Share:

Formerly the city’s Ad Hoc Committee, now known as the Pasadena Youth Development and Violence Prevention Committee, will discuss the implementation of a master plan for youth at the Community Education Center today.”The charge of the [Violence Prevention Committee] is of critical importance. I think we are off to a good start [by] trying to deconstruct it into doable and manageable parts,” said Board of Trustees President Consuelo Rey Castro, who represents PCC on the panel.

Meetings commenced Oct. 29 of the newly appointed Subcommittee for Master Plan Consultant Selection & Management, comprised of PCC Trustee Jeanette Mann, Pastor Jean Burch, Jackie Corby, Tim Kelly, Jacque Robinson, and Najeeba Syeed-Miller, a respected community activist who often works closely with the Pasadena City Council.

The decision to form a master plan resulted from a discussion in the Violence Prevention committee’s meeting Oct. 18, when the hiring of a third-party consultant to help the Committee identify gaps in services and best practices on youth development, and reviewing the master plan for youths being used in the cities of Sierra Madre, La Canada, Arcadia, and Pomona was considered, according to the committee’s minutes.

The subcommittee will have the Western Justice Center Foundation – which specializes in designing, implementing, evaluating and promoting innovative methods to prevent conflict, bringing resolution to youths and communities – to help identify potential consultants to help develop the master plan and to advise the Violence Prevention Committee on a budget. The subcommittee will report what it has come up with in today’s meeting.

“We will try to work towards action; toward specific goals; towards focusing on two, three or four doable things,” said Mann. “We have an opportunity to really make a difference.”

The subcommittee estimated that it will take a budget of up to $50,000 to support a team of consultants, a number that may vary considerably after hourly rates and the number of consultants are set.

The subcommittee proposes hiring a lead consultant who will be responsible for gathering a team with experience in youth/family development and gang violence reduction. The team would include individuals with expertise working with the African-American and Latino communities, particularly in Pasadena and Altadena.

“I think [PCC’s] contribution [would be] more on the youth-development side, rather than violence prevention,” said Mann.

“We are very interested in having part of the action plan. one part would have to be on raising academic achievement and the other would be on job-training, and that’s where we shine,” she added.

Follow: