ability to learn new information.
Read the Chicago Tribune for today, There is an article in there about a church group that met yesterday on the spot of a gang related shooting in front of a funeral home where 6 people were injured. The pastor of the church hit the nail on the head when he told the congregation that they can no longer ignore the gangs as if they don't exist and that it is time for the PARENTS to put their home in order and to control their children, to know who they are running with and know where they are at all times.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is plenty of truth in what Ms. Carnabucchi says, but I also think the more predominant reasons for kids joining gangs is the lack of parental responsibility to raise children with proper discipline (which is now defined as child abuse - thanks liberals), peer pressure from those who are already in gangs and the way the gang lifestyle is romanticized by gang members and Hollywood.
Put discipline back in the hands of the parents and make being a member of a gang illegal and punishable.
A big problem is that you have babies having babies. Those children growing up in this environment don't have a chance.
ReplyDelete