CITY OF SEATTLE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT GANG NEEDS ASSESSMENT PROJECT FINAL REPORT March 22, 2008 Prepared by: Davis Y. Ja & Associates Inc. and Building The Bridges Davis Y. Ja and Associates, Inc. 362 Victoria Street ▪ San Francisco, CA 94132 415 ▪ 585 ▪ 2773 (phone) www.dyja.com 415 ▪ 239 ▪ 4511 (fax) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Davis Y. Ja & Associates, Inc. (DYJA) and Building The Bridges (BTB) would like to acknowledge the following for their contributions to this report: City of Seattle Human Services Department, Patricia McInturff, Director Eric Anderson, Youth Development and Achievement Director Terry Hayes Darryl Cook Nancy Thome Seattle/King County Gang Prevention and Outreach Work Group: Camilla Campbell (Co-Chair) Terry Hayes (Co-Chair) Roland Akers Julie Allen Jason Canfield Maure Carrier Ken Conley Darryl Cook Leanetta Jessie Christine Kahikina Al Lebar John Leers Nancy Thome Mark Wirschem Riva Zeff Evaluation Team Davis Y. Ja, Ph.D. – Principal, DYJA Norma Timbang – Research Team Lead, DYJA Dennis Turner – Executive Director, BTB Mary Gee, – Research Associate, DYJA Claudia Alexandra Paras – DYJA Zachary K. Smith – DYJA Joanne Alcantara – DYJA Tania Yowson – DYJA Ann Kim Novakowski, MPH – DYJA Larry Bennett - BTB Gang Needs Assessment Project - 2 March 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS Sections Page Executive Summary 4 Introduction 6 Methods 6 Report Format 8 Section 1: Findings from Institutional Reports & Data Sets 10 Section 2: Youth Surveys 21 Section 3: Community Stakeholders Interviews 28 Section 4: Policymakers/Public Officials Interviews 34 Section 5: ReInvesting In Youth Promising Practices Evaluation 47 Section 6: “Best” Practice/“Evidence Based” Practices Review 50 Conclusions/Recommendations 68 Appendices 70 Gang Needs Assessment Project - 3 March 2007 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In February 2008, the City of Seattle Human Services Department in response to service providers and community members reporting concern for a possible increase in youth gang activity, implemented a need assessment project to assess youth gang related issues in Seattle and King County. This project will potentially contribute to the development or enhancement of prevention and intervention programs through the City and King County. To this end, a consultant team of researchers, Davis Y. Ja and Associates, Inc. (DYJA), and gang prevention specialists, Building The Bridges (BTB), was contracted to conduct a brief needs assessment project. The methods of data collection included interviews with community stakeholders and policy makers and public officials and surveys of youth primarily in South Seattle, West Seattle, and South King County. Additional evaluation methods included research into publicly accessible data and other reports on gang related and youth violence related data as well as a brief literature search of best practices in gang interventions. Also included are data from community forums conducted by the Seattle/King County Gang Prevention and Outreach Work Group and the Reinvesting in Youth Promising Program Evaluation. The following are highlights of the key findings of this project. • Qualitative data from interviews and surveys indicate that gang violence and/or youth violence has increased in the last 2 or 3 years and youth violence was more severe than in recent past. • The best current estimates indicate that there are 85 to over 200 gangs identified in King County. • Data from interviews, community forums, youth surveys, BTB feedback, and the Reinvesting in Youth data, indicate that gang membership is generational, e.g., gang members often have parents or close adult family members who were or are gang members. • Youth surveys, data from other research projects, law enforcement, community forums, and BTB’s feedback indicate that guns, including automatic weapons, are readily available and accessible to youth. Anecdotally, there are indications that guns are sometimes supplied by gang members, or family members who are gang members, or are easily accessible in the home, due to “careless adults.” Gang Needs Assessment Project - 4 March 2007 • Health and school-based surveys seem to indicate that middle school youth, in particular, 8th graders, tended to report higher levels of risk behaviors. • The Reinvesting in Youth Promising Program Evaluation baseline data (2005-06) of 394 youth indicates that 28% identified as former gang members and 23% currently associated with companions or friends who identified with gang membership. • In general, community forums participants and community stakeholders recommend earlier gang prevention strategies be developed for elementary school age children. • Community forums, interviewees from community programs and public officials indicated that additional funding is needed for enhancing existing programs, to establish more programs that are culturally competent, and to engage parents and community members. • The majority of youth respondents indicated that they believe youth violence and gang- related violence have increased in both schools and communities. • The majority of youth respondents indicated that they had a friend who is a gang member (77%) and/or family member, (52%). • Youth respondents indicated that more school based programs, positive recreational and sports activities, more “positive influences” (e.g., family and friends), employment programs, and safe places to hang out were needed. • Regarding the definition of “gangs”: Participants in community forums expressed concerns regarding profiling of gangs as any African American youth or any youth of color gathering in a public space. Additionally, public officials, including law enforcement, indicated that the definition of “gang member” activity needed to be clarified. Within the context of all data collected and the community forums, there was a tendency to conflate violent and criminal activities by youth who may or may not identify as gang members with violent and criminal activities by gang members for the purpose of advancing the goals of the gang. • When asked what influences gang activity, youth respondents provided a variety of reasons. Many replied that media, television and music, create the belief that gangs are “cool.” Others said that the gang culture is influenced by anger, pain, and fear experienced in youths’ home life. They indicated that many are looking for a place to belong, have a family, or develop a sense of power. Gang Needs Assessment Project - 5 March 2007 INTRODUCTION Both public safety representatives and community leaders have raised concerns that gang incidents, including violence and intimidation and other gang-related crime, have been increasing throughout Seattle in recent years. According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, Seattle-King County gang incidents have increased from 392 in 2003 to 528 in 2006, with 210 reported in the first three months of 2007. The Seattle Police Department estimates the number of active street gangs in Seattle and its suburbs to be between 30 and 60. Last year, the City of Seattle adopted a budget allocating $500,000 of new funds in the 2008 Human Services Department (HSD) budget to address the issues of gang affiliation and potential criminal activity among youth and young adults in the greater Seattle area. HSD will be preparing a proposal that documents the scope of the problem of gang violence and crime in Seattle and outlines specific prevention and intervention strategies that can be implemented to address the growing concern of gang activity in Seattle. To this end, The City of Seattle Human Services Department’s Youth Development and Achievement division (HSD) contracted with research and gang prevention consultants, Davis Y. Ja & Associates, Inc. (DYJA) and Building the Bridges (BTB), to conduct a need assessment and to collect, analyze data and information related to gang violence prevention and intervention. This research project was conducted between February 1 and February 29, 2008. DYJA and BTB are submitting this report on the findings of this research project. METHODS With the Human Service Department’s guidance, DYJA and BTB implemented a diverse set of methods that was used to collect data on the needs for gang prevention and intervention, including the following. • Conducted analysis of institutional reports and datasets collected and recorded by State, Regional and local governments, and community stakeholders that would identify the prevalence of gang activity and key indicators, risk factors, and trends that are associated with at-risk youth Gang Needs Assessment Project - 6 March 2007 becoming involved in gang membership and illegal activity. HSD provided information on possible institutional data sources and the consultants located publicly accessible data on line. • Conducted interviews with policy makers, public officials and key community stakeholders to assess the current status of criminal street gangs and the criminal activity they are involved in specifically in South King County, Southeast, Southwest, Central and Downtown Seattle. The targeted list of interviewees for this data collection method was provided by HSD. • Through secondary data and a literature review, identified best practices for gang prevention and intervention including both locally developed strategies, promising approaches and research tested programs. HSD provided information on possible data sources and the consultants located publicly accessible data on line. • Conducted surveys of youth, primarily in Southeast, Southwest, Central and Downtown Seattle regarding