A proclamation proclaiming the week of October 17, 2016 - October 21, 2016 as Choose to be G.R.E.A.T. Week in Denver, Colorado.
Santa Fe Drive Pedestrian mall see St Luke's Pedestrian Mall Deli Del Gainey Street Pedestrian Mall East 13th Avenue Pedestrian Mall South Downing Street Pedestrian Mall Tennyson Street Second Pedestrian Mall West 44th Avenue and Elliott Street Pedestrian Mall, Golden Triangle Pedestrian Mall and West 32nd pedestrian mall on two proclamations. We have three proclamations tonight. Councilman Lopez, will you please read proclamation 988. Thank you, Mr. President. Proclamation 988 series of 2016 proclaiming the week of October 17 through October 21st of 2016 as Choose. To Be Great Week in Denver. Colorado. Whereas the city and county of Denver is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all of its residents and visitors. Whereas, youth violence, delinquency and bullying are concerns locally, nationally and internationally. And. WHEREAS, The Gang Resistance Education and Training Great Program is an evidence based gang and violence prevention program built around school based law enforcement constructed classroom curricula, teaching youth to say no to gangs, drugs, crime and violence. And yes to a great future. And. WHEREAS, the great program offers a continuum of components for students and their families that focus on providing life skills to help youth avoid bullying, delinquent behaviors and violence. And. WHEREAS, Great has now served over 6 million students nationally and internationally since its inception in 1991, and since two or since 2011, it has been taught to over 6000 students in the Denver public schools with partnerships with the Denver with the United States Attorney's Office, the John Denver Juvenile Probation Department, the Denver Police Department, and the Darren Denver Sheriff's Department in coordination with the Gang Reduction Initiative. Of Denver Grit. And I might add, city council members as well, too. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver, Section one, that in the pursuit of reducing youth violence and bullying while fostering a better relationship between youth and law enforcement officers, the Council of the City and County of Denver does hereby proclaim the week of October 17th, 2016, through October 21st, 2016, as Choose to Be Great Week. Section two. At the council, the city and county of Denver encourages all students to be upstander by speaking up against bullying. Wearing orange throughout this week and signing the great pledge, quote unquote, I pledge to use my great skills to reduce violence in my community, work to resolve conflicts peacefully, and stop bullying whenever I see it, end quote in Section three. At the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall affix and the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation, and that copies be transmitted to the executive director, Paul Callanan of the Gang Reduction . Initiative of Denver, chief Sean Cohen of the Denver. Juvenile Probation Chief Robert White, the Denver Police Department Sheriff Patrick Furman of the Sheriff's Department, and Bob Troyer. United States attorney. Thank you. Councilman Lopez, your motion to adopt. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that council proclamation 988 series of 2016 be adopted. It has been moved and seconded comments by members of council. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Mr. President. This program is a great program, and with all pun intended, it is an amazing program. This is something that I know in Denver we have a great passion for. I see it in a lot of our schools, in our neighbors, and in our neighborhoods. And as a city councilman, it's awesome to see this interaction at such a young age. It's awesome to see our kids in Denver commit to nonviolence and to solve conflicts without resorting to violence. And it's not just kids and it's not just inner city kids. It's not just kids on one particular side of town. It's something that all. Of us should model. All of us. In our language and our behavior in our interactions. Right. And this is something that we need to learn at a very young age. There's a lot of forces in our community that are pulling for our kids attention. Away from classrooms, away from homes. Away from public spaces, away from our libraries. And we have to do our best in our city to make sure that that choice that we have, that we are presenting to our young people is an easy choice. Right. And it's an easy choice in a good and in a in a positive direction. These young people amaze me. Every every school that we participate with. Every time that I meet, Garcia Sandoval invites me over to hear the kids come speak to the kids, bind up hearing from the kids. Because I think to many of us, grown ups. Talk a lot. And we like to pretend that we know everything there is to know about the world and that our kids need to hear it from us. But when we go and listen to them. We actually learn. In 2008, when I was first elected, we participated with a program like this one. I think it