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Ken Richardson I hope that we utilize this designation as
a means to make sure that we have cross system collaboration that we develop a seamless stream
of supports and services for children, youth, and families within the Promise Neighborhood
designation. We certainly want to utilize the resources
that are made available through this opportunity but also use this to marshal additional resources
as well, whether it’s from the state, feds, or foundation. I think it is important for
us to understand that in many cases, many parts of our community you could have two
or three different systems working with the same family, but yet those systems are not
communicating with each other. I think if we can figure out a way to coordinate
the supports and service development seamless infrastructure, so that these institutions
and systems are talking to each other, communicating with each other, working together, to improve
our youth children and families. So I think we certainly want to utilize this designation
as a way to marshal additional resources, we certainly want to utilize this designation
as a way to ensure some systemic reforms within the number of different systems that have
an impact, sometimes a deleterious impact, on the outcome of children, youth and families.
But more importantly, It is my hope and desire that as we move this process forward and through
our lessons learned and our successes that we figure out a way to replicate this in other
situated parts of Little Rock. I think it is a unique opportunity for us to get a clear
understanding, a clear grasp of what the challenges are from the cradle to college pipeline, cradle
to career pipeline. And I think it is an opportunity for us to arrest the cradle to prison pipeline
which is an unfortunate reality for some of the people who live in this community that
we are targeting. Well the city, obviously is providing some
funding as matched, but also this Promise Neighborhood designation also covers the,
I've been spearheading the 12th Street Revitalization Project, and in fact it is an award winning
revitalization project where we've committed a number of resources in that part of the
community, which overlaps with the Promise Neighborhood designation. So, we have invested
interest, not just in respect to the 12th Street Revitalization Project, but also the
city puts a significant amount of resources into prevention, intervention, and treatment
programs, where we have a host of afterschool, out of school programs that deal with gang
intervention, gang prevention, youth development, and neighborhood based programming.
So, the city's commitment will certainly be, it won't be limited to resources, but we certainly
have some resources committed to programming in after school and out of school setting
where there is faith based programs, but also marshalling the city's involvement in that
area to attract and get the foundation funding, to make sure that, hopefully, the policies
we are making at the city board level are conducive to the needs of the Promise Neighborhood
designation. That it is supportive and not working in confident but it’s actually working
in concert with what we are trying to do. So the city is there for the long haul, we
have invested interest in community building, we have invested interest in improving the
outcomes of children, youth and families, and I think that it is in our desire and our
hope to make this a reality. And not just for this one area, as I said
before, hopefully from my lessons learned and our implementation of this and the successes
that we can gather early on we will be able to replicate this model in other parts of
the community that need the help of the Promise Neighborhood designation. I think the city
is a key convener, I think we are able to attract and forge partnerships and collaborations
with a number of entities, whether it’s the school district, whether it is UALR or
Philander Smith or Arkansas Baptist College, or the Chamber of Commerce. I mean I think
that the city has a vital role in this and I think we can be a key convener in order
to make sure we have all the partners at the table.
One of the strengths of our Promise Neighborhood designation right now is the strength of partnerships
and the diversity of the partnerships. So I think the city can utilize our resources
to make sure that we keep that in place and enhance it and expand it.
I'd like to see systemic reform with respect to the juvenile justice system, the educational
system, the foster care system. I'd like to see a concerted effort centered around community
building. Where we have healthy, vibrant, and strong communities that are producing
healthy, vibrant, strong families which ultimately produces healthy, vibrant, strong children.
I think that in many cases, when we develop our support systems for young people, we fail
to realize that a key component of it is not just healing the young person but also healing
the family that produced that young person and the community that produced that family.
So we need to look at and identify what makes a healthy community and we replicate those
elements of a healthy community. A healthy community doesn't necessarily have a liquor
store on every other block, a healthy community doesn't necessarily have a disproportionate
number of convenient stores that sells junk food to kids, and a healthy community doesn't
necessarily have a lack of a place where you can buy affordable healthy fruits and vegetables.
So what I would like to see as we move this forward, is not only are we just focusing
in on improving those outcomes or young people that we are targeting, but there are some
elements in our community that has an impact on those outcomes; affordable housing, community
disintegration lack of access to affordable healthy fruits and vegetables, disproportionate
number of places that sell beer and alcohol and tobacco. So I think it’s not just focus
on these three or four systems we talked about but as a community as a whole what will it
take, what do we need to do to make sure these communities are healthy. I think one of the
things I recognize in my work through gang intervention and prevention is that gang presence
is strongest were community presence is the weakest. Also recognize that crime is strong
where community sense is the weakest. I think a lot of times in young people who
come from parts of our community they end up accepting some of the things they see as
the norms and that is not normal growing up under some of the circumstances and conditions
that they do. So we need to reverse those, change those circumstances and redefine the
culture norm. When we redefine the cultural norm then you see a benefit in going to school,
you see the pay off of going to college, and going and getting a good job. Right now I
think far too many of our young people don't see that pay off. They don't see the benefit
because people who have gone on to college and gone on and gotten good jobs, they don't
come back. So what they see as cultural norms are not cultural norms. They don't see the
benefit and sometimes they can't make that connection to going to school to graduate
from high school and go to college and see that pay off because they don't see that resemble
or model in their community. So I think that a big part of our challenge
is to redefine the community norms, redefine the cultural norms, and make sure that everyone
in this community, everyone in this city takes ownership of this process, this project. Take
ownership of this part of our community that's been forgotten for so long.
When I ran for city board, one of the things I recognized was I ran on the notion that
we could address public safety through community building, but I've found it quite interesting
that the city has done a wonderful job of redevelopment in the downtown area the Rivermarket
area, a wonderful job. The city has done a wonderful job of development out west; the
city has done a horrible job with this place in the middle. And that is where you see the
community disintegration, where you see boarded up homes, vacant lots, that’s where you
see disproportioned number if establishments selling beer, alcohol, and tobacco. So, one
of the things I want us to do is address public safety through community building and I think
this Promise Neighborhood, along with the 12th street revitalization project, along
with the University district partnership, I think these will be key tools, key instruments
for us to redevelop this community, to rebuild this community, and restore this community
and ultimately rebuild and restore the children youth and families.