Gang Prevention Task Force: Organizing Complete, Now It’s Time To Act

The City of Sacramento's Gang Prevention and Intervention Task Force says it has laid the groundwork to produce results.

Khaalid Muttaqi is the director of the task force. He says 18 agencies and organizations have spent the last year working together to address the factors that could lead a young person to join a gang.

"We're really drilling down into everything from arts, sports, family services. We are still doing some of the hard street outreach and working with juvenile hall and the formerly incarcerated," says Muttaqi. "We really are employing a wide lens including employment services and academic support, which makes the work a little bit tougher, but we're hoping to have some better, long-term sustainable results."

In the task force's first six months, Muttaqi says it provided services to 2,000 children.

The City Council approved grants of $680,000 to the groups involved in the effort.

Members of the task force meet every 60 days to discuss their individual efforts and to identify how they may be more effective.