Weekly Media Roundup - May 29, 2013

Executive Director of the Central California Intelligence Center Herb Brown responds to a recent Sacramento Bee editorial on gangs. He writes, “Success in combating violent street gangs requires both brawn – police officers and sheriff's deputies, ‘cops and clergy,’ after-school programs and community-based activities for youth – and brains in how we gather intelligence and give it to those who need it… One sure-fire method of reducing a gang's reach and power is to reduce its recruiting capabilities. The Sheriff's Department Youth Services Unit (within the IMPACT program) is at the core of outreach and mentoring to vulnerable youths. It provides youth leadership, summer camps, lunchtime activities and sports programs. The unit is a long-term cooperative program focused on providing kids with life-enhancing options outside of joining gangs. In just six short months, the unit has mentored and engaged more than 1,000 youths in our community, which will hopefully translate into 1,000 fewer gangsters on the street.”

 

Since January, a group of Pittsfield High School afterschool students has been researching, writing, designing and filming a new television show called “SciTV" for Pittsfield Community Television, The Berkshire Eagle reports. The first segment on invasive species is set to screen in June and students are putting together another segment on space. The science-based afterschool program is funded through a federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant.

 

Students from two New Orleans afterschool programs collected and presented more than 600 dozen recycled Mardi Gras beads and two art pieces made out of beads to The Arc, a program that helps people with intellectual disabilities. Afterschool leaders said not only did the students learn about reusing and recycling in a creative way, but they also learned about the importance of giving back to their community, The Advocate reports.   

 

High-school peer educators in Cleveland are using the hours after school to educate other teens about safe sex. Since the program with Case Western Reserve University's Infectious Disease Alliance launched last year, project facilitators have noticed that the peer educators and the sexual education curriculum are in high demand. As of yet, there is no evidence that the peer educators are reversing trends of sexually transmitted infections in the neighborhoods, “but there is data that indicates the peer educators know the information and feel comfortable sharing it with others, and that knowledge filters into the community,” The Plain Dealer reports.