City officials float ideas to tackle youth gun violence

Tragedy struck in Dorchester last week when 16-year-old Jonathan Dos Santos was shot and killed, allegedly by two teenagers. As the city grapples with the loss of yet another young life, elected officials are trying to come up with innovative ways to tackle the problem of gun violence.

City Hall soon will hold a hearing on the issue, with an attempt to provide a comprehensive look.

“The objective is to do an analysis of all the programs out there and what we’re doing as a whole,” said Councilor Tito Jackson in a phone conversation with the Banner last week.

One idea that Jackson has floated is a model used in Richmond, California that specifically targeted a small pool of individuals who were identified as the main sources of local violence. The Richmond program provided mentorship and guidance in achieving basic education and employment goals, in combination with stipends as a financial incentive to stick to the plan.

Jackson said he thought about implementing a similar program in Boston after having conversations with community leaders.

“The conversations made me want to include [the idea] in the hearing we were already pulling together,” said Jackson.

He said that he wanted to look at creative violence prevention solutions, saying that to do otherwise would be like “people in an insane asylum who continue to mop up the floor instead of turning off the faucet.”

The Richmond concept, he said, would build on Boston’s existing targeted crime-fighting initiative known as Partnerships Advancing Communities Together (PACT), started in July 2010. That program identifies “high impact” gang affiliates and provides them with intensive social and financial support to motivate them to leave gangs.

“The police department identifies 300 impact players who are driving 80 percent of the shootings in the City of Boston,” Jackson said. “The City of Boston knows who these people are.”

The difference introduced by something like the Richmond model, he said, is that it would not be linked to the police department and would be privately funded through donations from foundations and other groups.

The idea is still in the conceptual stage and will be fleshed out more at the hearing, which is yet to be scheduled.

“I’ve gotten a range of feedback, some positive [and] some negative,” Jackson said. “It’s important to have a conversation about the range of things we’re doing.”

Building a future

Last week highlighted another program that city leaders hope will provide a remedy to long-running problems of violence.

A graduation ceremony for the Operation Exit program at the Sheetmetal Workers Local 17 site in Dorchester served as the capstone for a several weeks-long training program that prepares at-risk young adults to enter apprenticeship programs in the building trades.

The program, now in its second year, grew out of an earlier program called Building Pathways that Mayor Martin Walsh created before he was elected mayor, when he served as head of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Boston. According to his bio, Walsh collaborated on the program with the Boston Housing Authority in order to increase building trade job opportunities for people of color and women.

In his speech to the Operation Exit graduates, Walsh detailed the process of convincing all the players involved of the program’s worth.

“A lot of trade directors were hesitant,” he said of Building Pathways when it first began. “They didn’t see the commitment of people in [pre-apprenticeship] programs before.”

After several rounds of success, however, that perception changed.

“They were all fighting over a [program] graduate,” he said. “They got a chance to see what Building Pathways does.”

Building Pathways remains in operation. Its offspring, the city-run Operation Exit, is different from its predecessor in that it specifically targets young people ages 18 to 24 who are the most at-risk for gang involvement – often having experienced high exposure to violence and involvement in the criminal justice system. Participants must be referred to the program through a street worker, community organization or other referrer.

However, the program maintains the same goal of increasing employment for those who have struggled to find work.

“The opportunity to change your life and the path for you is incredible,” Walsh told the graduates at last week’s ceremony. “I don’t care what your CORI says [or] what you did in your past. I care about the future.”

Collective action

He also made explicit reference to the recent shootings of Dos Santos and 7-year-old Divan Silva in separate incidents in Dorchester.

“Once you get your feet on the ground, you’ve got to help me with what’s going on in the streets,” he said to the graduates. “A lot of you in this room can help me with this work. … A lot of gang leaders are targeting 14 year-olds in this city. Well, you know what? I’m targeting them too,” he said to applause from the group.

Walsh added a note about the police department.

“I’m proud of the work we’re doing in our police department,” he said. “They understand the importance of making sure there’s good community relations there.”

Police Commissioner William Evans spoke after Walsh, adding that he and Walsh were going to attend the graduation for the latest class of cadets from the police academy after the Operation Exit ceremony.

“They have a great opportunity also to make the city a great place,” Evans said of the new police class. “I made it clear [to them] they were not to be locking kids up, not to be crime fighters…but to be community partners.”

Evans added an appeal for community cooperation.

“We need you to spread the message to these young kids that getting in trouble isn’t the way to go….We see too much trouble on the streets. Please partner with us, because we need all the help we can get.”

The graduates of the program said it had been helpful to them in expanding the career options to them.

Victor Rodriguez of Roxbury said that he had been trying to get a foothold into one of the trade unions since he was released from prison in 2012. He applied to the Operation Exit program on the recommendation of a friend and, having completed it, has now been accepted into a sheet metal workers’ union apprenticeship program set to begin in August. The apprenticeship program lasts five years.

Another graduate, Ryan Leary of Dorchester, said he was referred to Operation Exit after a family friend who was a police officer noticed he was not headed in a positive direction.

“He was looking out,” Leary said.