Wilmington City Council Member Hanifa Shabazz Goes to Dover to Support Education Reforms and to Tout CDC Report
Wilmington City Council Member Hanifa Shabazz was at Legislative Hall in Dover today to join elected and community leaders in supporting passage of legislation to reform the education system for City children based on the recommendations of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission (WEIC). Shabazz (D-4th District) sought legislators’ support today for bills that would redistrict schools in Wilmington and provide additional education funding for City students which would also benefit other students in Delaware. Also present today in Dover to support WEIC’s goals were City Council Member Trippi Congo (D-2nd District) and Sherry Dorsey Walker (D-6th District).
The Delaware House of Representatives today was scheduled to debate HJR 12, which is the Delaware General Assembly’s confirmation of the State Board of Education’s approval of the WEIC’s proposed redistricting plan and H.B. 424, which is a companion bill clarifying that HJR 12 does not obligate the General Assembly to any of the funding recommendations in the redistricting plan.
Shabazz said her message to legislators today centered on why education should be viewed as what she termed a “root solution” to problems such as crime, unemployment, poverty and physical and mental health issues. At the Council Member’s invitation and urging, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a report last November after studying what Shabazz referred to as a pandemic of violent crime affecting Wilmington’s African American population. The CDC’s review of data for more than 500 people who have committed violent crimes in recent years report indicated among other findings that the education system is where Delaware can make progress to end violence and stop younger people from sinking deeper into the criminal justice system.
“It seems we are forever identifying the root causes of our City’s crime and other socio-economic problems and now it’s time to get real serious about focusing our efforts on the root solutions which includes an improved education system that will help us control crime and lift people out of poverty,” said Shabazz. “I know in my head and in my heart, just as I am confident that the CDC’s plan will help us find a way to control violent crime, that we can achieve a better education system. We have had our chances before to make education better for our children and we simply can’t pass up another opportunity to do what is right for those in the classroom today and the next generation of children.”
The CDC report and plan, which is being implemented by the State, demonstrates that a strong, data-driven risk assessment tool can detect persons who are likely to commit a violent crime involving a weapon and that an equally strong array of wrap-around state services can help to divert at-risk individuals away from further criminal activity.
The CDC’s finding are based on the examination of data from multiple sources regarding 569 Wilmington citizens (95% of whom are male and between the ages of 12 to 35) who committed violent crimes and/or assaults with a weapon from January of 2009 through May of 2014. The data was compiled from medical records, child welfare files, criminal statistics, employment records and statistics from the state education system.
For more information about this news release, contact:
John Rago
Communications and Policy Development Director
Wilmington City Council
Phone: (302) 576-2149
Mobile: (302) 420-7928
Email: jrago@WilmingtonDE.gov