"If the churches took half the money that they was making and gave it back to the community, we'd be all right" - Tupac

There's been a lot of press on gangs/youth violence lately ~ Seattle's had more than its fair share of killings this year.

Today's article in the PI is interesting, to say the least. (Thanks for the link Kirk!)

There's a couple area nonprofits working to target gang involved youth, but their funding is dicey, and the City isn't too keen on supporting them - I've heard from various sources it's not fiscally responsible to throw money after 17 year olds who've dropped out of school and of life, it takes too much money to go after them. The City is more likely to fund Early Learning stuff. Great, I say. Early learning's awesome. But the reality is there are 17 year old kids who need supports, and while I'm not an advocate of throwing pearls before swine, I am an advocate of funding community based programs that reach kids, no matter where they're at. (Check out the Human Services Coalition's budget recs. by the way, since the City is facing a big shortfall.)

Maybe King County will find money in the budget for gang prevention, although their shortfall is going to be larger than Seattle's this year.

On Monday, folks are invited to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission to help develop a community strategy for gang prevention in the region. Anyone interested can register at brown paper tickets.