Program unites Columbia community

By Genevieve Conti

Published Feb. 26, 2008

A two-day event centered on teenagers in the Columbia community included forums on teen safety in an attempt to reduce violent teen crime in the city.

“Let’s Talk Columbia!” is an annual community forum that has been taking place since 2001. Each year, the event invites community members to focus on a specific issue or concern in the city of Columbia.

The program, sponsored by the City of Columbia’s Human Rights Commission along with the Youth Community Coalition, focused especially on bridging the generation gap between teenagers and adults. Ages of participants ranged from teen-aged to one male participant who was 76.

Twenty-five trained volunteers acted as facilitators leading small groups in discussion topics.

During the last portion of the program, Columbia crime statistics were presented to the small groups. The groups had the opportunity to talk about their reactions to the statistics and then brainstorm ideas for how to keep teens safer in Columbia.

Youth Community Coalition Chairwoman Heather Windham said many of the participants were invested in the topic.

“They weren’t just writing down ideas,” Windham said. “They were writing down ideas they felt individually responsible for.”

Windham said several adult participants intended to become adult mentors to teens because of their experience on Friday and Saturday.

Organizing a mentor program was added to the list of actions that the community could take to reduce teen crime. Other ideas included creating a youth advisory board for the Columbia City Council and more organized recreational weekend activities for teens in Columbia.

Columbia Police Department Capt. Steven Monticelli said he believed the program would make a difference in the community and stressed that organized activities were one good way to keep teen crime down.

“It is important to be involved in organized activities,” he said. “There all kinds of things in Columbia that give the youth an opportunity to meet with other kids and keep them off the streets.”

A follow-up meeting will be held on March 4 at the Days Inn Hotel and Conference Center at 5:30 p.m. The youth who attended “Let’s Talk Columbia!” will be presenting their ideas for a safer community to the Columbia City Council at the meeting.