By Andrew Silva
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Pledging to throw state support behind local efforts to reduce gang violence, the first-ever state director of gang and youth policy was named Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Former U.S. Attorney Paul Seave, 52, will coordinate the governor’s California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program, or CalGRIP, which was created in May.
With more than 10,000 gang-related murders in California in the past 20 years, Seave called it “one of the most distressing problems facing California.”
Inland Empire cities such as San Bernardino and Pomona have been racked for years by gang violence that too often has claimed innocent children as victims.
Steering kids clear of gangs and toward good-paying jobs will be a main focus of the program, he said.
“Law enforcement by itself cannot solve the problem,” Seave said during a telephone press conference.
It’s up to local governments, churches and community groups to develop programs and strategies, he said.
The state can help by directing grant money to local efforts that look promising, he said.
Seave starts with a staff of three, but the governor also announced a 10-member gang advisory committee.
The governor also made available $2.8 million in Workforce Investment Act funds for job training for youth in gangs or likely to wind up in gangs.
“In order to bring about change in gang violence ... we have to offer hope and an alternative future” that includes jobs with financial security, said Victoria Bradshaw, secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
Cities, agencies and nonprofit community groups may apply for a piece of the money.
The need for carpenters, auto technicians, electricians and other skilled workers is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years, providing an opportunity to get kids dreaming about high-paying jobs, she said.
San Bernardino’s Operation Phoenix, which sought to clean up one of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods with a combination of increased enforcement and community programs, is the type of program the state is looking to support, said advisory committee member Jack Calhoun, president of Hope Matters and leader of the 13 California City Gang Prevention Network.
“It’s got to be locally grounded,” he said.
Seave will coordinate anti-gang programs at the state level and his office will act as clearing house for grants and information on anti-gang efforts.
He already has experience in multi-agency gang work; his office prosecuted more than 20 Stockton gang members as part of a larger program that cut the homicide rate in Stockton by three-quarters, according to the profile from the governor’s office.
Copyright 2007 The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin