Free Program Includes Musical Performances, Workshops, Information
WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force, and a wide variety of law enforcement and community partners are coming together again this year to sponsor their sixth annual “Breaking the Silence on Youth Violence" Youth Summit.
The event is Thursday, June 30, 2016, at Friendship Collegiate Academy.
The sixth annual summit will focus on youth making better decisions to achieve success, youth’s role in preventing violent crime, and the need to cooperate with law enforcement to solve violent crime. The event will feature dynamic speakers, entertainment, and valuable information and resources for our youth.
Youths from throughout the District of Columbia are invited to the free program, which will start with the doors opening at 10 a.m. and run to 3 p.m. Friendship Collegiate Academy, 4095 Minnesota Avenue NE, is conveniently located directly across the street from the Minnesota Avenue Metro station in order to provide accessibility for students to attend.
The summit is one of the largest events sponsored by the U.S. Attorney’s Office each year, and each year has drawn hundreds of youths from throughout the city. The program assembles young people from under-served neighborhoods in the District of Columbia to discuss the most pressing public safety challenges facing their communities. The goal of the program is to reach out to area youth on current public safety topics in an informative and inspiring way.
This year, a key topic will be awareness and prevention of human trafficking. Tina Frundt, a human trafficking survivor and founder of Courtney House, will to speak to teens about the dangers of being lured and manipulated into the nationally growing travesty of human trafficking. Younger children will learn about gun safety and gang prevention. The summit will also include an information fair in which more than 20 non-profit organizations will provide information on youth development programs, mentoring, and education activities.
Numerous partners will be coming together to present the day’s programs, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia; Friendship Collegiate Academy; the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD); the Mayor Barry Youth Leadership Institute; the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General; Hillcrest Children and Family Center; Collaborative Solutions for Communities; East of the River Family Support Collaborative; the District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation; the D.C. Project Safe Neighborhood Task Force; Project Shine, and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children The effort is supported by Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice initiative aimed at reducing gun and gang crimes. Those with questions or interest in bringing a youth group to the Youth Summit may contact External Affairs Specialist Melanie Howard at the U.S. Attorney’s Office at (202)-252-6930 or Melanie.Howard@usdoj.gov.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
