2008 Presymposium Workshops

In 2008, specialized workshops were offered prior to the symposium, allowing participants to spend an entire day concentrating on a subject of interest. Classes included:

National Gang Trends (Gangs 101)

This National Gang Trends workshop provides basic training on specific types of gangs and presents an overview of current gang activities in several regions of the United States, along with recent gang research findings. Topics include Crips, Bloods, Sureños, Norteños, Mara Salvatrucha, Nations gangs, Asian gangs, and graffiti.

The Evolving Role of Girls in Gangs

The role of young women in gangs has often been ignored or underestimated. This session will provide an overview of female gang involvement from the perspectives of researchers, practitioners, and former gang members. Topics to be discussed include cultural differences in female gang membership, successful intervention strategies, and research trends on female gang activity.

Classroom Management and Student Discipline

Teachers play key roles in addressing gang-related behaviors in schools but seldom receive appropriate training to address them in a comprehensive manner. This session will provide evidence-based strategies designed to assist teachers in identifying and reducing problem behaviors that interfere with learning and teaching.

Team-Based Gang Intervention

When community agencies work across organizational boundaries to target intervention services to gang members, they can expand their reach and be more effective. Learn about team-based strategies for working with gang-involved youth, including the roles played by different partners and the challenges and successes of the team approach.

Community Connection: Building a Collaboration

Partnerships can be the key to creating a successful strategy when developing prevention and intervention programs. This session will provide an overview of the importance of collaboration and the steps needed to create a successful collaboration in your community.

Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach

This workshop will help youth service professionals and community leaders develop a comprehensive strategy to reach out to youth most at risk for gang involvement. Participants will utilize the four components of targeted outreach: community mobilization, recruitment techniques, mainstreaming and programming, and case management.

From Risk to Revenue: Employment Issues for Gang-Involved Youth

Many gang members express a desire to gain meaningful employment but lack vital skills to succeed in the job market. This session covers several strategies for assisting gang-involved youth, including supportive employment with community business partners, effective preemployment training, training for prospective employers, selling the concept of employing gang-involved youth, and monitoring and support of employed youth.

Gang Prosecution Strategies

Gang-related violence makes the role of prosecution more important than ever in gang cases. Participants will learn how to take a case from arrest to trial effectively, with innovative prosecution strategies highlighted by some of the nation’s most successful gang prosecutors. This workshop will be sponsored by the National District Attorney’s Association.

Outreach to Gang Members and Their Families

Participants will share ideas and strategies for successful intervention with families of gang members. Topics include family management skills, support groups, parent workshops, multigenerational gang families, and outreach to family members.

Conducting a Comprehensive Gang Assessment

In this workshop, you will learn a step-by-step approach to conducting a communitywide gang assessment. Comprehensive community planning strategies will be covered, as well as insights into using an ongoing assessment to identify measurable/meaningful outcome indicators.