was one of the another program was associated with it but. One of the kids. I asked, Hey, so we're eating lunch. I say, Why is all this graffiti on our side of town? We used to have a lot of graffiti on the West Side. Why do I see it here? But I don't see it in Cherry Creek. And I was very careful when I said that because my colleague looked over at me. Are you daring him? No, I'm not. And he's doing that right now. But I said, why is that? What's the difference? What's going on there? And I asked. I didn't know the answer. I just said, Hey, why is it on this side of town? Why do we have all the incidents on this side town by seeing this Denver map and I see all over the place and I don't see very much over here. What's up with that? And everybody was silent. Except for one kid. And this kid got out and he says it's because the hood. So what do you mean by the hood? Because the hood. And so. Yeah, but what about it? I could do it here and nobody cares. Are. Nobody cares. So. And so we made sure that was the last time a kid in our neighborhood said about our neighborhood that nobody cares. With Grid with great. With all this. Investment. In our neighborhoods on the social level, on this on this level. I'd like to say that that number with graffiti has been almost eliminated. We do see it here and there, but I'm looking over it at some of my folks over there. We don't see it as much as before. We don't see that the kind of problems that that that I did when I grew up in the nineties, it was a day when we could even wear these colors. We were making progress. And we're making progress because we're investing in our young people. Because we're teaching them that nonviolence is hard work. But it's the only way. To be nonviolent requires. It's a lot of hard work. And that's what they're doing. It takes a lot of discipline. And that's how you solve conflicts. And when you flip on the TV now and you're hearing, you know, folks and talking heads, talking about punching this person out, or it's always some violent expression. That's what we got to work against. But I look in our schools and look at our young people in this program, and it is truly a great program because, ladies and gentlemen, this is not a. Problem that we can arrest our way out of. We can educate our way out of an it starts with these young people. So with that. Mr. President, colleagues, I urge support of this proclamation. I know there will be and I know there's other people in the queue. So thank you. I'm very proud once again to get this proclamation passed. Thank you. Councilman Lopez. Any other members of council? Madam Secretary, roll call. Lopez. I knew a black clerk. I. Espinosa. Flynn. I. Gillmor, i. Herndon, i. Cashman. Hi. Carnage. Mr. President. I close voting, renounce the results. Ten Eyes. Ten Eyes proclamation 1988 has been adopted. Councilman Lopez, is there anyone that you want to bring up to receive this proclamation? Yes, I do. I know there's a supporting cast and then there's there's an All-Star that's going to speak, so why don't I call them up? Let me bring up Shanklin, Deputy Chief Matt Murry, Probation Officer Debbie Garcia Sandoval and Pro Lopez, and then Cassandra with the U.S. Attorney's Office. And I know that there's somebody else you want to bring up, so. Okay. Go ahead. Who's first? Go ahead. Good evening, Castle. Chief White couldn't be here. He's traveling out of state, but he asked me to pass on his wishes to you. And thanks for this. He often says the police are the community and the community are the police. And that is something we're working very hard. To accomplish in this city. And we do that with your support. And and. Certainly with all of these partners who really are the people who make this program work. We couldn't do it. Without doing it together. And we just absolutely thank them for all the. Hard work and the effort and the commitment that they have put into this program. And then finally, obviously, the young people of our city who are truly our partners in the future. Thanks. Good evening, Sean con. With that the chief from Denver juvenile probation. And as you know, we are a state agency. And so this has been truly a wonderful opportunity for us to work with the city and county of Denver and recognize that these are our children not siloed as to what system they belong in. So it has been a wonderful opportunity to not only worked alongside our partners in Denver, but also to do prevention work. And I think we are the only probation department in the state that is actively doing prevention work to put ourselves out of business. So that is our hope and wish. And I appreciate all the support the city and county has given us. And Chief. Thank you so much. I don't even know where to begin. This has been the most fabulous assignment I have ever had the privilege of doing. I've been doing it since 2011. And just to be able to work with all of these wonderful people, all of the students from Denver public schools that have been part of the great program and. Our city is absolutely. Fabulous. I can't say enough about it. Thank