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CDC advisory committee working to launch pilot youth programs this summer

Megan Pauly
/
Delaware Public Media
The CDC advisory council plans to release RFPs for six pilot programs in May.

Wilmington’s CDC Advisory Council offered an update Tuesday night on its recent work to help prevent gun violence in city.  

For Wilmington City Council President Hanifa Shabazz, city gun violence is a personal issue.

 

“Both of my daughters’ children have experienced the trauma of this violence," Shabazz said. "Which means I’m experiencing it.”

 

That’s why she’s working to start putting some recommendations from the 2015 CDC report addressing that violence into action.

 

Over the next few months, the CDC Advisory Council – recently expanded to include more trauma experts – will finalize the requirements for six pilot youth programs.

 

Shabazz says the request for proposals (RFPs) are scheduled to go out in May, with the goal of launching the pilots sometime in July.

 

“Every organization that applies for an RFP knows that there’s going to be some change in the RFP," Shabazz said. "And that they’re going to have to adjust their programs accordingly.”

 

Shabazz says that means some organizations currently receiving money could have funding pulled in favor of these pilot programs.

 

Shabazz adds the current tight budget climate has City Council looking to reallocate city dollars to youth programming that provide the highest return on investment.

 

University of Delaware professor and former Health and Social Services Secretary Rita Landgraf says the university will provide the research and analysis needed to study and evaluate the pilot program outcomes as part of the school’s Partnership for Healthy Communities initiative.
 

“For me, the priority of really growing that program at the University of Delaware is the work that’s occurring here," Landgraf said.

 

Landgraf adds she’s exploring ways faculty – and the student body – can help as more details about the pilot programs are determined.

 

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