Program will give teens choice

T.J. ROYAL
Staff reporter

July 01, 2009 10:26 am

— Tarboro Parks and Recreation and the Tarboro Police Department will help give adolescents alternatives to gang activities through Tarboro Teens Against Gangs (TAG).
The Town of Tarboro has so far received a one-year commitment of $35,005 for the program from the N.C. Governor's Crime Commission. The program is aimed at giving Edgecombe County youth an alternative to gang-related activities, through basketball and football events, as well as socials, and dances and "family" nights, Tarboro Parks and Recreation Director Jarvis Pettaway said.
Most of the activities would take place on Friday or Saturday nights, Pettaway said, at least once a month at either the M.A. Ray Center or Clark Park in Tarboro. To help persuade and prevent youth from participating in gang activity, Pettaway added that peer and community testimonials would take place during breaks in the activities.
Pettaway said the first activities related to the TAG program are set to begin on Friday, July 10.
Tarboro Police Lt. Jay Boykin noted that the police and Parks and Recreation Department already collaborate on events aimed at youth. Police officers are placed on watch during regular family nights that are hosted by the Parks and Recreation, he said.
But the money from the Governor's Crime Commission is going to take the gang prevention aspect for the town "to another level," Boykin added.
Part of the project's goals are also to reduce behavioral problems and suspensions at school, and to have "substantial" participation from youth.
The lieutenant noted that there are four aspects to counteracting gang-related activity; prevention, suppression, intervention and actual enforcement.
Tarboro Town Planner Troy Lewis said the TAG program is an effort to "beef up" the prevention aspect of the town's gang-related activities. Boykin added that the Governor's Crime Commission would not fund only suppression or intervention efforts during this year's grants cycle.
The town is set to receive $28,128 in funding for the program's second year, with a $21,044 local match coming from the town for both years, Lewis said. But the second-year funding depends on whether the state receives the money and can allocate it to the program, he added.
Out of the $84,177 total for the TAG project, more than $74,000 of the funds will be used to help pay overtime and benefits costs to Town of Tarboro personnel.
The Governor's Crime Commission awarded five agencies that serve Edgecombe County at total of $493,000 in grant money over the next two years back in May.