2011 Safe Night/YCAM Press Release
Safe & Sound Unite with Its Safe Places to Kick-Off First Safe Night/YCAM Event
Milwaukee, WI – Safe & Sound is partnering with several of its Safe Places to put a new twist on a popular event. The team of agencies will launch the first Safe Night/YCAM Event on Friday, September 16. Teaming up for the north side Safe Night/YCAM will be B&G North Division, Holton Youth and Family Center, Neu Life Community Resource Center and Running Rebels Community Organization. On the south side will be B&G Davis, Latino Community Center, Milwaukee Christian Center and United Community Center.
Like other Safe Night sites, this event will feature music, food, entertainment and discussions on crime, violence and drugs and how they impact the lives of youth, their families and peers. Festivities will start at 5:00 pm and run until 9:00 pm. The north side event will take place at North Division High School, 1011 W. Center St., and on the south side at United Community Center, 1028 S. 9th St.
The YCAM will start at 5:30 p.m., and the Youth Entertainment Showcase is from 7:00-9:00 pm. On the North Side, the YCAM will consist of a presentation of the STOP program by Officer Bill Singleton, 5th District; and on the South Side, the crime analysis will be facilitated by CLO Jesus Gloria, of the 2nd Police District. The south side will also feature a skit on Conflict Resolution developed and enacted by the youth. Performers for the Youth Entertainment Showcase will be some of the most talented young people from the participating Safe Places. There will be song and dance, spoken word poetry, and the DJ acrobatics of Pakk Mane. Other acts are still pending. West Allis Media will be taping the South Side event, and a crew from North Division will tape at that location. Attendance is expected to be about 75 at each site.
Safe Nights have been around since 1993, and are aimed at preventing youth violence and substance abuse. The Youth Crime Analysis Meeting (YCAM) is a newer concept, and was born out of a Safe & Sound youth-led Crime Strategy Initiative at United Community Center in 2008. At that first event, youth organized an evening with nearly 200 youth and adult participants in a meeting that included Mayor Tom Barrett, the Police Captain of District 2, other elected officials, community leaders and residents. The focus was on the types of crime issues plaguing the neighborhood at the time with youth leading a question and answer session that delved into the problems that most concerned the residents and youth living in the community.
“We’ve wanted to replicate the YCAM since it was first introduced,” according to Norma J. Balentine, Director of Safe Places at Safe & Sound. “It was such a powerful display of youth leadership and civic engagement,” she said. The YCAM associated with the Safe Night will not be as large as the purpose is to give the Safe Night youth an opportunity to critique today’s crime issues in the aftermath of two high profile summer episodes of youth violence. Organizers have worked with youth to plan the event.
Olusegun Sijuwade, a former police officer who is widely known today for his work with youth, created Safe Night in 1993 to get teens off the streets and out of trouble. The city of Milwaukee Health Department and the Milwaukee Violence Prevention Coalition promoted the concept as a counter to a 300 percent increase in violent death and injury between 1983 and 1993. There were no youth-related injuries or deaths from violence the night before the inaugural 1994 event, according to the Milwaukee Children’s Hospital. Sijuwade, is director of the popular Youth Leadership Institute, a four-day youth development retreat. He is also working with Safe & Sound and the Safe Places to organize the Safe Night/YCAM event.
In 1995, the Milwaukee Police Department recognized Safe Night with the Special Crime Prevention Award and the National Crime Prevention Council published a special report featuring Safe Nights as a model violence prevention program. Safe Night USA grew out of the original Milwaukee strategy, and expanded nationally to include 30 weekends, 98 sites and more than 8,690 participants a year.
There is already discussion amongst organizers about making the Safe Night/YCAM an annual event and involving more Safe Places.
For information about the Safe Night/YCAM event, contact Norma Balentine at 220-4796. To register, youth should contact their Safe Place site.
