Thanks UU for posting that. I too am a big believer in having programs for kids to keep them off the streets. We may not be able to reach some of the kids that are already in gangs, but having programs could prevent kids, especially younger ones, from joining in the first place. It's pretty obvious that kids in the gangs around here have very little to do besides the bad stuff they're doing.
The problem is that we keep focusing on making sure younger children have something to do so that they won't be bored and later join gangs. The only problem is that we've been using this same approach to keep kids out of gangs for the last 30 or so years and it doesn't seem to be working.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing this, but perhaps there's a better solution out there because this current approach has not worked.
Thanks UU for posting that. I too am a big believer in having programs for kids to keep them off the streets. We may not be able to reach some of the kids that are already in gangs, but having programs could prevent kids, especially younger ones, from joining in the first place. It's pretty obvious that kids in the gangs around here have very little to do besides the bad stuff they're doing.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that we keep focusing on making sure younger children have something to do so that they won't be bored and later join gangs. The only problem is that we've been using this same approach to keep kids out of gangs for the last 30 or so years and it doesn't seem to be working.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying we shouldn't be doing this, but perhaps there's a better solution out there because this current approach has not worked.
Part of the problem is keeping kids off the street during the day/afternoon.
ReplyDeleteAnother part of the problem is the home environment.
Without a good home environment, these programs aren't going to work.
There is no one panacea for Uptown's violence problems.
ReplyDeleteInstead of poo-pooing one idea, let's start thinking about how we can build and grow good ideas.