On March 25/26, 2010 in Toronto, Hincks-Dellcrest  and Astwood Strategy Corporation are bringing together North America’s top gang experts to share their experiences and knowledge of best practices in street gang prevention, reduction, intervention and reintegration.

Our goal at the 2010 Canada-U.S. Gang Summit is to both highlight the state-of-the-art in Canadian gang programming, as well as learn from America’s five decades-plus worth of lessons learned.  Over the course of two days, delegates will learn from the very best and be equipped with the knowledge they need to employ more effective approaches.

Never before in Canada has such an esteemed group of gang experts been assembled, who together, bring more than 250 years of leading experience to our delegates.  Consider this preliminary roster of keynote speakers (more to come!):

TEAM U.S.A.

Dr. Irving Spergel, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago School of Social Services Administration.
Dr. Spergel is the world’s leading gang researcher, first working with gang members in New York City in 1952. Over the span of his distinguished career, Dr. Spergel has written more than 100 books, articles, monographs, and other publications, including The Youth Gang Problem: A Community Approach (Oxford University Press, 1995).  His major contribution is the internationally acclaimed and U.S. Department of Justice and Canadian NCPC endorsed “Spergel Model,”  which calls for a coordinated approach that encompasses law enforcement, community groups, schools, social service agencies, and governmental organizations. See Dr. Spergel's web page at the University of Chicago.

Father Gregory Boyle, Executive Director, Homeboy Industries
Established in 1988 in East Los Angeles and well chronicled in the international media, including CBS’s 60 Minutes, Father Gregory Boyle runs the world’s largest and most successful gang intervention program, the $10 million a year Homeboy Industries, which boasts over 350 former gang members as employees in several non-profit businesses, including Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy Merchandise, and Homegirl Café. A renowned speaker and gang consultant to major governments, Father Greg has worked with thousands of gang members in his career and is the leading North American advocate on gang member redemption and reintegration. His story is chronicled in the best selling book by Celeste Fremon, G-Dog and the Homeboys, and Father Greg's book, Tattoos on the Heart, will be released soon after the Summit. See more information at the Homeboy Industries website.

Lisa Taylor-Austin, Gang Expert Witness and Psychotherapist,  USA
Lisa Taylor-Austin is a court approved criminal street gang expert witness in 14 states and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Connecticut, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York, a Nationally Certified Counselor and a National Forensic Evaluator. She began her career working with gang members of some of the most notorious gangs in California (Santa Monicas, V13, Culver City Boyz, Helms Street, Crips and Pirus) and has over the course of her career worked with over 2,000 gang members in a mental health and trauma counselling, conflict resolution,  and gang exit/renunciation role. Frequently quoted in the American media, Lisa’s particular expertise is the culture, psychology, language and structure of criminal street gangs in the United States. For more information, see Lisa's website.

Jack A. Cole, Executive Director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Jack A. Cole is executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (or LEAP), a non-profit organization composed of former and current police officers, government agents and other law enforcement agents who oppose the current War on Drugs. Cole is a retired Detective Lieutenant who worked for the New Jersey State Police for 26 years. For twelve of those years, Cole worked as an undercover narcotics officer. The cases he investigated ranged from street drug users and mid-level drug dealers in New Jersey to international "billion-dollar" drug trafficking organizations. He ended his undercover career living nearly two years in Boston and New York City, posing as a fugitive drug dealer wanted for murder, while tracking members of a terrorist organization that robbed banks, planted bombs in corporate headquarters, court-houses, police stations, and airplanes and ultimately murdered a New Jersey State Trooper. Cole holds a B.A. in Criminal Justice and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts. For more information, see Jack's profile on the LEAP website.

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Check back soon.

TEAM CANADA

Dr. Anthony Hutchinson, Executive Director, Brampton Neighbourhood Resource Centre
As a former homeless youth and street gang member in Vancouver and Toronto who turned his life around to become a University Professor and now head of the Peel Region’s largest front line human services organizations, Anthony Hutchinson’s story of redemption is breathtaking.  Anthony was instrumental in establishing two successful programs for gang-involved youth, the ROSE Program and Hoodlinc, and over the course of his career, has worked with hundreds of gang involved youth.  A recipient of many awards, including most recently Planet Africa’s Community Development Award, Dr. Hutchinson will inspire and motivate you to think differently about gangs and gang members. For more information, see Dr. Hutchinson's personal website.

Rick Osborne, Director, Youth Mentorship, Astwood Strategy Corporation.
By all rights, Rick Osborne should not be alive today to tell his story, yet he is. Rick descended from a life as a comfortable upper middle class teenager to a runaway, drug addict, rape victim, street gang member, full patch member of one of the world’s most feared outlaw motorcycle clubs and eventually to a 25 year federal prison veteran. Surviving several attempts on his life, Rick remarkably was able to exit the gang, turn his life around, and use it for productive purpose to help youth avoid his many mistakes.  Rick’s compelling story is matched by his speaking style, and will leave an indelible impression on delegates for years to come.

Theresa Campbell, Director of Safe Schools, Surrey District School Board
Theresa Campbell is a recognized national and international expert on school safety and school-based risk and threat assessment. Over the course of her career,  Theresa has developed comprehensive, multi-disciplinary tools and programs that address substance use, violence, gangs, bullying and other issues, and currently is implementing the NCPC-funded Surrey Wrap program, which targets gang involved youth and their families  in Surrey B.C. In 2007 she was recognized by the NCPC for her innovation and creativity in crime prevention and in August 2008 in the United States, was awarded the prestigious Frederic Milton Thrasher Award for Superior Service in Gang Prevention.

