Howdy everyone!

Today Lisa and I spent the day in Morganton, NC attending the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association's Gang Awareness Symposium, and all-day event designed to educate about gang and gang activity in our state.

As many of you may know, we are active in serving gang-involved and youth at-risk of gang-involvement in Western North Carolina, and events like this keep us informed and aware of new trends and developments that affect us and the kids we serve.

Today's symposium had an Overview of Gangs in North Carolina and, although no one would really expect North Carolina to rate high on such a scale, there are over 550 gangs across 62 counties in our state. Pretty surprising numbers, wouldn't you think?

Also part of the day was a presentation on Psychology Behind Gangs, along with a presentation by Gang of One(tm), a Charlotte-based program that offers a variety of services, such as prevention, intervention, suppression and reentry of former "gang-bangers" back into society. It's a large collaborative effort that is well worth a look!

Like the many programs involved in Gang of One (tm), Horse Sense of the Carolinas is part of a larger collaborative effort in our own Buncombe County called the Gang Violence Prevention Program, begun in 2006. Our Running With Mustangs curriculum is the culmination of our five years of work in the field with adjudicated and incarcerated youth.

To learn more about gangs and possible gang activity in your area, visit this website called Helping Gang Youth. While there, be sure to download the National Youth Gang Survey 1996-2000. Although a bit outdated, it's still a great reference. Or, contact your local police department and ask if they have any upcoming trainings or educational presentations about gangs in your community!

All the best,

Hey guys!

Just getting back in from the 3rd Annual Youth Violence Prevention Conference in Charlotte, NC, which took place today, March 25th. There were some wonderful presentations on a variety of topics. The focus of the conference was "Girls Gone Wild: The Rising Tide of Violence in Young Females."

Among our keynote speakers was Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a nationally recognized public health leader and author of Sugar & Spice and No Longer Nice: How We Can Stop Girls' Violence and Murder is No Accident: Understanding and Preventing Youth Violence in America. It was an honor to hear her speak about the topic, and I'd like to draw attention to a few of her key points.

She talked about there being 3 Waves of Youth Violence in the United States, pointing to the First Wave of young male violence in urban poor neighborhoods, such as in Chicago, New York and other big cities. We're all familiar with that wave. The Second Wave is the one characterized by the suburban, rural, smaller-town feel, such as Columbine. The Third Wave she points to is with girls and young women, the topic of today's conference. (She hinted at her thoughts toward a Fourth Wave, that of much younger children and violence.)

Perhaps the most interesting idea was revealed when she spoke about the Risk Factors that foster youth violence. They include:

• Poverty
  
• Access to Guns
• Alcohol/Drug Use
• Biological/Organic Abnormalities
• Culture of Violence

The first 4 risk factors are equally evident for both boys and girls (girls and boys have similar rates of poverty, similar access to guns, etc.). She pointed to the last one as on the rise for girls, that our society is now actively "marketing violence to girls," a la Zena the Warrior Princess and such. While violence has always been marketing to some degree to boys, it's now being "sold" to girls more and more. I'm intrigued by this idea, and find merit in it.

If you have a chance to look at her work, I think you'll find it illuminating. And she was just one speaker among many for the day!

All the best,

Shannon

The first day of the Strides to Success workshop is behind us, and I can't say enough good about this organization. Kacey, Laura and myself are all here in chilly Indiana to participate in a 4 day workshop on developing EAL programs with and for your local school systems. It's already been well worth the trip, and it's only day one!

Today was primarily a classroom day, with lots of important information about working with schools, designing lesson plans, and learning about how to talk to your school system. It reminds me a lot of what I often say about Juvenile Justice: it's not rocket-science to figure it out, but it is a specialized language for a unique audience that you need to learn about and be familiar with before you can make any inroads.

While this is true for any new program you develop, it's amazing how often I see programs just thinking they'll wake up tomorrow, march in to Important-Potential-Client's office, and blow them away by the EAP/EAL program, culminating in signing them up for a 5 year contract on the spot. There's a little more elbow grease that goes into it, not to mention trial and error!

Already they've addressed some of the troubles we'd encountered in our attempts to get a school program up and running beyond a semester-long program. We'd had good feedback and positive experiences, but something always seemed missing. Turns out we just didn't know what we didn't know. That's why I recommend seeking the experts who have already trudged the road before and learned, sometimes the hard way, the best ways to grow and develop.

Also, I'm delighted to see so many others here who tell me they came after stumbling upon the Strides information on the Horse Sense website or based on hearing Debbie Anderson, Executive Director and Co-founder of Strides in our Free Monthly Telecall with her recently. (If you missed the call, you can download the notes for free by visiting here. You can also purchase the MP3 & the transcript at the same site.) My goal of driving folks to high-quality programs and programming is working, and I'm honored to be a part of your journey to a successful EAP/EAL program in your community!

All the best!

Shannon