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Task Force on Violence releases its Final Report

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Identifies challenges and long term solutions

Earlier this year violence erupted in South Apopka with three shooting deaths of residents in the span of eight days. In response to that, a group of concerned citizens formed the Apopka Community Task Force on Violence. Typically a task force is the creation of an elected official or a governing body, but this was a grass roots effort that took shape in an almost organic nature.

The Task Force met several times with the community, looking for the roots of the problem and trying to devise solutions.

In its summary, the Task Force outlines the issues it sees as having the biggest impact, and while diversity is often a community's strength, it can also be a challenge.

The Task Force writes:

"A community often consists of people of different ethnicity, race, religion, caste, gender, health, wealth, and sexual orientation. Although communities may differ depending on the influence of culture and modernization, there are similarities in the challenges they encounter.

Apopka is no different, the community focus groups coordinated by the task force identified problems and potential solutions relative to these challenges. The problems identified include mistrust between law enforcement and the community as well as a lack of jobs, education, self-identity, moral grounding, and spirituality.

However, in addressing these challenges, it is important to examine and recognize long-term solutions. Therefore, this report seeks to provide specific recommendations related to education, crime, employment, moral grounding, and self-identity. As a result of several community focus groups which included community residents, victims of crime, business owners, law enforcement, faith and community leaders. The community focus groups were facilitated by Bethune-Cookman University faculty and students.

As a result of the input gathered from the community focus groups a five Artery High-Risk community biopsy was conducted and the following prescriptive recommendations were offered."

The Task Force has released its Final Report today, and recommends five Initiatives:

  1. Education
  2. Government Resources Accountability
  3. Crime/Youth Prevention
  4. Jobs
  5. Community/Law Enforcement Relationship Cultivation

Use this link to read the Task Force's Final Report.

The Task Force will be discussing the report today at 3:30 PM at the John Bridges Center (445 West 13th Street, Apopka, FL 32703).


 

Apopka Community Task Force on violence, John Bridges Community Center

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