04-05-17 Community Relations - Laserfiche WebLink

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proactive group. It just so happens that we have to be reactive to make sure our leaders and institutions are held accountable by the community. One time we occupied a bus corner for a family that had a deaf and blind man harassing their children saying the n-word, so the police came and found out he was a sex offender. Being there for the community when no one else is there is what we're about. Schools need due process. Dr. Omar Johnson is a very good scholar and says we have to have people be present in the office when these kids are called to the office. Councilmember Tim Scott stated, I think the center at Fremont is under the Housing Authority. What we need to do, and I'll take initiative on this, is refresh that. They went through an organizational change and up to that point,they wouldn't give any resources or time after. They were a nine (9)to five (5). It was shut down and they wouldn't even look at volunteers. I think we need to look at that again.Now that they have new organization and new structure, I think we can do that. The last few years, we haven't gotten anywhere with this so I would like to move forward with this. Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, Tell us a little bit about your structure as an organization. Are you a not-for-profit? What's your funding and what's your sense of numbers served? Mr. Casey replied, A lot of kids and advocate members that are already working with kids find out about what we are doing on Facebook. One of our members,Antonius, brought in eight(8) kids and helped them out. (Committeemember Gavin Ferlic left the meeting.) Our company as a whole is a non-profit. We just got 501(c)(3) status on one of the things we do called `Rise Up,' which is an alternative to gangs. We have ten (10) members right now and are not accepting any new members because we are still working on creating a structure. We will be doing a thing called `Black Power Summer,' one (1) of the first things we will be doing to kick that off is a trash-pick-up. We are looking for fifty(50)people to do that. We also have a Black Intelligence Panel and we are also planning an `I Have a Dream Speech' ceremony for the anniversary of that. Committee Chair Williams-Preston then gave the floor to the next presenter. Isaac Hunt, Regional Manager for Group Violence Intervention, stated, Today we are going to talk about what social services do and how they do it. There are seventy-two (72) partners in the City of South Bend. Our motto is `Take a step, you're not alone, and walk with me.' There is a point of contact for each partner, and response rate is typically within twenty-four(24)to seventy-two (72)hours. The GVI strategy is a three (3)pronged approach: the community, social services, and law enforcement. I would like to emphasize that social services is not law enforcement. Clients receive services confidentially. We do not share information with law enforcement. We mentor and currently have thirty-five (35) guys that meet bi-weekly and deal with adequate/in-adequate thinking. We deal with men, but women as well. Maintaining employment or dealing with sobriety, we replace that toxic structure with a healthy one. Gangs are not illegal, it is the activity of the gang that makes it illegal. A lot of the young men don't want to be involved with what they are in. The unemployment rate for young men ages eighteen (18)to twenty-five (25) in the Latino and Hispanic communities is very high in the City of South Bend. We work with kids, making sure they have food to eat and do their homework because it helps the whole nucleus of the family. We may be helping the individual, but they still have to go 3