A community organizing perspcetice on the Virginia Tech horror

[colist at comm-org.wisc.edu]

[ed:  thanks to Leslie for the further discussion]

From: "Leslie Ramyk" <ccbi at core.com>

Randy,

Thanks for passing forward the message below.  Your note regarding 
reduced crime rates as a concurrent of community organizing reminded me 
of CeaseFire.  CeaseFire has proven to be an effective means of reducing 
the homicide rate in Chicago neighborhoods.

Several community organizing groups are CeaseFire sites, actively 
integrating resident participation into the CeaseFire model (and 
vice-versa).  In fact, CeaseFire's involvement with community 
organizations in Chicago resulted in a refinement of the CeaseFire 
model, increased efficacy, and increased funding from the state to 
continue and expand the program.

CeaseFire employs violence "interrupters", street-wise former gang 
members and/or ex-offenders, to confront and counsel potentially violent 
youth and adults in the community.  I guess the salient difference, 
though, is that these communities expect and anticipate violence.

www.ceasefirechicago.org/five_core_components.shtml

Leslie

Leslie Ramyk
Director, CCBI
Chicago Community Organizing Capacity Building Initiative

colist at comm-org.wisc.edu wrote:
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> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
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>
> Hi COMM-ORG,  The message below has been making its way around the 
> Internet.  I think it is important to this list because it points to 
> the importance of community organizing even in dealing with situations 
> that we normally think of as psychological or psychiatric.  There are 
> anecdotal reports, though I have never seen academic research, on 
> crime drops in those communities in the southern U.S. that organized 
> heavily during the Civil Rights movement.  So this is not the first 
> time someone has made the connections.
>
> Randy Stoecker
>
>> On behalf of the Virginia Tech Service-Learning Center, I am writing
>> my colleagues on the Service-Learning Listserv to thank you for your
>> words of comfort and support over the past two days.
>>
>> Yesterday was a terrible day. There is no other way to describe it.
>> Norris Hall, the site of the mass shootings, is somewhat close to
>> Major Williams, where the Service-Learning Center is located.
>> Throughout the morning, when we were locked in our offices with the
>> blinds drawn, we could hear the wail of sirens behind our building
>> and the eerie crackle of the emergency loudspeaker repeating at
>> irregular intervals the warning to stay inside. No one knew for sure
>> the extent of what was occurring a mere block away, we were all
>> worried about students we knew who might have been in the building,
>> but none of us anticipated the extent of the violence as the death
>> toll rose to unimaginable figures.
>>
>> How can one respond in a situation like this, except to reach out to
>> one another? And so I thank you all for doing this. Events like
>> this remind us (once again, sadly) that we must continue to reach out
>> as well to those in our communities who are disengaged and
>> disenfranchised, and draw them into community. There is a lot of
>> discussion about what could have been done differently. I firmly
>> believe that enhanced security measures address only a small piece of
>> the puzzle, that we instead must be more mindful of one another, to
>> strengthen our bonds, so that we may counter the deep alienation that
>> drives someone like Cho Seung-Hsi to commit such an ultimate act of
>> despair.
>>
>> Michele James-Deramo
>>
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Michele James-Deramo
>> Director
>> Service-Learning Center
>> Outreach and International Affairs
>> http://www.vtserves.vt.edu <http://www.vtserves.vt.edu/>
>> Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
>> 202 Major Williams (0168)
>> Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
>> 540/231-6947 (phone)
>> 540/231-6367 (fax)
>> deramo at vt.edu
>
>
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