With the admonition, “Let’s get rockin’!” city cop Shafiq Abdussabur got a new kind of “think tank” underway in the Dixwell neighborhood.
To wake up on one of those rare 70-degree and sunny Saturday mornings in New Haven and spend a good chunk of the day sitting inside a classroom may sound less than ideal, but for 10 committed community leaders, the weekend could not have gotten off to a more positive start. On Saturday, Sept. 30, a cop-run youth program called CTRIBAT and the Stetson Public LIbrary teamed up to host New Haven’s first urban think tank, focused on youth development in the city.
Moderated by CTRIBAT Executive Director Shafiq Abdussabur, the invitation-only event was attended by activists from nonprofit and religious organizations across the city who are concerned about the future of New Haven’s youth. The think tank, titled “Urban Autonomy and Infrastructure,” was designed to facilitate an exchange of information and create a support network among community leaders. The group convened in a modest classroom in the back of the Stetson Public Library on Dixwell Avenue.
“Let’s get rockin!” Abdussabur said in his opening speech, setting the friendly but determined tone that would persist throughout the day. Everyone sitting around the classroom table then introduced themselves and described some of the initiatives taking place in their neighborhoods to curb youth violence. Each guest received a comprehensive packet outlining the goals of the think tank and important questions to be addressed, such as whose job it is to develop youth and what the best plan is to accomplish this. The packet also included statistics and articles on youth violence and New Haven census information indicating that youths ages 5 – 19 make up the greatest percentage of the city’s population.
CTRIBAT Board of Directors member and Ward 22 Alderman Drew King, whose district encompasses the Dixwell neighborhood where the think tank was held, said he thinks job training is the key to keeping kids on the right path.
“We need to teach them to be entrepreneurs and to be role models for them so they know there’s someone out there that loves them,” King said.
One of the principal frustrations vocalized at the think tank was the lack of funding for these youth initiatives, even when there is clearly a high demand for the services they provide. Al Shakir, who runs the Mob Squad drill team, which currently boasts 120 members from New Haven’s youth population, complained not because he does not get paid for the work he does, but because he cannot even secure funding from the city to purchase supplies or take his team on a trip. Abdussabur and others around the table sympathized with this sentiment.
“I’ve found myself in a lot of these positions we’ve been talking about – no money, no resources, no publicity,” Abdussabur said. “We are in an all out war, and we need to figure out how to attack these issues.”
Along these thematic lines, CTRIBAT recently launched its “front-line campaign,” in which Abdussabur brought the organization “out of the underground an into the forefront” of activism in New Haven. Part of this entailed hosting the first of what Abdussabur said he hopes will be many more productive and well-attended urban think tanks. The organization has already made significant progress, launching a program last June targeted at young men from single-parent families. Abdussabur said the program’s goal is to prevent kids from getting involved in bad situations rather than trying to get them out of these situations once it is already too late, and gang violence among the youth involved has already decreased.
Minister Donald Morris, executive director of the New Haven Christian Community Commission, agreed that these preventive measures are vital to the future of New Haven youth and pointed to skilled adult leaders in the community as responsible for ensuring their safety.
“We need to begin to put paintbrushes and tools in the hands of our youth in exchange for guns,” Morris said. “And we need to get kids to want to build something instead of tear it down.”
Morris also called on Yale University, “one of the greatest and richest institutions in the world,” to work more closely with the Greater New Haven community on the problem of youth violence, for the good of both sides.
Yale Associate Vice President of the Office of New Haven and State Affairs Michael Morand expressed confidence that the size and scale of the New Haven community paired with the University’s resources will allow progress to be made on this front. He stressed that the problems in the community should not be viewed as “us and them” but as a collaborative effort between Yale and New Haven.
“We’re all part of this place, it is a 20 square-mile patch of land and we all here know that,” Morand said. “I’m an optimist in general and it sounds to me like you all are too — people who believe in opportunities and getting things done.”
To encourage further dialogue in the wake of this event, an interactive on-line Urban Think Tank will soon be available for contributions from the general public. Additionally, the names and information of all the organizations involved in the first think tank will be posted online.