The Community Solutions-Gang Crime Summit is over, but far from finished.
The crew that organized and executed the event, Prince George Community Policing, is still at work on the event's agenda. There were several calls to action that emerged during the two days of conversation and PGCP is still moving that forward.
"Currently we are waiting to get a full report from Dr. Theresa Healy (facilitator of the open spaces session). She is working on a tabulation of all the materials generated, so the stakeholder groups can tackle the key components that came out of the sessions," said Wendy Moore, the chief co-ordinator of the event. She also credited her civilian PGCP colleagues Diane Sears and Linda Parker, and the assigned RCMP members, for helping to pull off the event.
Participants, both on the stage and in the participatory audience, raved about the summit's ambitious agenda and the momentum it generated.
"It was an overwhelming success," Moore said. "We are absolutely thrilled with the community's involvement and engagement and enthusiasm. We were impressed with an overwhelming number of registrants for both the daytime and evening sessions, with the sheer energy levels exhibited by the participants. At the Monday evening sessions there was so much creative energy in the room people were leaping and throwing their arms in the air with excitement. People are telling us now they felt privileged to be part of the process, they have been excited about learning the initiatives already underway in the community, and they are very much waiting for the next steps."
There is no fixed date for the release of the Healy report, but Moore said she had hopes for a public release sometime in November, followed by a discussion about the action items it will contain.
There is also public interest in bringing back to town a couple of the key speakers from the summit. Academic gang expert Mark Totten and firsthand gang expert (former member of the UN Gang) James Coulter are in demand for more of their knowledge in the wake of their summit presentations.
