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Conference Highlights From Wednesday, January 11

Wednesday featured a full day of workshops, presented in three concurrent sessions. The theme of the day was "The Big Picture: What's Happening in the Field."

Two brown bag luncheon programs featured presentations from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS):

• Youth and Marijuana: Community Action for Prevention, the ONDCP presentation, described the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign and highlighted the latest developments in its ongoing effort to reach youth with marijuana prevention messages. The Media Campaign's Marijuana Initiative has established a track record of success in reaching parents and getting them to seek information, support, and tools to engage in conversation with their children about the risks of marijuana.

• Engaging Youth in Decisionmaking: A Tool for Delinquency Prevention, the CNCS presentation, examined the key factors for successful youth-led community service and service-learning programs. It highlighted methods to increase youth "voice and choice" and offered effective models for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Wednesday's activities ended with an evening Town Hall Meeting "Building Resiliency: Alternatives to Gangs." The meeting, which was moderated by OJJDP Chief of Staff Michael Costigan, featured remarks by Acting Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.

Mr. McNulty said that gangs compete with families, schools, and other organizations for the loyalty of youth and try to create fear in the community. The community's response must be comprehensive—a partnership, and the Department of Justice is committed to working with all the "forces of good in the community" to address gangs.

Mr. McNulty summarized Attorney General Gonzales' three-part antigang strategy: coordinating antigang activities within the Department of Justice, establishing an antigang coordinator in each U.S. Attorney's Office, and developing district-specific antigang strategies for each U.S. Attorney's Office. An effective antigang strategy requires both enforcement and prevention, and "success" must be "measured in the change in people's lives."

The Town Hall Meeting closed with a brief question-and-answer session with a panel that included J. Robert Flores, Administrator, OJJDP; Domingo S. Herraiz, Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance; Errika Fearby Jones, Coordinator, Pittsburgh Gang-Free Schools and Communities Project; Robert J. Kipper, Newport News (VA) Police Department (retired); Harry Wilson, Associate Commissioner, Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Terence P. Thornberry, Professor of Sociology and Director, Research Program on Problem Behavior, Institute for Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder.