San Diego Community Gathers to Share, Connect and Learn About Strategies to Impact Gang Violence

The University of San Diego will host the third bi-annual San Diego Gang Prevention Summit in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice on Wednesday, April 25th. Entitled: "Building Community Connections" Learn Share Connect, this county-wide event is sponsored by the City of San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention, University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, the Leichtag Foundation, San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego County District Attorney's Office, and San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency Behavioral Health

The summit brings together city and county policymakers, community and school-based leaders and organizations, law enforcement, and community members to take part in workshops. The goals of the summit are to share information about strategies to prevent the growth of gang activity and violence in San Diego County neighborhoods through collaborative efforts, to promote networking among governmental, private and nonprofit organizations in San Diego County and to facilitate community involvement though strategic guidance and leadership.

Keynote speakers at this year's summit are San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Dr. Robert Ross of the California Endowment.

Community collaborations will be sharing information about their efforts. The following organizations will do community briefs:

• North County Gang Prevention and Intervention Committee (NCGPIC) and the North County Comprehensive Gang Initiative (NCCGI),
• The Youth Action Board,
• Health and Human Services Agency's Healthy Communities – Central Region, "Live Well, San Diego! Efforts throughout the County of San Diego",
• San Diego Compassion Project,
• East County Multi-system Work Group
• Truancy Intervention Partnership
• 100 Strong
• Chula Vista Community Collaborative

The two workshops will be:

• Community Violence/Trauma Informed Care co-lead by Tracy Fried facilitator for the Building Solutions Toolkit: Tools and Resources to Respond to the Impact of Violence and Trauma in our Communities Using a Trauma Informed Approach and Rosa Ana Lozada chair of the San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention and CEO of Harmonium.
• Collaborative Building/Sustainability. Co-presenters will be Wayne Sakamoto, author of School Community Violence Prevention: Focus on Gangs that was adopted by the State of California and Kathy Valdez, founder/facilitator of the North County Gang Prevention and Intervention Committee (CGPIC).

Over 25 organizations will be part of the resource area at this summit. The summit is open to the public and to the press, but online registration at is required at www.sandiego.gov/gangcommission. 

WHO: City and County policymakers, community and school-based leaders and organizations, law enforcement, and community members

WHAT: The Gang Prevention Summit
Discussion at USD's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice:
Information sharing, networking and strategy building to impact gang presence in San Diego County

WHERE: University of San Diego
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA

WHEN: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
8 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Please register online at www.sandiego.gov/gangcommission. 

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.