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· Addressing and developing standards and evidence-based practices to prevent juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity: · Collecting data in designated geographic area to assess the needs and existing resources for juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity prevention and intervention; and WHEREAS, the Youth PROMISE Act authorizes grants to local governments to: · Plan, assess, and implement PROMISE plans and programs for juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity prevention and intervention, especially for at-risk youth in local comities; · Hire and train law enforcement officers as youth-oriented police to work with local PROMISE Coordinating Councils, other community based organizations, and high-risk youth in local communities; · Extend and increase funding for juvenile accountability block grants through Fiscal Year 2013; · Create and expand state, local, and tribal juvenile witness and victim protection programs; and WHEREAS, in 2007, the Average Daily Membership for students in the Portsmouth, Virginia Public Schools was 14,819, with 50% of this student body deemed At-Risk; and WHEREAS, the City of Portsmouth, a city of only 29 square miles, has the highest real estate tax rate in the Hampton Roads, Virginia region as a result of the presence of tax-exempt federal and state facilities constituting more than 50% of the city's area; WHEREAS, the City of Portsmouth, Virginia is deemed the fourth (4th) most fiscally stressed locality in the Commonwealth of Virginia; and WHREAS, with the passage of these bills the City of Portsmouth may be eligible to receive additional resources to help the City's gang prevention and intervention efforts; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of Portsmouth, Virginia hereby expresses its full support ofH.R. 1064 and S. 435, the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act (Youth PROMISE Act), which would provide funding for evidence-based and promising practices related to juvenile delinquency and criminal street-gang activity and prevention and intervention to help build individual, family and community strength and youth resiliency to ensure that the City's young people might have the ability to lead productive, safe, healthy, gang-free and law-abiding lives.