This summer, Rose City Self-Defense (RCSD), Safe Blocks, and the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), in conjunction with WorkSystems Learn & Earn, hosted three youth interns from the Lents Youth Initiative (LYI). Through LYI’s summer internship program, teens receive 45+ hours of leadership training, building soft skills, environmental stewardship, and career development through the Youth Empowerment Series in the spring. In the summer, youth interns are hired to lead projects and collectively contribute thousands of hours to projects that benefit the neighborhood. LYI is operated by ROSE Community Development Corporation, an OVP Safer Portland grant recipient. Interns met weekly at LYI's location in Powellhurst-Gilbert, one of three Safe Blocks Place-Based Violence Intervention Project neighborhoods.
The main goal of this internship was to provide youth interns with training and insight on the government processes involved in making a neighborhood a safer place to live and play. Interns got the opportunity to walk through the steps for effecting change in Portland while also assisting in improving safety conditions within their own neighborhood.
Interns learned about Portland's history and how design decisions impact city life and can have intended and unintended consequences. The program included multiple field trips around to city to compare and contrast publicly controlled spaces for feelings of safety, peace, and accessibility. These spaces included urban (Pearl District), waterfront (Portland and Vancouver), and outer southeast (Powell Butte and the new Parklane) parks. The Safe Blocks team introduced interns to the concept of a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)-based assessment. Once interns were trained on CPTED concepts, they did an assessment of Lincoln Park in Hazelwood, another Safe Blocks Place-Based Violence Intervention Project neighborhood, along with Safe Blocks mentors. All three interns had a personal connection to Lincoln Park, whether it be next to their high school, or one that they spent a lot of time at when they were younger.
Once their recommendations were complete, the interns created a presentation and brought their ideas to the community to get feedback:
They started by presenting at Sunday Parkways in July at Lincoln Park, using a dotting activity to capture people’s initial reactions to their recommendations.
Next, they took their presentation to OVP’s Community Peace Collaborative at the Portland Police Bureau's East Precinct, presenting to the entire group initially and then allowing meeting participants to give feedback individually after the meeting.
Interns wrapped up their summer with a capstone project of presenting to the directors and chiefs of Portland's Public Safety Service Area.
Our hope is that in the future, interns will have a chance to present to City Council members, especially those in District 1, where their project was done, and those within the Public Safety Subcommittee, as well as representatives from Portland Parks & Recreation, with the dream of moving at least one of their recommendations forward.
Curious about their recommendations?