UNC Wilmington professor Earl Sheridan started the Blue Ribbon Commission to end youth violence in 2007.  In its sixth year, neighborhoods are still getting caught in the crossfires of violent activity and the BRC is more important than ever.

Sheridan is seeking a third term on the city council in the upcoming election on Nov. 9, advocating for economic development and youth violence prevention.

“Wilmington is my home town; I was born and raised here,” said Sheridan, head of the Public and International Affairs department at UNCW.

Sheridan was first elected to city council in 2005, after years of community involvement.  He was re-elected in 2009 and is now running again for a third term in 2013.

Sheridan’s platform focuses on economic and social development in the county, including affordable housing, renovating Wilmington’s infrastructure and curtailing youth violence.  

For his candidacy in the upcoming election, he doesn’t have any special tricks to capitalize on his platform. All he’s left with is to “lay out to the people things that I’ve done, and that I’ve been in.” 

With the support of staff and people at UNCW, Sheridan cultivated enough resources to start the Blue Ribbon Commission to end youth violence.

The Blue Ribbon Commission was formed in 2007 when the city endured a spike in violence similar to the outbreak of gang violence faced this year. Sheridan explained that it was conceived out of a council meeting when he told the mayor it was time to exact necessary action on this violence. 

“I was in the full front of starting the commission,” he said. 

The BRC was created with three areas of focus: education, community action and youth violence.

“It’s called the Blue Ribbon Commission, because governing leaders in the county are on it,” he said. “The mayor is on it, the district attorney is on it and the superintendent of schools is on it.” 

Given the influx of shootings in the county and subsequent cease-fire called by faith leaders, the city council met earlier this month to discuss the surge in crime. With a poverty rating of around 21 percent, Sheridan notes that more poverty can lead to more crime.

“Because we’ve been going through an economic downturn in the country, I think that contributes to it,” he said. “So that’s why it’s important to provide jobs and economic opportunities for young people and for people in general.”

Non-profit groups like the BRC re-establish stability to areas of the city with high crime rates.  

“It’s based off of Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone model in New York,” said Daawud El-Amin, youth enrichment specialist at the Blue Ribbon Commission. “He took it to one block at a time, one neighborhood at a time and one family at a time.”

The youth violence team for BRC mapped out the areas with the highest crime rate in the city. They found that the sectors between Nixon, Fourth and 14th streets had the highest crime rates.  Enveloping parts of downtown Wilmington in a boot shape, the team named the area the “youth enrichment zone.”

According to El-Amin, work in the enrichment zone has led to an improved crime rate in that area.  However, the recent uptick in violence remains outside of the current enrichment zone.  But BRC is working to expand their focus outside of the current zone.   

The education section was responsible for reducing the dropout rates in New Hanover County. The community action section had the task of recruiting 4,000 volunteers to assuage youth violence—which was also the team’s mission.

According to El-Amin, they replicated part of Canada’s model to fight crime by emphasizing focus on education, activities among students and people and donating resources to family—so education can rise and poverty and crime would dwindle.

BRC faced a setback when DC Virgo Middle School, a school in the “youth enrichment zone,” closed in 2011 due to budget cuts.  At the time, the highest dropout rates were coming from eighth grade.

“Most males in ninth grade grow up thinking they’re going to be the next LeBron James,” El-Amin said. “What happens in ninth grade is they have a cut. Only 12 boys make a basketball team, so they drop out. Same thing happens with girl only with pregnancy.”

But when Virgo re-opened last year to sixth graders, BRC also opened their main office in the school.  With a middle school open in the enrichment zone, El-Amin says that he can work with most of the kids to help prepare them for a higher education.

“Our goal is finding every child and asking them, ‘What do you want to do, and how can we help you get there?’” El-Amin said.

The BRC has worked with 395 youth in the enrichment zone, about 50 percent in the last three years. Its goal is to work with 100 percent of the youth within a six year period.