country programs
From its base in Providence, Rhode Island, the New England Expansion Center helps schools and communities in the northeast start and sustain their YCW programs. Services include:
- Background information about Youth Crime Watch
- YCW awareness presentations
- YCW implementation training for your site
- Technical assistance getting your site started
- Technical assistance once your site is up and running
For more information, contact John Mattson at YCWA - New England.
News
March 25-26, 2010: YCW New England Third Eye Conference
In 2010, a series of Regional Youth Summits will replace YCW's National Youth Crime Prevention Conference, taking the 20-year tradition of our National Conferences to a local level. Regional summits will convene in Florida and Rhode Island in March and in Kentucky in June. The Rhode Island summit builds upon the successful "Third Eye" conferences organized by the New England affiliate.
The YCW New England Third Eye Conference will be held March 25-26, 2010 at the University of Rhode Island Providence Campus, located at 80 Washington Street in downtown Providence. The University of Rhode Island is co-sponsoring the event, along with the RI Attorney General's Office and CABINS of Lincoln, RI. We anticipate an audience of 400-600. All workshops will be presented by YCW members and adult advisors. Entertainment will include an Irish step dance team, a martial arts exhibition, music from DJ Crazy Phil, and skits, plays and performances by various schools. On Thursday afternoon all participants will be involved in a service project to create solar lanterns from old plastic soda bottles that can be distributed to the homeless and people in need in Rhode Island as well as sent for use by the people now living in the disaster stricken areas in Haiti. At the end of the second day, we will have an awards ceremony accompanied by a dance to celebrate all that the Third Eye students have accomplished over the year.
>> Registration packet (PDF 599 kB)
For more information contact John Mattson at YCWA - New England, jmattson22
cox.net, tel.: 401-261-2221.
February 2010: Help for Haiti
The kids at Feinstein Middle School in Coventry, Rhode Island, raised over $11,000 for Haiti with a secret auction and pasta dinner event on February 11. Over 1,500 people attended. Proceeds went to organizations helping earthquake victims in Haiti. The Feinstein group has posted photos of the event on a dedicated website: www.asfms.net/haitifundraiser/ Great work!
March 2009: What's happening in Coventry, Rhode Island?
Student-led organization S.A.V.E. focuses projects on vandalism, bullying, local traffic safety, community pride, mentoring and other issues. [continued: What's happening in Coventry, RI?]
March 2009: RI Attorney General Lynch helps students kick off Youth Crime Watch at Ponaganset
The student body of Ponaganset High School in North Scituate, Rhode Island, crowded the school gym last week to celebrate the launch of their school's Youth Crime Watch program, STAR. State Attorney General Patrick Lynch, who has been a past supporter of youth crime prevention initiatives, joined the teens for a pep talk and a basketball freethrow challenge against two of the students... [continued: RI Attorney General Lynch helps students kick off YCW at Ponaganset]
Nov. 21, 2008: Third Eye Conference a great success.
Read the story. There are 167 photos online!
Oct. 29, 2008, Rhode Island: AG Lynch to address students participating in school safety initiative tomorrow and Friday
May 2007: update
We are planning a recognition event for the beginning of May, inviting all YCW sites to present what they have done to date. We will also invite interested parties from other schools to attend to learn about the program and set the stage for another training conference next October 2007 (if funding permits). The recognition event will be held either at CCRI in Lincoln or at Roger Williams University Law School in Bristol, RI. We hope to target either May 4 th or 11 th, depending on which date is better for the schools. We plan to invite all the students who participated in the first conference.
We are also planning a follow up conference for next October 2007 to attract new sites to be involved in the Third Eye initiative. We hope to request funding to support this conference from the RI Legislature via the Attorney General’s office and with support from the Community Colleges of Rhode Island. We would hope to attract at least 10 new schools to this conference.
Spotlight: Knotty Oak Middle School - vandalism prevention
Combine a Social Studies Coordinator, Charlie Blanchette - who has a commitment to teaching youth and a passion for honoring our Civil War dead, with a middle school student, Taylor Therrien – who has a deep respect for those who gave their life and the willingness to take a stand against vandalism, and you have the beginnings of youth making a profound difference.
