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Text"Get Real About Violence" Program Offered this Summer
Fairfax County Office of Public
Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
703-324-3187, TTY 703-324-2935, FAX 703-324-2010
July 12, 2004
"Get Real About Violence" Program Offered this Summer
Twenty-two fifth graders at Annandale Terrace Elementary School are participating in a special summer program designed to teach them gang refusal and resiliency skills. The anti-violence program runs from 10:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the school’s summer interim break, July 6 - 22. (Annandale Terrace is a year-round school.) The program is free, and transportation is being provided to and from the Fairmont Gardens apartment complex.
The children registered will participate in the “Get Real About Violence” program, an evidence-based prevention program – meaning that the program has been scientifically proven to achieve its desired results – that teaches children the refusal and resiliency skills necessary when confronted with a violent situation. The children will also participate in teamwork and recreation activities. The program is a joint project of Annandale Terrace, the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board and the Department of Community and Recreation Services.
“This program is a direct result of the ‘Community Dialog on Gangs’ and the ‘Community Engagement’ hosted by Braddock District Supervisor Sharon Bulova,” said Evan Braff, Community and Recreation Services division supervisor. “The Dialog was instrumental in enabling the county and school to develop a quick response to mitigating youth violence in the Annandale area,” Braff added, “and these types of collaborative efforts will help our children have bright futures.”
In addition to the anti-violence training, Annandale Terrace and the Department of Community and Recreation Services have partnered to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Lunch program at Fairmont Gardens. The program is being administered by community volunteers recruited by Annandale Terrace Elementary.
“These programs are the first steps in a multi-phased response effort,” Supervisor Bulova said. “There are committees of county and school staff and citizen volunteers working hard right now, and additional gang-prevention projects and efforts will be announced in the coming months.”
Bulova also credited Braddock District School Board Member Tessie Wilson for “getting the ball rolling” on gang awareness.
“She had the foresight last December to call a
town meeting on the gang problem,” Bulova noted. “More than 300 people
attended that meeting, which really was the spark for the meetings and
projects that have followed.”
For additional information on the Annandale Terrace anti-violence
program, contact Evan Braff, Fairfax County Department of Community and
Recreation Services, at 703-324-5650, TTY 703-222-9693.
FAIRFAX COUNTY IS COMMITTED TO A POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION IN ALL COUNTY PROGRAMS, SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES AND WILL PROVIDE REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS UPON REQUEST. TO REQUEST SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS, CALL 703-324-3187, TTY 703-324-2935. PLEASE ALLOW FIVE WORKING DAYS IN ADVANCE OF EVENTS IN ORDER TO MAKE THE NECESSARY ARRANGEMENTS
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