Public Forum Focuses on Violence Among Youth
Area experts address problems and provide solutions

BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Workforce Investment Board Youth Council (BWIB YC) in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) will host a forum to highlight the growing epidemic of youth violence and gang activity in Baltimore City and identify ways to remedy the problem. The panel discussion will take place on Wednesday, September 28 from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health building located at 615 North Wolfe Street in Baltimore. Dr. Skipp Sanders, deputy state superintendent of Maryland State Department of Education will serve as the moderator.

“This is an opportunity for us to increase the awareness associated with violence among our youth,”said Alice Cole, MOED’s director of the career development services division. “We are strategizing to help save one child at a time from the perils of violence and assist them in their transition into the workforce.”

The forum will consist of two informative panel discussions. The first group of panelists will highlight the problem of youth violence and gang activity in Baltimore City. The panelists are Steffie Rapp, a licensed clinical social worker from the U.S. Department of Justice; Sergeant Herbert Timberlake, Baltimore City Police Department; Joe Mayo, former youth police commissioner in Chicago, Illinois. The second group of panelists will discuss the implementation of solutions to gang activity. The invited guests are Robert Woodson, president and CEO of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and LaMarr Sheilds, chairman and co-founder of the Urban Leadership Institute and Rev. William Stanfield of New Vision Youth Services. Baltimore City youth will also be part of the forum.

The youth violence/youth gang activity forum is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. For more information call 410-396-6722.

The forum is a service to the citizens of Baltimore City and sponsored by the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development and multiple workforce partners.