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NORTHWEST SUBURBAN AGENCIES
By RON PAVLOCK, Chair, RAPP Advisory Board; DR. JIM WHITTINGTON, Chair, RAPP Task Force; Signs of an emerging gang presence in the northwest suburbs of Chicago have spurred a proactive response among concerned parties in those communities. That response has resulted in the assembly of a network of local agencies, called the Regional Action Planning Project (RAPP), designed to control and/or eliminate potential development of gang activity. Chief Ron Pavlock, Mount Prospect Police Department, is the Founding Chairman of RAPP's Advisory Board. Mr. Craig Anderson, Village Manager for the Village of Wheeling, also provides leadership on the Executive Committee. Initial planning for RAPP began in June 1990. The network now consists of representatives of 65 agencies from a cross-section of the community. These agencies currently include village and city governments, park districts, school districts, police departments and social service agencies. The "simple" suburban life is rapidly becoming more complicated. Northwest Suburban Cook and Southern Lake Counties are experiencing a growing cultural diversity. The 1990 Census indicates a 125% increase in the number of Blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the previously almost all-white neighborhoods. Alienation and underemployment of these citizens often lead to a sense of powerlessness. Gang membership and drug trafficking are avenues to obtaining power, prestige and financial resources. The suburbs are also a lucrative area for city-based gangs because of the reluctance of some suburban leaders to admit their presence. A Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force of ten northwest suburban police departments identified twenty-five gangs in the RAPP area which encompasses sixteen municipalities in nine townships of Northwest Suburban Cook and Southern Lake Counties. Gangs are regional and mobile and can move easily from community to community when police apply pressure. In order to effectively confront the problem, affected communities must share information and resources. Communities trying to fight the problem alone will have little hope for lasting, effective change. RAPP's mission statement reads, "The Regional Action Planning Project is a united, multi-community alliance committed to working with individuals and systems for the purpose of eliminating those conditions which foster alienation, delinquency and gang development, while promoting conditions which will ensure a healthy community for all youth and their families." The major benefit of the RAPP alliance is the cooperative efforts of the membership. The regional approach will facilitate a decision making process which includes representatives from all sixteen communities. Multiple resources within those communities will work together to develop a coordinated, comprehensive effort to address the emerging gang presence. RAPP services are designed to focus on the growing cultural diversity of target area communities, increasing awareness and developing more response programs. Consequently, service development and implementation include bicultural/bilingual staff. RAPP is developing an information clearing house to maintain current information on gangs and gang activity. The alliance is also working to sensitize community leaders and key community resources to gang related issues in order to enhance their involvement in addressing the problem. School staff are being trained by RAPP to identify gang members in school, and encouraged to adopt a "Zero Tolerance" policy for gang activity and drug use. Additionally, RAPP is training Resource Teams to enable them to make presentations on the gang and drug abuse problems, and hosting Community Information Forums which provide facts about local gangs and strategies on how to confront them. RAPP has already launched the Second Choice program. Second Choice is an alternative to the juvenile court system for youth adjudicated delinquent. The program is a one time opportunity for teens and uses films, presentations, community service work, and group processing to encourage youth to begin questioning the choices they make in life. RAPP works collaboratively with police, schools, business, social service agencies and the probation department to monitor the January 1993 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 9 progress of involved youth and provide the necessary follow-up. The alliance hopes to develop three Community Resource Centers to provide a variety of social services to residents in areas with, or at risk for, a gang presence. Programs ranging from Job Readiness and Youth Leadership Development to a Witness Support Program are being developed for high risk youth to minimize the probability of their joining gangs, and for youth who are currently members but want to leave. Finally, RAPP has developed a universal definition of "gang" and "gang crime" for use by local police, schools and other community institutions. The definition reads, "A gang is a cohesive group of youth, usually between the ages of 11 and 23 years, who have recognizable leadership, a purpose and various levels of membership. Factors that distinguish the gang from other youth groups include: consistent use of violence, involvement in multiple criminal activities, a designated turf and a pathological need for recognition." The development of the RAPP effort and all of its activities will be documented in an instructional manual to provide a model for confronting emerging gang problems with a regional effort. This is an important step in improving the piecemeal efforts of individual local programs. These efforts lack comprehensiveness, regional scope and the coordinated leadership necessary to have an effective, lasting impact on the problem. RAPP is, in many ways, still in its developmental stages, yet it has made significant strides in encouraging acceptance of the problem and developing a process for prevention. RAPP has developed an Advisory Board consisting of leaders from key community resources to provide input into the evolution of consortium goals. Decision makers come from the police departments of Arlington Heights, Wheeling, Prospect Heights, Buffalo Grove and Mount Prospect, as well as the Cook County Juvenile Court. Advisory Board leaders also include representatives of School District #214 — the second largest school district in the state — and its feeder schools, park districts, religious organizations, businesses, social service agencies, housing associations, parents and teens. Three Strategic Planning Committees, including Prevention, Intervention, and Crisis Intervention and Suppression, develop action plans to achieve consortium goals. A 121 member Task Force implements those plans. The Executive Committee provides more focused leadership and enables timely decision making. The early success of Cook County RAPP has led to the development of a Lake County RAPP consisting of representatives from Lake County communities contiguous to the Cook County areas including the jurisdictions of Vernon Hills, Libertyville and Lake Zurich. If you are interested in obtaining more information about RAPP or how you or your group can become involved, contact Chief Ron Pavlock, Mount Prospect Police Department, 708/870-5653. •
New Guide Details In response to worsening traffic congestion, deteriorating air quality, rising crime rates, and the erosion of a sense of community, the Local Government Commission (LGC) has joined forces with some of the nation's best known architects and planners to create a strategy for enhancing the contribution of sensible land use planning to community life and environmental protection. The strategy is comprised of three principles: The Community Principles list all of the attributes of a livable community, the Regional Principles describe how the community should relate to the larger region, and the Implementation Principles provide local officials with a step-by-step strategy for achieving these goals. A guidebook illustrating and detailing the Ahwahnee Principles, Land Use Strategies For More Livable Places, has been released by the LGC. The cost is $19.75. To order, send payment to: the Local Government Commission, 909 12th Street, Suite 205, Sacramento, CA 95814. • Page 10 / Illinois Municipal Review / January 1993 |
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