Mayor hosts Oakland's first peace conference

Emilie Raguso Sun, 14 Feb at 2:51pm
Mayor hosts Oakland's first peace conference

Mayor Ron Dellums spoke to many Oakland religious leaders today at the Claremont Hotel to ask for help to staunch youth violence.

Oakland Local would love to hear from anyone who attended.

The "Peace Conference," the city's first, allowed local leaders to brainstorm ways to build relationships with kids and make sure they know of "alternatives to a life of crime." After a series of morning speakers, participants broke into workshops about personal safety, juvenile probation, youth outreach and green jobs.

Participants discussed the city's social outreach programs and got to know each other, partially with the aim of buildlng collaboration between communities of different faiths.

It was a way for the leaders to share "best practices," according to information released by the mayor's office.

The interfaith community is one prong in Dellums' "comprehensive public safety approach," aka PIES, which stands for Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement and Sustainability. Clergy and their congregations can work to build relationships with at-risk youth, which puts them on the front lines in the fight against violence.

Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts spoke to conference participants about his department's "Our Kids" mentorship program.

The program is funded by Measure Y. According to the mayor's office, many of the Measure Y programs, services provided by community organizations and other programs run by the Oakland Police Department have helped decrease crime statistics by 10 percent.

For more information regarding the conference, e-mail MayorsPeaceConference@oaklandnet.com.

About Emilie Raguso
Emilie Raguso is a multimedia reporter in Oakland who focuses on issues of criminal justice, food and Oakland culture. She is passionate about social media, documentary photography and sustainable living. Her work has appeared on Salon and NPR, as well as in The Modesto Bee, Greater Good magazine and the East Bay Express. Write her at eraguso@gmail.com, follow her on Twitter (@emraguso) and see more of her work at http://raguso.us.
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Emilie Raguso commented Array ago

A nice Trib story on the conference.

According to the story, the conference emphasized mentoring, restorative justice and the need for "healing centers."

Would have been nice to hear from kids about their experience and whether this seemed useful to them. I couldn't tell from the story if any at-risk youth actually attended. Hard to know if the message is getting through or if it's just a bunch of well-meaning adults talking.