- More about S.A.V.E./YCW at Knotty Oak
- More about Taylor Therrien - YCW Youth of the Year for 2007
Regional conference
On October 26 and 27, 2006, 188 youths and 57 adults from 21 schools and one community site attended the "Third Eye" conference, a two-day YCW training, held at Knight Campus of the Community College of RI, Warwick. To date we have established 15 new sites from this training conference and expect to develop 6 more before the end of the school year. Key audience members included 10 school resource officers, 5 Warwick elementary teachers, 14 middle school teachers, 8 high school teachers, 2 CEOs from youth serving agencies, 7 parents, 2 assistant principals, 7 other representatives from youth serving agencies, and 188 secondary school students.
RI Attorney General Patrick Lynch and Moses Saygbe, Crime Prevention Specialist, both spoke to open the conference, and the attorney general returned at the end of the 2 nd day to pass out certificates of completion for all schools and youth service providers in attendance.
Radio DJs from popular radio station Hot 106 AM not only aired public service announcements in advance of the conference, but came and provided entertainment and spoke in support of crime prevention at the conference.
Representatives from Gibbs College set up a table to provide information about careers in crime prevention and safety.
To date, 15 new sites and potential for 6 more just from this two-day event.
Good news from New England
There have been several interesting stories involving Youth Crime Watch teams in action.
Students at Bridgham support shelter for victims of domestic violence
At Bridgham Middle School, a very high risk urban school with known gang problems, students in the YCW go together and decided to raise money for a domestic violence shelter. They wrote poems and raps and put together plays about domestic violence, then sold over 305 tickets at $1 per ticket to family members and friends. They presented the money to the director of the Sojourner House to help buy toys for the kids that lived in the facility. More from this school is expected in the month to come.
Kickoff event at Pilgrim gets support from the AG and local radio
Pilgrim High School had a great kickoff event that involved several students singing and reading poems and stories to all the students in the school in two shifts, joined by the Attorney General and the DJs from Hot 106. They created the motto “Do It –Right”, and all YCW members wear T-shirts bearing the motto to all school events. The YCW team is trying to raise $6,000 in a school challenge to pay for different equipment to make the school safer.
Grants help Knotty Oaks bring YCW into the 21st century - patrol to carry Blackberries
Students at Knotty Oaks Middle School have developed a "Students Against Violence in Education" club, led by teacher & activist Charlie Blanchette. They have already received a $20,000 grant to perform civic education activities in the school. They plan to buy Blackberries for their Youth Patrol team to be able to report crimes as they occur directly to the school SRO. They have also received a $5,000 grant from Walmart to send 10 students to the National Conference in Denver.
Lincoln High bets on surveillance
Lincoln High School students have launched "Students Against Crime" focused on several initiatives and are planning to raise $5,000 to help purchase a video surveillance network for their school.
North Cumberland students can report trouble electronically
North Cumberland Middle School students have formed “Building a Better School” (BABS). The students have already established an on-line hotline for students to report suspicious activities or crimes by emai and are planning to create an international partnership in support of the YCW Liberia program.
Cumberland High sponsors career day
Cumberland High School YCW students are also raising money to purchase surveillance cameras and are planning to sponsor a safety and crime prevention career day at their high school for all students this spring.
Elementary students step up to the plate
Many of the elementary schools have been active since the beginning of October and have been very busy.
- Sullivan school in Newport is developing two projects, on school safety and peer pressure;
- Sackett Street in Providence is focusing on gang prevention and fire safety, creating brochures on each to hand out to their classmates;
- Alfred Lima and Carl Lauro elementary schools in Providence, Cunningham school in Pawtucket and Citizen’s Memorial in Woonsocket are all planning projects that focus on conflict resolution and peer pressure in their respective schools;
- Fortes elementary students in Providence have developed a neighborhood school safety walk, to show students how to walk safely to and from school and avoid dangerous streets and unsafe places;
- Coleman YCW students in Woonsocket are working on projects on bullying, drugs and alcohol, and "stranger danger" and will be making presentations to their classmates on these topics;
- and students at Veterans School YCW kids in Central Falls held a diversity night that attracted 50 parents to marvel at their skits and performances on tolerance and diversity.