Councilmembers Tommy Wells and Phil Mendelson and City Administrator Dan Tangerlini were among the speakers at the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative conference, held at the Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University on Tuesday, May 22, 2007.  "Alternative Programs Reduce Juvenile Detention and Arrests," proclaimed the headline in Tuesday's Washington Examiner newspaper. The focus of the conference was on alternatives to secure detention for youth accused of committing crimes, with an emphasis on a structured living, learning environment, and incorporating family and community in the rehabilitation of youth.

Meanwhile, there has been a spate of robberies, some of them allegedly committed by youth, on Capitol Hill in recent days and DC Public Schools are about to let out for the summer.  

Recognizing the relationship between keeping youth occupied during the summer months, keeping kids out of trouble, lowering crime rates, and keeping kids out of the juvenile court system, the Human Services Committee is looking for ways to strengthen youth services in the District of Columbia particularly during the summer months. Tommy has asked Ram Uppuluri and myself, to visit two of our summer youth programs per week to better understand what can be done to engage youth in stimulating activities while they are out of school. As part of this effort, we have collected information on several programs to create the Summer Youth Activities Resource Directory. Several worthwhile summer activities for youth will be funded through the Children and Youth Investment Trust, Corp. - a listing of those summer programs will be available soon. We'd like to know your thoughts and suggestions on ways to improve youth summer programs, and youth services in general in the District of Columbia.