Local News - April 2003

Crime down at Sunrise

Family center, police substation cited

By AL DOZIER, LTN Staff Writer

 Communities in Schools is recognized for its role in keeping kids in school, but Executive Director Billy Marsh said it has gone beyond that in Lincolnton.

Eighteen months ago, CIS formed a partnership with Bank of America to establish the Family Resource Center at the Sunrise Community on North Aspen Street.

Since then, incidents of crime in just about every category from stealing and assault to drug use has declined substantially, Marsh said..

“What we’ve done is try to build a sense of community,” Marsh told the Lincolnton Rotary Club Monday. “People started thinking of each other as friends and neighbors.”

It’s worked so well, funding for the project was renewed this year with the help of the Partnership for Children.

Mike Owen of the Lincolnton Housing authority said he has seen the benefits of the CIS program.

“I know that Fran (Senters) does a tremendous job getting folks together,” Owen said of the center’s director. “She’s been a good liaison. It’s been a real positive for us.”

“It Takes A Village” is one of several programs offered through the Family Resource Center. It helps build self-esteem, budgeting skills and household safety concepts in weekly programs. The center also partners with Gaston College to offer GED classes

Lt. Kenny Shrum of the Lincolnton Police Department said he doesn’t have statistics on crime decline for the area, but said a police substation established about five years ago probably helped, along with the CIS and DSS programs. He said the city established foot and bike patrols in the areas.

The substation has since been pulled because of a lapse in funding, but a community patrol is still assigned to the area.

“I know the calls are way down from what they used to be,” Shrum said. “We used to go out there three times a day. Now its more like three times a month.”

Marsh said CIS’s main role is not in fighting crime, but providing community resources for students who are having difficulties. But helping youth impacts a lot of issues.

CIS’s most important role is providing adult mentors for students in danger of falling behind.

Referrals come from guidance counselors, from family, neighbors and juvenile justice workers.

Children can be at risk for any number of reasons, and sometimes come from stable families, Marsh said.

“Sometimes they just need that extra support.”

The program provides for a volunteer adult mentoring period of one hour per week to children in need.

CIS also offers an elective course for middle school students that provides social and study skills and character education. Volunteer mentors visit and speakers from the community often talk to the classes.

CIS also offers a supervised, after-school station for students whose parents feel they are better off there than unsupervised at home.

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For more information about Communities in Schools, call Marsh at 704-736-0303.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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