yakima gang free initiative

SEATTLE, WA - Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole has promoted two assistant chiefs within the department and looked outside for two others in a major overhaul of her command staff.

City leaders in Yakima are getting ready to implement the Gang Free Initiative, a program they hope will help reduce the number of gang members on the streets. It is no secret, the gang problem is pretty bad in Yakima. In fact, it is an issue that local police are forced to deal with every day...

There is strong response to Yakima's Gang Free Initiative. The GFI's executive director says there are now 25 at-risk kids being assessed for specialized services. That is being done through the Yakima Police Athletic League. Those kids will be connected with services like tutoring, mentoring and life skills...

Yakima will soon have new tools to tackle the areas gang problem as the Gang Free Initiative prepares to help its first group of at-risk kids. Soon, the YMCA will expand its mentor program to help more kids under the Gang Free Initiative umbrella...

The City of Yakima's Gang Free Initiative group is working closely with community partners like the YMCA to help curb gang violence. YMCA Executive Director Bob Romero says they hope to change lives through the Y's mentoring program. Romero says they want to pair adults with kids at Garfield and Barge-Lincoln schools and hold on site activities...

The Yakima City Council gave thumbs up to a plan to combat gangs in the city. On Tuesday, the council held a study session to talk about the city gang free initiative. It is a plan that city officials hope will help steer young people away from gangs by using a variety of programs and services that help struggling kids in the valley who may be thinking of joining a gang...

Yakima's Gang Free Initiative Group is hoping to open a community center to help steer kids away from gang membership by later this fall...GFI Director LT. Mike Merryman from the Yakima Police Department who says he knows some people are wondering why it's taking so long to see a center opened...

Yakima police say graffiti and other cases of vandalism are slowing down in the city. Police records show a 40 percent drop over the last four months. Lower level property crimes like graffiti, broken windows and other mischief fell from 151 incidents in March down to 94 so far this month...

For more than a quarter century, Lily Yeh has spearheaded projects around the world that combine arts with other community building strategies in order to transform and revitalize cities as diverse as Korogochu, Nairobi, Salt Lake City, Utah, Damascus, Syria, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Beijing, China...