Community Summit: A Call To Action - 10 Ways We Can Reduce Youth Violence

Topic area: Bullying and Violence Prevention

Santa Rosa, California, sits in the heart of one of America's fastest growing counties, about 1 hour north of San Francisco. As the county seat, this city of 130,000 is home to many of the services that support the county's agricultural and increasingly high-tech and service workforce. Nearly one-third of the residents consider themselves Hispanic, and roughly 10 percent are of Asian descent. The nine school districts within the city limits serve nearly 28,000 students.

In the spring of 1997, several incidents of youth violence—including fist fights, knifings and shootings—caught the attention of local leaders. In March, Vice Mayor Janet Condron convened a group of community leaders to discuss recent events and determine if any action should and could be taken. The group included Police Chief Mike Dunbaugh, County Schools Superintendent Tom Crawford, many district superintendents, representatives of city departments including Parks & Recreation, and key figures from juvenile justice, youth-serving agencies and the faith community.

Community Matters was invited to make recommendations about a prudent course of action. Our counsel included:

1. Configure the existing group as an ongoing Steering Committee, whose purpose would be to
   • convene a community-wide summit to address the issue of youth violence and its prevention
   • coordinate collaboration on the implementation of recommendations and projects that might come out of the summit
2. Expand Steering Committee membership to include youth, and support their participation. These recommendations were adopted, and a subcommittee was formed to work with Community Matters on the design and preparation of the summit.

Since no funds had been budgeted for this undertaking, Vice Mayor Condron invited the Steering Committee members to make monetary commitments of support; Roseland School District Superintendent Les Crawford led the way by announcing his pledge of $200, and others followed suit, securing over $1500 in that first round of fund raising. All costs of the summit were eventually covered by local agencies and businesses, through cash and in-kind contributions.

Community Matters helped the group identify outcomes for the summit, which led to its name: A Call to Action. Members were concerned that this effort lead to practical steps that all citizens could take, and not just a set of recommendations for government officials to consider.

From those outcomes, the 'ideal' participant group was profiled: a broad cross-section of the community, with all conceivable sectors represented. To build interest in summit participation, and stir the community thought-process prior to the event, subcommittee members worked with the local paper, the Press Democrat. Editors agreed to research and run a series of articles on the subject of youth violence in the months leading up to the summit, and even included reader surveys.

A community-wide PR blitz was coupled with targeted invitations to get the 'right' group of people to attend. Schools provided release time for staff and students, and businesses supported employees' participation in the summit.

More than 25 local professionals volunteered to facilitate small-group discussions and planning during the summit. They received an orientation and training from Community Matters prior to the summit.

On May 27, 1997, a diverse group of 300 youth and adults participated in the day-long summit. They cultivated new relationships across the lines of age, ethnicity, and occupation, and created a common vision. They heard panel presentations, engaged in creative problem-solving and thoughtful discussion. And they not only produced ten recommendations but formed citizen action teams to oversee the implementation of their ideas.

See: Summits

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