you, Councilman Lopez thing. Thanks to all of you for supporting this. To my department, to grid, to everyone. That is part of it. All of our partners, we are part of Choose to Be Great Week, which is all throughout the United States of America and in Central America as well . And so we truly wear that as a badge of honor. And I just can't thank you enough. And the students, if any of you ever get a chance to come out to the schools, that would be fabulous. And they will just hug you to death, just like they do when the police officers come in, have lunch with them, participate in the program with us. So you're all welcome. And thank you again from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Cassandra Carlton. I'm one of the assistant United States attorneys on behalf of acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer and our entire office. I really want to thank city council for acknowledging this program as being such an important part of. Prevention and really building relationships with the students. So the recognition by council in this really does boost the entire program. And just want to thank Officer Garcia. Her energy and working with the kids is just amazing. At this point, I'd like to also introduce my cohort, Jason San Julian, who has also participated in the great program in the classrooms. President Brooks. Councilwoman. Councilman. My name is Jason St Julien and I'm an assistant United States Attorney in the District of Colorado in the Criminal Division in Major Crimes. And I stand in front of you today as a volunteer in the great program, and I want to make a very important distinction about this program. But so often in life we participate in some reactionary way that any event happens, and only after that event happens, we become involved. And given the current climate of community policing. Given that specific client, it's even more important now. But there is a proactive effort and a proactive mission. In the community. And that. Is what the great program is. You know, we're tasked to always answer this internal question of how do we reach those individuals? Before they turn to gangs and before they turn to violence. You reach them through the great program. You see, you reach them at a young age, as young as fifth grade. You reach them by bringing in individuals like these people. Into the classroom in a context that is non-adversarial. Just to be. With these children to teach them. So when they do have an encounter with law enforcement or an arm of law enforcement. That is not seen as something to challenge any confront and conquer. All it is. Is an interaction with another. Human beings. That's what the great program gives you. You see, these kids want this. And they need this. And studies have shown that when an individual, a young person has an an interest in adult in their life. They're able to make better choices and they can recover more quickly when they make bad choices. So here in front of you are interested adults. And if there's anyone here who's a part of great who is not standing, please stand. These are interested adults. These are the individuals that are in the classrooms teaching these students. And I volunteered at Gilpin Montessori. And after volunteering the principal. Told Parole Officer Garcia Sandoval in our office that these individuals showed a measurable difference, a measurable impact. From being a part of the great from. Now I can stand up here and continue to pontificate. Pontificate, but you have much more important things to do than listen to me. But I will note one thing from Councilman Lopez. That there are so many different factors pulling. Our children away from school. But this. And these people. That is an example of everything that is going right in our community. In the midst of what is pulling children away from school. This is an example of everything that is going right. So I thank you for honoring the program. I thank you for your work. And we look for continued involvement with the City Council in the great program. Thank you. Thank you. Pearl Lopez with a great program. I just want to thank City Council for moving forward with this proclamation. And also in recognition, we're all wearing orange for this week. And just to remind everybody, students in Denver public schools will be proclaiming the great proclamation this week in school. So they'll all be made aware and reiterate that as well. So thank you so much again for allowing us to come and speak here. Thank you so much. Councilman Lopez. Yeah, we have some gifts that they brought us, and these are little wristbands. I'm going to start passing them down there. Choose to be great respect. That's great. That's great. What schools are represented here? Do you know? Oh, my God. It happened like that. That's probably okay. We have kids here from all. Over the city, from the great projects, right? From my. Experience. We good. We coordinated tonight. That was awesome. All right. Thank you all. Thank you all. The perfect segway into Councilman Clark, will you now please read Proclamation 99?