Representatives of the business, public safety and nonprofit sectors came together Wednesday morning to learn about specific initiatives aimed at reducing violent crime in Wilmington.
The event, dubbed “Crime Hurts Kids … and Business,” highlighted efforts underway to give young people alternatives to gang membership in Wilmington’s Northside neighborhood, where poverty and unemployment are issues. The Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and Wilmington Chamber Foundation sponsored the talk.
Officials at the event announced two sizable donations for the Youth Enrichment Zone Summer Initiative, a program of academics and enrichment activities that will be piloted this summer at D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy with 60 young people.
A $10,000 gift from Wilmington attorney George Rountree III and $5,000 from John Monteith, owner of Monteith Construction Corp., will go toward the initiative, which will cost about $75,000.
Wednesday’s event brought in another $6,000 in donations, officials said.
“There are many ways that crime negatively impacts our community, but one that isn’t often noted is economic development,” chamber board chairman Rickey Godwin said in a statement. “We want the business community to take a more active role in helping us attract and retain businesses by reducing the chances our young people will become involved in gangs and other illegal activities. The first step is understanding the root of the issue.”
During the breakfast at Cape Fear Community College’s Union Station, district attorney Ben David presented an overview of crime statistics over the last few years, pointing out that while crime in general has declined in Wilmington, violent crime is on the rise.
“What we’re fighting, when we talk about violence, is poverty, food insecurity and lack of family structure,” he said. “Young people look to adults for love and guidance. When parents and adults are absent, they get it from the street, from gangs.”
David described the formation in 2008 of Wilmington’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the Prevention of Youth Violence and its emphasis on education, especially educational initiatives aimed at very young at-risk children, who often start kindergarten lacking in skills their middle-class counterparts have learned and who continue to fall behind their more privileged contemporaries with each successive summer of academic slippage.
Basing efforts on a successful model from New York City’s Harlem community, the commission established a Youth Enrichment Zone in Northside and began focusing its efforts through D.C. Virgo when it reopened in August 2012.
To provide much-needed summer learning opportunities, David and the Blue Ribbon Commission are raising money to fund the Youth Enrichment Zone’s Summer Initiative.
Jana Jones Halls, the Blue Ribbon Commission’s executive director, said the program would be conducted by BELL, a national nonprofit educational organization. It will employ New Hanover County teachers and Northside residents to facilitate the program and will partner with several local nonprofits such as Dreams of Wilmington, Kids Making It and Wilmington Health Access for Teens.
“When kids return to the classroom in August, their first assignment is often to write about what they did during the summer. Many kids write about family vacations or summer camps. The Summer Initiative will enable these kids to write their summer story as well,” Jones Halls said.
D.C. Virgo principal Eric Irizarry spoke about the school’s progress since it reopened with a sixth-grade class of 125. Now, with both sixth and seventh grades, enrollment is at 220 and average daily attendance is the highest of any school in the district, he said.
Irizarry pointed to the problem of summer learning loss among students in poor neighborhoods. “The biggest concern our parents face over the summer is finding opportunities for their children to be engaged in educational programs that keep them safe and help close the learning gap,” he said.
