Showing our children a better future
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
September 10, 2008

As parents, my wife Sharon and I have experienced the joys and the challenges of raising children.  We share with all parents a common anxiety about our children’s futures.  However, most of us will never suffer the pain of losing a child or experience the emptiness left behind.

Four times this year, Seattle police responded to a shooting where the victim was a teenager.  Allen Joplin.  DeChe Morrison.  Perry Henderson.  Pierre LaPoint.  Four families suffered the unimaginable when their children were shot to death in Seattle and denied the future we envision for our children.

As a dad and a public leader, I understand the urgent need to take action.

Statistics alone do not tell the whole story.  Since the late ’80s, Seattle’s crime rate has fallen steadily and last year, reached its lowest point in 40 years.  Standing at a mortuary earlier this year, it was clear to me those numbers would offer absolutely no solace to the family of a 14-year-old victim.

The recent deaths in our community once again reflect the easy access our children have to guns.  This disturbing trend clearly introduces life-and-death consequences to what in years past, might have been minor confrontations between adolescents.  Since January, we have had 12 cases of firearms assaults in which the victim or the shooter was a juvenile.

This year, we stepped up emphasis patrols, working especially closely with our schools.  We doubled the number of officers working in the Seattle Police gang unit.  But law enforcement can only be part of the solution.

The time has come for the city and the community to fundamentally change our overall strategy on preventing youth violence.  Earlier this year, we started taking a hard look at what works and what doesn’t.  For many months, we evaluated our programs, studied what other cities like Baltimore, Chicago and San Jose have tried, and talked with community members about their concerns and possible solutions.

On Wednesday, I will share a new set of ideas to guide a Seattle Youth Violence Prevention initiative. 

We’re fortunate to have so many people in our city who have dedicated their lives to our young people.  We can accomplish even more if our efforts are better coordinated and focused.

We will make the most progress if we put an intensive focus on about 800 children who we know are at highest risk of perpetuating or being victimized by this violence.

Young people who have gotten in trouble or find themselves disconnected from school are at a vulnerable point in their lives.  In the best-case scenario, they have family and friends who will steer them back on track.  Without that support, the vacuum can be filled by peers who hold the misguided notion that they can prove themselves through violence or retaliation.

At a time when crime rates are down, state and national trends show membership in gangs involved in criminal activity is on the rise.  Often, a child’s association with such a gang is fleeting, lasting about two to four years.  But the impact of delinquent behavior in those short years spills into adulthood; the repercussions are life long.

Our new initiative calls for three neighborhood strategies in southeast, southwest and central Seattle.  Whether it’s helping children stay in school, re-enter society or manage their anger, the objective is to intervene at a crucial time in a child’s life and to offer that young person a better path.

This initiative will require a new focus and some new spending, and we will be asking the City Council to support our plans to invest in our children.

Of course, city government cannot do it alone.  Our determination to reduce youth violence transcends any single program, group or agency.  The ultimate success of our efforts will depend on bringing together schools, churches, providers, families and community members.

We are under no illusion that there are easy answers.  We all have a role to play.  Together, we must unite behind one common cause: showing our children that we have a better future to offer them.

Appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 10, 2008