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CITY OF
DENVER, CO
Mayor Wellington E.
Webb
COMBATING
YOUTH VIOLENCE Every City requires two things
for success: public safety and strong schools. Therefore, the Mayor’s Office of
the City and County of Denver has undertaken a number of major initiatives to
address youth violence in schools and in the community at each therapeutic
level. The Mayor’s Office of Education and Advocacy focuses on prevention, the
Safe City Office, created in the Mayor’s Office and now housed in the Department
of Safety, focuses on youth intervention and treatment. They bring together the
resources of the City, the federal government and the community to direct
Denver’s young people toward good citizenship.
Two new initiatives are both
supported by Justice Department grants: one a prevention model, the Beacons
Adaptation Project, and one a prevention and intervention model, High School
Resource Officers.
BACKGROUND:
The focus of Safe City and of
Education and Advocacy initiatives has been on structured extracurricular
programs, leadership development, counseling and school tutorials. These
activities resulted in a 25 percent reduction in youth crime since 1993. Among
the many programs are:
- Safenite Curfew and
Diversion, $623,000 a year from General Fund, 5,000 youths;
- Safe City community
prevention grants, $1 million annually from General Funds,
- Great Kids literacy grants,
$500,000 a year for 3 years from federal block grants for literacy programs
related to the return to neighborhood schools;
- Summer Youth Jobs, $683,400
from vacancy savings, General Fund, for summer and after school jobs with the
City for 300 14-18 year olds;
- Club Denver middle school
career exploration after-school clubs in all public middle schools; $300,000 a
year, for more than 1,000 youth, in fields of arts, aviation, firefighters,
medics, river and riverfront redevelopment and Teachers. Business Club Denver
will start this year.
- Mile High Scholars, an honors
celebration for one child per grade per school at the end of each semester;
$15,000 a year in private funds for 1,100 students kindergarten –12th grade,
and for 6,000 family members and friends who attend the twice a school-year
event.
- Listo!, a pilot summer school
bridge program for eighth graders going into ninth grade at North High, a
largely Latino high school in northwest Denver, which has a 50 percent
graduation rate. Funding for the first year was a mix of private grants and
block grant funds for 35 youth. This project was conceived, developed and
managed by Latino members of the Mayor’s staff and Cabinet.
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The United States Conference of Mayors
J. Thomas Cochran, Executive Director
1620 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Telephone (202) 293-7330, FAX (202) 293-2352
Copyright © 1999, US Conference of Mayors, All rights reserved.
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