WEED AND SEED STRATEGY COMMITTEE MEETING

Target Area: Pomona, California

Place: Downtown Center, Pomona CA

Time: 6:00 p.m. to 8:20 p.m.

Meeting Date: 4/15/08

Members Accounted For

Debruyne, Rick Dr. Vice Chair, Weed and Seed Strategy

Emerson, Sandra Dr. Cal Poly Political Science Prof, PLS/MPA Leader

Lopez, Armando Site Coordinator

Gluba, Mark City Manager Asst

Jarod, Andrew Deputy City Attorney

Owens, Jonnie Cal Poly Rep, Dir. Of Community Outreach

Becker, Lena (Cpl) Law Enforcement Committee Chair, Pomona Police Dept. Rep.

Madrigal, Virginia Resident of Pomona

Ibanez, Lyn Pomona Police Dept Rep

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Cal Poly Pomona Guests

MPA/PLS

Roll Call

-  Members above introduced themselves and their affiliation with the Weed and Seed Program.

-  Dr. Emerson asks for possible changes in the future (Headlines)

o  Lena Becker – “City, Community and Pomona Police Department decrease crime and increase citizen participation”

o  Pastor Rick Debruyne – “Weed and Seed bringing change to the city of Pomona

o  Mark Gluba – “Weed and Seed is a jewel in the crown of the city of Pomona’s success”

o  Andrew Jarod – “A Sustainable source of funding found”

o  Jonnie Owens – “Community dis-organization disrupted by W&S success (explains that lack of community participation and at-risk youth become beneficiaries of this program)

o  Virginia Madrigal – “Weed and Seed unifies Pomona residents”

Weed & Seed Efforts

(Outcomes/Benefits: short or long term)

1.  Police Patrols and Increased Activity

  1. Becker – Police increasing patrolling in the area, hearing police reports from residents helps reduce gang activity. These efforts appear to have made an impact.
  2. Madrigal – Gang injunction for Olive St. Gang by Pomona Police Department and use of WE TIP anonymous calls helps community involvement
  3. Gluba– Incident Command Center help to increase trust with Pomona Police Department

2.  License Plate Equipment for Police Verification

  1. License Plate Recognition (LPR) – scans license plates and sends to database in the computer. Targets stolen cars as many crimes have been committed but vehicle owners’ were unable to be unidentified. LPR (mounted on police vehicles) takes pictures of license plates around the crime scene area and identifies car owners, thereby narrowing down suspects and possible witnesses. Has contributed to conviction in one case already.

3.  WE TIP Program

  1. Madrigal – Educating community that it [We Tip] is for emergency response. Once a call is made, more focus can be targeted toward suspicious activity in an area during police patrols rather than as an immediate response to crime.

4.  Community Policing

  1. Ibanez – Informed community residents that increased interaction with local police facilitates more effective neighborhood watch programs.

5.  Neighborhood Watch

  1. Ibanez – Started with 5-6 Neighborhood Watch programs. Current number is twenty. Methods mentioned in Community policing also have effect here
  2. Debruyne – Decrease in homicides with stronger Neighborhood Watch programs. More community building occurring

6.  National Night Out

  1. Ibanez – Builds concept of neighborhood. It helps residents to feel safe coming out of their homes at night. Neighbors are encouraged to get to know each other.

7.  Parenting Project

  1. Becker – Focusing parents on at-risk youth. Developing parenting skills. Parenting Project was run through Pomona adult school.
  2. Debruyne – Peer parenting project of a sort. It was hard to measure the actual success in the long run as there is no established method of evaluating this program.

8.  Reach Out West End

  1. Lopez – Working with teens to learn about medical careers. It is Weed and Seed funded. More info to come later

9.  Boy Scouts

  1. Debruyne – 50 youth members and 12 adults were involved in program.. Helps students build skills outside of their family and community base that they otherwise could not know about. Almost no presence of the Scouts before Weed and Seed..

10.  Girl Scouts

  1. Debruyne – 23 youth members and 12 adults. Run independently by two city employees. Same benefits and skills learned in Boy Scouts.

11.  Fist of Gold

  1. Debruyne – Number one success is character building. Youth have an outlet for their frustrations in a controlled environment. Currently is serving almost 50 youth daily. Parents are also heavily involved as it removes youth from gang-recruitment.

12.  Community Arts Program

  1. Armando - Eight student participants in about 2 months. Have moved to Fist of Gold Training area. Fist of Gold training facility getting overcrowded. Other areas are being looked at currently to house this effort.

13.  Fall Festival

  1. Armando – Like National Night Out, safe haven for families.
  2. Madrigal – Building family experiences and participation. Exposing community to programs outside of their homes through “safe activities” designated for community building and involvement.
  3. Owens – Citizen participation increased noticeably.

14.  Safe havens

  1. Renacimiento Center
  2. Debruyne - Pivotal for the Angela/Chancellor area as it is the center of city activities in that area.
  3. Philadelphia Community Center
  4. Debruyne – It is pressed for space plus it also existed before Weed and Seed was enacted. Success based on what?
  5. Madrigal – Schools close around 6:00pm so centers need to be open later than that like around 9pm (suggested by Armando)
  6. Lexington After School Program
  7. Lopez - Lots of changes in personnel. Is located on PUSD property so management issues would arise that were unlike Weed and Seed sites which are open to the public. Not any one can just walk on to school property, so Weed and Seed programs held at Lexington are restricted not only in who can participate, but also program hours as most schools close their doors at around 6pm.

Weed & Efforts, Department of Justice Criteria and challenges in 2009-2010

-  Sustaining efforts

-  Coordinating efforts

-  MPA/PLS student raises issue of budget. Once Weed and Seed funding stops, would citizens have the time to continue carrying on programs in the future and be willing to claim responsibility for such programs?

o  Madrigal – Families live day to day so maybe not a lot of time will be dedicated in the future to carrying out post-W&S efforts.

-  Jared – What would be the city’s role in the future apart from funding, and they are also limited on funding as well. Also, what role will the decline in US economy have on the city of Pomona in the future? Time to start planning on now.