Draft Schematic to frame efforts of Violence Prevention in City of Trenton and draft minutes of the Alternative Committee, 01.05.12 meeting.

1. A Community Driven Response to Trenton’s 2011 Violence Spike
A Conceptual Intervention Matrix
Prepared for the Violence Prevention and Intervention Committee by TAG Resources Inc, 01.05.12

2. A Community Response to Trenton’s 2011 Violence Spike
Alternatives Committee Meeting Notes, 01/06/12
City of Trenton Council Chambers
319 East State Street
ORIGINATED BY: Chair, Councilwoman Phyllis Holly Ward/Cordelia Staton
PARTICIPANTS: Phyllis Holly Ward, Cordelia Staton, Missy Balmir, Vertulie
Massenat, Patricia Hall, Perry Shaw, Jazmyn Jones, Tyrone
A. Gaskins, (… need rest of names)
SUBJECT: Minutes, Inaugural Alternatives Committee Meeting, A Community
Response to Trenton’s 2011 Violence Spike
CC: All Committee Chairs, file
Trenton, NJ 08608
(The recorder missed the first few minutes of the meeting; if there is something to be included in these
notes here, please forward that input).
1. Mr. (the Salvation Army?) ….and Ms. Massenat under scored a need to provide structural
supports for persons who are seeking to reintegrate in the community; that while some
supports are available, transitional housing, the need to expunge records, valid identification
and access to jobs are barriers.
2. The Street Outreach Committee was reported on by Perry Shaw stating it met on Tuesday
01.03.12 and that individual members were assigned to each of the four wards to identify core
issues between different youth and gang factions in the city. They also are conducting outreach
to the key individuals to support their reach into gang culture. These include Earlie Harrell
(Messiah) and Divine Allah. He noted it was important for this committee and the community
response to violence, to be cognizant of providing safe and responsive spaces for the target
population to move in as we build relationships and get feedback for solutions.
3. Ms. Patricia Hall reported her personal experiences with her son, emphasizing the Alternatives
committee in its planning efforts, include debunking impressions people have about the
common profile for gang members. She along with others on committee, emphasized gang
culture permeates families, professions and businesses; often using legitimate means to
promote illegitimate ends; and to her point, providing her son with something to identify with in
spite of the structure around him; it was a fraternity and invoked pride in him; he had a need to
belong. Missy Balmir pointed out one activity might be to educate the community about myths
around gang culture and about gang member profiles. Participants and recruits aren’t all from
destabilized urban environments and situations.
4. The committee agreed we need to identify a target population. It was determined the target
population recommendation to the larger planning group would be Mercer County men and
women at risk and in gangs between the ages of 16 and 29.
5. It was mentioned that the committee needs to identify resources for the City that are available
through the State and County; perhaps one response could be the development of a clearing
Prepared for the Violence Prevention and Intervention Committee by TAG Resources Inc, 01.05.12

3. house for information. Further, there is a need to identify resources and who needs them most.
Cordelia Staton and Perry Shaw would reach out to the Chief of Administrative Services for
Mercer County Board of Social Services about Mercer County Ex-Offender Re-entry Partnership
to start this process. They were also asked to probe (that office) about facilitating increased
responsiveness of certain County Departments (Human Services) to addressing Trenton’s social
service needs.
6. The Councilwoman reiterated that she would like to see “A Better Way” serve as a place that
provides services to the targeted population in one area of the city because of their facility and
emphasis on working with reentry services for Mercer County residents. She also expressed a
concern about a perception that the West Ward Councilman was leading the Violence
Prevention effort, stating we were all participants. It was agreed that there should be no
allegiances to leadership and that the focus of the effort is to impact the community, our
identified target population; members should make contributions to this coordinated response
based on their interests, relationships and skill sets.
7. Tyrone Gaskins reiterated the need to build a framework for community participation;
suggesting the Alternatives committee should adopt a mission of developing pathways that
leverage, direct and impact resources and outcomes for the target population and the
overarching violence prevention response. To that end that end, the committee should:
a) prioritize issues
b) determine which issues should be placed in the “parking lot”
c) determine what are actionable items
d) determine how to work with the larger group and how activities fit with the overall
purpose and mission of the violence response - as it develops.
8. There was agreement that the committee wants to identify barriers and facilitate ways to
mitigate and remove them for the target population. The group agreed that some of these
could include:
a) Identifying funding for the community response;
b) Identifying Transitional Housing and other social services
c) Identifying Re-Entry Housing
d) Addressing the need for employment and employment training
e) Addressing the need for Recreation Centers across the City
f) Identifying Support Services to remediate personal identification, employment and
expungement barriers
It was emphasized the committee should focus services on segments of the target population
that demonstrate readiness.
9. Potential Actionable Items:
a) Myth Busters Documentary
b) Resource Directory; the County example can be found at:
http://www.nj.gov/corrections/pdf/OTS/090311_Mercer_Co_Smartbook.pdf
c) Emphasize Prevention Education
Prepared for the Violence Prevention and Intervention Committee by TAG Resources Inc, 01.05.12

4. d) Advocate for transitional, reentry housing, vocational training and social services for
clients who meet “readiness” requirement (eligibility criteria?)
e) Advocate for and coordinate resources for recreation centers in each ward
f) Sponsor Video Game Tournaments
g) Ferret out a framework to support committee work and placement in scope of the
community’s response (# 7 above).
The next meeting was scheduled for Monday January 30th at 8AM in Trenton Council
Chambers and would focus on preparing to report back to the larger group.
Respectfully Submitted:
Tyrone A Gaskins, Committee Member
Prepared for the Violence Prevention and Intervention Committee by TAG Resources Inc, 01.05.12