Auburn joins Suburban Gang Council in changing the future for kids and communities

Published 11:15 am Wednesday, January 7, 2015

For the Reporter

Gangs are not just a big city problem. They’ve also moved to the suburbs.

The Auburn School District and others in suburban King County have recognized escalating problems with gangs and associated drugs and crime.

The King County Sheriff’s Office estimates that as many as 5,000 kids and young adults belong to nearly 90 different gangs in the Auburn, Bellevue, Federal Way, Highline, Kent, Renton and Tukwila school districts. Many more are at risk of following the lure of gang membership.

“This is a tragic waste of potential for the youth who become caught up in a world that puts their futures, their very lives and the safety of their communities at risk,” said retired Washington State Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge, founding president and CEO of the Center for Children & Youth Justice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reforming the state’s juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

“These young men and women deserve a chance at a healthy future, a happy life, an opportunity to beat the odds and thrive,” she said.

That’s why the Center initiated the Suburban King County Coordinating Council on Gangs in 2011. The Council has brought together schools, law enforcement, policymakers, social service providers and other organizations to develop a coordinated and innovative approach to prevent violence, save lives and change the future for our communities. The Auburn School District is a member of the council.

It’s the first multi-jurisdictional effort in the nation to use a proven model of success to address gang involvement in a large region.

At the start of 2015, the council will coordinate the first outreach teams deployed to intervene with gang-involved youth. The teams will connect youth with the services and guidance they need for a more positive future – drug and alcohol treatment, mental health and anger management counseling, job training and placement, GED tutoring and other education services, mentoring and more.

“We want to increase the availability of these kinds of services and make them better coordinated, more effective and more efficient,” Bridge explained. “But gangs are a community problem, and we need our community to join us in this effort.”

Here are a few ways you can get involved:

• Become more educated and aware of the issue.

• Serve as a mentor or a tutor. Local organizations like the YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs are great places to volunteer.

• Hire a young person who deserves a second chance.

• Contact local policymakers and ask them to support efforts that help gang-involved youth.

• Support the nonprofit organizations in your community that are helping to end gang violence and offer more positive pathways to gang members.

To learn more or share your ideas for how you can make a difference, contact Anica Stieve at 206-696-7503, ext. 20, or astieve@ccyj.org.