Youth-Led Movement Works To Create Crime- and Drug-Free Environments
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In October, Chiara Perkins, President of the Walton High School Youth Crime Watch (YCW), shared her experiences with national policymakers at the White House School Safety Summit.
In fact, Perkins, a junior at Walton High School in De Funiak Springs, FL, was the only student invited to participate on the Crime Prevention and Preparedness Panel, where she answered a question from President Bush and stressed the importance of youth and adults working as partners to make schools safe. She also met the President and sat with First Lady Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for a portion of the proceedings.
Perkins is an example of the caliber of youth leadership that the nonprofit organization Youth Crime Watch of America (YCWA) strives for in hundreds of YCW programs throughout the United States and abroad. YCWA promotes leadership skills development, self-esteem, positive role models, and community building. Its main goals are to—
- Create crime- and drug-free environments.
- Instill positive values, foster good citizenship, and build self-confidence in young people.
- Enable youth to become the resources needed to prevent drug use and other crimes in their schools and neighborhoods.
- Involve youth in community advancement.
The YCW model, partly adapted from adult Neighborhood Watch programs, calls for a core group of youth leaders to assess the major issues and problems facing their school or community, select the YCW components they will use to solve these problems, and collaborate with community institutions to implement these components. The key strengths of this model include the simplicity of its basic concept—to move quickly to create positive change—and, most important, youth ownership of the program.
YCWA—which is sponsored in part by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice—is currently undergoing a 4-year OJP impact study in middle and high schools. Interim results indicate that more than 90 percent of the program's advisors would start the program if they changed to a new location. Approximately 72 percent of the more than 700 youth interviewed said YCW improved safety in their school. Close to 33 percent indicated that they thought their YCW program reduced the number of crimes, amount of disorder, and number of students hanging out in hallways or bathrooms during class.
These preliminary findings agree with anecdotal evidence that YCWA has collected in its 20 years of establishing programs in local high schools and middle schools. YCW programs can significantly improve perceptions of safety in schools, create positive bonds between youth and community members and institutions, and encourage positive youth involvement in the community.
The Winston-Salem Housing Authority in North Carolina has 4 YCW sites with approximately 100 youth members. These sites were developed to be an integral part of the city's overall Weed and Seed strategy. To add to the program's visibility, youth receive special t-shirts whenever they participate in a service project. One innovative and highly enjoyable program developed by the Winston-Salem YCW is its summer basketball camp, which combines crime prevention seminars with plenty of basketball and other fun activities.
In Wetumpka, AL, the District Attorney's Office sponsored a YCW program 4 years ago under the leadership of Probation Officer Paul Griffin. Today, the 80 youth in YCW and their advisor, Sgt. Tyrone White of the Wetumpka Senior High School ROTC Program, conduct patrols and report suspected crimes and drug use. These activities have resulted in 6 drug busts, generating 12 criminal cases. Drug use is down 70 percent. According to Wetumpka YCW President Jimmel Cox, smoking in bathrooms has decreased by 25 percent in the past year and by 75 percent over the first 3 years of the program. Officials have also noticed a reduction in gang activity and a complete disappearance of graffiti.
In Ross County—the second poorest county in Ohio—the Chillocothe Metropolitan Housing Authority YCW has seen membership increase in recent years from a core group of 7 to more than 50 youth members, half of whom come from public housing. The group has a strong relationship with the public schools and emphasizes the importance of a good education. One example of this emphasis is that members are not allowed to attend regular YCW meetings unless they have completed their homework. The group has built shelters for public bus stops in the city, conducts regular food drives in partnership with UPS and FedEx, and recently raised $81,000 in 3 weeks to help the city retain a public swimming pool.
In Providence, RI—an area of heavy gang activity—Bridgham Middle School's YCW group held a rally to raise awareness of and funds for a local domestic violence shelter and to educate community members about domestic violence.
YCWA recently hosted its 18th Annual National Youth Crime Prevention Conference and International Forum, a 4-day conference focusing on the practices and skills needed to develop successful youth crime prevention initiatives. It has become the premier anticrime training conference for youth and adults in the United States and attracts more than 1,600 crime prevention advocates each year.
For more information, contact:
Youth Crime Watch of America
9200 South Dadeland Boulevard, Suite 417
Miami, FL 33156
