Mayor Rybak and Chief Dolan Lead Effort Against Youth Violence at National Summit on Violent Crime
Rybak, Dolan will Speak to Summit about Minneapolis’ Youth Violence Strategy
Sept. 25, 2007 (MINNEAPOLIS) – Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan are in Chicago today attending the National Summit on Violent Crime in America hosted by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). The national summit will discuss juvenile crime and strategies to address this complex challenge. Mayor Rybak and Chief Dolan will present to the national gathering of mayors and police chiefs on the strategies and lessons learned from Minneapolis’ multiple efforts to reduce youth violence implemented over the last year.
"Like most large cities in America today, Minneapolis continues to face violent crime that is too high," Mayor Rybak said. "The most troubling part of this problem is that the crime we are fighting too often involves violent, heavily armed young people who are being recruited into smaller, more violent gangs. Added to this is a breakdown of family, the proliferation of illegal guns, a culture of violence and retaliation among hopeless youth, and state and federal budget cuts that have lacerated crime enforcement and prevention programs. Left in the wings are too may kids raising themselves and too many kids having kids of their own."
As the Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Mayors and Police Chiefs Task Force, Mayor Rybak is working to create a national agenda against youth violence that would include federal and state as well as local recommendations to stem youth violence. Today’s summit in Chicago comes one year after a similar summit in Washington, DC where Mayor Rybak and Chief Dolan co-led the first meeting of mayors and chiefs discussing current youth violence trends in America.
The summit also comes on the heals of the release of Mayor Rybak’s 2008 city budget that once again significantly increases funding for a wide range of public safety and youth violence initiatives. Mayor Rybak’s proposal calls for $200.1 million in public safety programs for the next year, funds the largest police force in more than five years, and addresses the root causes of juvenile crime with funding to prevent youth violence and build economic opportunity.
Included in Mayor Rybak’s plan to curb youth violence was continued funding for the police department’s Juvenile Crime Unit, $100,000 for a new "one-stop" juvenile curfew and truancy resource center in City Hall, $100,000 to implement recommendations from Minneapolis’ Youth Violence Prevention Committee, continued funding for the STEP UP youth summer jobs program, and nearly $675,000 for the Youth Coordinating Board, including $150,000 to fund the "Youth Are Here" youth activity circulator bus year-round.
Published Sep. 25, 2007