Youth Violence Prevention Plan Comes to Committee

The work started with the resolution recognizing youth violence as a public health problem that I introduced last November is approaching completion. The resolution called for the creation of a 30-member Youth Violence Prevention Steering Committee to develop a comprehensive plan to address youth violence. The group, made up of City, County and community experts, has drafted an impressive a multi-year approach, coordinating education, outreach, funding and policy across the City and County.

First, I want to let you know I am very proud of all the work we have done so far and very excited about seeing our plan moved forward for approval and implementation.

But, I am writing primarily to let you know that we have decided to bring the Violence Prevention Plan into the Council Process a little sooner then expected. There will be a report to the Health Energy and Environment Committee on Monday. I apologize for this short notice, but during discussion with the chair of the committee, Scott Benson, it became clear that in order for us to have a public hearing and get the full Council to approve the plan by the end of the year we had to get this into the Council process quickly.

So, on Monday November 5th a draft of that plan will come before the Health Energy and Environment Committee at 1:30 pm in City Hall. The Mayor and Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant will present to the committee members the most current draft of the report. The action I intend to “move” includes three things:

1) To receive and file the draft report,

2) To set a Public Hearing on The Plan for December 10th at 1:30 pm,

3) To create a new full time city position dedicated to implementing the recommendations with the hiring contingent on Council approved funding in the 2008 budget (as proposed by the Mayor).

I hope people will pay attention to the draft report presentation this Monday. It is not yet posted on the web, but should be then. I would be interested in learning what people think. Also, if this is an issue you care about, coming and speaking on the 10th at the public hearing may even be more helpful.

If all goes well, I expect we will also have at least one evening community meeting to present the plan. I am not sure if this will be an official “public hearing” of the committee or not.

This has been one of my top priorities throughout the year and, again, I must stress how proud, honored and grateful I am to have been a part of this.

It is only a beginning, but I think it will be a good and powerful next step to help reduce the tenacious and tragic problems of youth violence in Minneapolis.
For more information see http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/communications/YouthViolencePrevention_home.asp