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City devises strategy to combat gangs

Eagle-Tribune - 6/7/2018

June 07--Haverhill is getting a $682,486 state grant to help fight violence, including gangs, among young people.

Mayor James Fiorentini, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, state Rep. Andy Vargas and other local and state officials announced the two-year grant to help prevent youth violence.

The grant will pay to bring the highly successful UTEC program to Haverhill to combat gang participation and recruitment. The grant is part of the state's Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI), a coordinated intervention strategy focused on young men who are most likely to experience violence.

UTEC, a Lowell-based organization, plans to employ two "streetworkers" to build relationships with gang-involved and at-risk youth in city neighborhoods, a transitional coach to provide intensive mentoring and to assist with transportation, education and workforce development services. The funding will also provide mental health counseling through NFI Massachusetts.

The grant comes as Haverhill deals with street violence that has resulted in two shooting deaths in the last month.

The grant was announced recently at the UMass Lowell iHub in downtown's Harbor Place.

Fiorentini said he is working closely with UTEC to find a building in the city that UTEC can lease to establish a Haverhill headquarters.

He said a successful anti-gang program must involve more than police.

"I am very excited that UTEC will soon be coming to Haverhill to directly confront gangs and youth violence in our city," Fiorentini said, noting that the seeds of the UTEC partnership were sown when he toured UTEC'sLowell campus and met with staff and administrators there last fall.

"As we have said many times, combating gang activity has to be a multifaceted effort which works to persuade young people not to enter gangs in the first place, and to offer them alternatives to gang life," he said.

Taking part in the announcement were Haverhill police Chief Alan DeNaro and several Haverhill police officers, Sheriff Kevin Coppinger, UTEC Director Gregg Croteau and his team, as well as several Haverhill city councilors, community leaders, local business people and members of the public.

Fiorentini thanked Vargas, D-Haverhill, for organizing the event and playing a key role in helping the city secure the grant.

Vargas said there is no magic wand for solving all issues of violence in Haverhill, but that the city is ready to implement a multifaceted and evidence-based approach to chip away at the problem.

"Since I was a part of UTEC's civic engagement program 'Teens Leading the Way' when I was in high school, I've been pushing for UTEC to expand to Haverhill," Vargas said. "Today is a monumental day -- we're living up to our commitment to focus our efforts on the next generation by bringing a nationally recognized model to our city. We're excited to see better outcomes for Haverhill's youth through SSYI."

Polito said violence is a significant public health and safety issue that can have lasting harmful effects on victims and their families, friends and communities. She noted that youth violence is the leading cause of death among 19- to 24-year-olds.

"Youth violence is preventable, and today we're one step closer to our goal of eliminating youth violence before it starts," Polito said.

"We've been trying to arrest our way out of the drug problem for too long," DeNaro said. "When we put away gang members, there's a pipeline of new recruits. This program will help us cut off that supply of new recruits."

The mayor recently told the City Council that Haverhill's effort to combat gang violence is "our most important battle right now," with a focus on "gangs, guns and drugs."

He said his proposed city budget for the next fiscal year will provide a new police lieutenant to head a new gang unit, and three officers to "concentrate on gangs ... identifying gang leaders and targeting them."

SSYI prioritizes a community-wide strategy that addresses youth violence at all levels, in partnership with other violence prevention efforts such as the Shannon Community Safety Initiative, which includes work through the Haverhill-Methuen Partnership, officials said.

Geoff Foster, policy director for UTEC, said his organization is working closely with families who have been impacted by recent acts of violence in the city, including the fatal shooting of Nike Colon the night of May 17 in the city's Mount Washington neighborhood.

Foster said that under the SSYI grant, UTEC and Haverhill police will be working to identify young men who are most active in gangs in the city. Once those identifications are made, Streetworkers will build relationships with those young men to recruit them into the UTEC program.

Foster said UTEC's model begins with intensive street outreach and gang peacemaking and then pairs eligible young people with a transitional coach who works with them on a wide set of goals. Young people develop skills through paid work experience and continue their education through academic classes, working towards their high school equivalency.

UTEC also engages young people in civic activities such as advocating for public policies, Foster said.

"We are so appreciative of the Baker-Polito administration's critical support for Haverhill and for UTEC to work alongside so many leaders and community partners," Croteau said. "SSYI funding helps us all create pathways for young adults who face the largest challenges, while emphasizing that violence must never be normalized."

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