Problems with the Yakima Gang Free Initiative (GFI)?
The City of Yakima decided to re-bid the position of
Project Coordinator for their Gang Free Initiative (GFI) on March 26, 2012. The
GFI was created after the gallant efforts of former city council member Sonia
Rodriguez-True and a few others to address the city’s gang problems. Many of
the problems had grown out of control after decades of denial and lack of will
by the city council to do much about it. The GFI is based on five principles of
the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP)
Comprehensive Gang Model. This model and other “Best Practices” are used by
communities across the U.S. to address gang crime and youth violence.
The GFI is an opportunity for the city to be
pro-active in areas of prevention and intervention. The selection of a
Coordinator is supposed to be to provide services as specified in the scope of
work for the GFI Project; however, the selection process seems to be highly
political, and some council members are still not sure it is money well spent.
The job application and bid does not even state candidates may be interviewed
or that a personal presentation on combating gangs and coordinating services
may be seen, it only states TBD (To Be Determined). It appears the GFI
Selection Committee, made up of (3) council members, can make up their own
rules:
GFI
Reservation:
The City reserves the right to award the contract to the applicant that it
deems to offer the best overall qualifications/proposal in its sole discretion.
The City reserves the right to revise the RFQ schedule, to revise the RFQ
and/or to issue amendments to the RFQ. The City also reserves the right to
cancel or to reissue the RFQ in whole or in part prior to the execution of a
contract. The City also reserves the right to refrain from contracting with any
and all applicants. The release of the RFQ does not compel the City to enter
into any contract pursuant to the RFQ.
Clearly, the city should ensure its needs are met in
dealing with this under addressed problem, but is a long history of alienating
the Latino community by the political establishment continuing? Do you think
the GFI is a good idea? What do you think can be done about gangs in the Yakima
area that is not being done now?
Accurate assessments of problems are critical for
effective solutions and to ask for state and federal anti-gang funding down the
road. Yakima allegedly paid $75K for the GFI study, was it money well spent?
Any comments or concerns about how this process was handled?
See the Yakima Gang Assessment/Community Profile at:
