November 2009 - Parks & Recreation - 50

At Right -
Sherman Park
in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
Below -
Kids Primetime in
Denver, Colorado

In the past, most cities dealt with gangs by using " suppression, " a fancy
term for arrest. But in recent
years, officials have concluded that if gang violence is
to be dealt with, there have
to be alternatives. As Mukri
says, " We can't arrest our way
out of this; we have to come
up with something different. "
Other park and recreation leaders agree.
" You can always put a cop in a car and have him sit
there, " says Sue Black, director of Milwaukee County
Parks, which includes the city and surrounding areas. " But you have to get kids into positive programs.
If they plant a tree, they're vested in that
tree and won't vandalize it. "
Black means that literally. One of her
department's programs is a partnership
with Urban Ecology Centers, which reaches out to Milwaukee's children and adults
to teach them about the natural world. It
uses the county's parks and waterways
as classrooms, with courses in native
plants, kayaking, canoeing, and wildlife.
" I want 10 of these centers in our parks
in 10 years, " she says. " I want the urban
ecology centers to be a combination of nature center
and ecology teaching center for our kids. "
The Milwaukee system, like its counterparts everywhere, has limited funds and staff, so, says Black, " I'll
partner with everybody. " She has joined forces with
the Boys and Girls Clubs, a golf program for city kids
called First Tee, a tennis program, a year-round camp
for inner city kids. She's especially proud of her system's
success in turning Bradford Beach, a Lake Michigan

landmark that had fallen
on hard times, into a Blue
Wave beach that is so
filled with activities of
all kinds that something
is always going on and
gangs that had made it
their turf now stay away.
Ask Black what age
group she tries to target,
and she answers quickly: " All of them. When they're
24, they're still kids to me. " The Urban Ecology Center
begins with kindergartners, for example, but runs all
the way through elementary school, and high school
kids can get jobs in the park system through a tie with
AmeriCorps. If she had her way, there would always
be activities for everyone.
" My philosophy is displacement, " she says. " There
are areas the gangs have established as theirs. But if
I can get a group in with positive activities, they can't
stop a facility from functioning for its intended purpose. "
" A busy park is a safe park. "
Most cities trying to reduce gang violence deny that
they specifically target at-risk kids. As Nanette Smejkal, director of El Paso's parks and recreation department, says, " From our perspective, all kids are at risk.
That's why they need positive programs. "
Take Denver, for example. It has no activities that
overtly aim at the city's 80 gangs , with an estimated
6,000 members. But Denver's parks and recreation
department offers numerous alternatives. Kids Prime
Time brings youngsters ages 7 to 15 into recreation centers between 6 and 9 p.m. for music, dance, games, and
crafts. Year-round after-school programs provide extra help with homework, mentoring, encouragement in
keeping out of trouble, and-a crucial element for many

Dealing with Gangs Around the Country

he city council of Orem, Utah, faced with a
rising problem of gang violence and graffiti,
recently declared the city's parks and public
schools off-limits to gang members, who can be ordered off the grounds by police and arrested if they
return. Which is, of course, one way of dealing with
gangs. Here are some other strategies adopted by
park and recreation departments around the country:
* Philadelphia's department of recreation, recognizing that most " negative behavior " and violence
takes place after school hours, invites youths into
100 recreation centers between 3 and 6 p.m. Monday
through Friday. The youngsters receive homework
assistance, play games, participate in sports and arts
programming, and receive healthy snacks. This year,
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ovember 2009

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it serves 2,800 youngsters.
* Houston has adopted an active anti-graffiti program for the city's 350 parks. A playground and park
inspection group works with a graffiti abatement contractor and tries to respond to information about gang
graffiti within 24 hours of learning about it.
* Houston also operates a summer program that
provides free, nutritious lunches in recreation centers
to young people under the age of 18 Monday through
Friday, and adds a healthy snack between 3 and 4 p.m.
* Pittsburgh's department of parks and recreation
offers free, healthy hot meals, family style, to youngsters
from kindergarten age to 18 between 5 and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday year round, in the hopes of improving nutrition and keeping them productively engaged.

November 2009 - Parks & Recreation

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