It has been a packed spring and early summer: numerous speeches on my book, Hope Matters: The Untold Story of How Faith Works in America, including a speech for the Faith and Politics Institute in Congress, travel to California to help direct the 13-City Gang Prevention Network, and presentations at a variety of conferences. The […]
Who is Naming and Claiming Our Kids?
As President of the National Crime Prevention Council, I sat on Attorney General Janet Reno’s U.S. Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Thirsty to learn, Reno would hold meetings in places where she could witness what was going on in local communities. At one of our meetings at a school in Southeast Washington, […]
Finding a Rallying Point for Community Change
Crime prevention is among the most exciting tools of the new millennium for building and sustaining communities in which people can safely live, work, learn, and play. It motivates, bonds, and mobilizes people around a shared goal. It also builds community. Crime prevention includes the basics of personal safety- locks, lights, alarms, and the like. […]
From Pessimism to Youth Policies Based on Hope
This article advocates a 180-degree shift in the foundation on which youth policies are based-from fear to hope, prisons to prevention-and provides two concrete examples of National Crime Prevention Council programs that are built on just such a foundation. Two years ago, the schools in Washington, DC, opened three weeks late because of leaking roofs […]