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Larry Morrissette, Executive Director, Winnipeg Aboriginal Youth Housing Renovation Project/ Ogijita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin
Profiled extensively  in the national media, Larry Morrissette is one of Canada’s leading gang exit professionals, with a special expertise working with First Nations and Métis gang members. A former North Winnipeg gang member and troubled youth himself, Larry has dedicated his professional career to helping hardcore members of perhaps Canada’s largest street gang, the Indian Posse, exit the gang life through elder mentorship, re-connecting with Native culture, and the teaching of highly marketable home renovation skills.

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John Sawdon, Executive Director, Canadian Training Institute
John Sawdon is a leading Canadian expert in street gangs, conflict resolution, crisis intervention, trauma support, workplace safety and violence prevention. In 1983, he founded the Canadian Training Institute to provide training, research and consulting assistance in these areas  to justice and human services organizations, and in 2004, established the country’s most successful gang exit program, Breaking the Cycle, which has helped 150-plus young people from Toronto’s most dangerous communities leave their street gang. For more information, please see the Canadian Training Institute website or the Breaking the Cycle website.

Special Features!

Moderated Debate:
Drug Policy in North America: A War on Drugs or a War on Reason?
The gang problem is inextricably linked with the illicit drug problem, an industry estimated to produce $100 billion plus in illegal revenues for gangsters every year in North America.  The 2010 Canada-U.S. Gang Summit will be concluded with a stimulating debate about the pros and cons of North American drug policy, moderated by a well-known CBC personality, and featuring Jack Cole, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and a Canadian law enforcement executive (TBD).

Homie Panel:
Stories from Inside the Gang
In this moderated panel discussion, two Homeboy Industries employees and former gangsters from Los Angeles’ most  gang infested communities of East and South Central L.A. will join two former Canadian gangsters – Andrew Bacchus, a former leader of the Vice Lords Gang in Toronto’s Jane-Finch and Junior Moar, a former member of the Zig Zag Crew from North Winnipeg and now Canada’s light heavyweight boxing champ – who will share their stories and highlight their path to redemption.

Meet and Greet:
Networking Opportunities
Join us for lunchtime and after hours networking sessions, where you can meet our speakers and network with other gang practitioners.

Awards Ceremony:
Irving A. Spergel Award of Excellence
Astwood Strategy Corporation will be awarding one Canadian and one American with the first ever Irving A. Spergel Award of Excellence, recognizing a career of exceptional achievement in gang prevention, intervention, provision of social opportunities and community mobilization.

Delegate Opinion Survey:
Help Shape Gang Policy in Canada!
Each one of our expected 400 to 500 delegates will be issued a credit card sized remote polling device at registration.  During the course of the Summit, a series of 60 to 80 key policy questions will be issued to their entire delegation. Once prompted, delegates will use their polling device to answer each question, with results summarized in real time. At the end of the Summit, a summary of findings will be produced and sent to key federal, provincial and territorial policymakers across the country.

Voices from the Hood:
Spoken Word Performance
Day One will be capped by a spoken word performance from several youth from Toronto’s highest risk communities. Through their compelling poetry, these young people will reveal life in the hood and in the gang and their stories of survival.

Summit Co-Presenters

Astwood Strategy Corporation
Established in 1992 by Michael C. Chettleburgh, Astwood is a leading, 20-person criminal and social justice research, evaluation, strategy and program development consultancy with the country’s most in-depth expertise in youth and street gangs issues. Astwood’s work in street gangs is extensive and includes but is not limited to acting as Research Directors of the 2002 Canadian Police Survey on Youth Gangs and the 2009 Canadian Street Gang Survey, evaluators of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program in Niagara Falls, Principal Investigators of the Evaluability Assessment of the Breaking the Cycle gang exit program, and operators of the Ozzy’s Garage gang exit program where Astwood builds custom motorcycle choppers and 60s/70s era muscle cars with gang involved youth.

The Hincks-Dellcrest Centre – Gail Appel Institute
The Hincks-Dellcrest Centre - Gail Appel Institute was established in 1986 to respond to the challenge of improved mental health care for children, by providing advanced training, research and community consultation in the area of children's mental health. The Institute offers post-qualification Fellowships to graduates from psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Qualified practitioners come to the Institute to receive the additional advanced training they need in order to become expert community practitioners and future leaders.  Research is an essential activity of the Institute. In tandem with The Hincks-Dellcrest Treatment Centre, our Research department's studies help build the knowledge base for the field of children's mental health. Research findings are integrated with service delivery, and are frequently published and presented at conferences.

Summit Chair

Michael C. Chettleburgh
The 2010 Canada-U.S. Gang Summit will be chaired by Michael C. Chettleburgh, a recognized Canadian expert on street gangs and President and CEO of Astwood Strategy Corporation. Michael is author of the acclaimed non-fiction book and prestigious Donner Book Prize runner-up, Young Thugs: Inside the Dangerous World of Canadian Street Gangs (HarperCollins Canada, 2007), author of the upcoming book, Gladiator School: Life Inside Canadian Prisons (HarperCollins Canada, April 2011), editor and publisher of Lessons From a Gang Cop, by retired LAPD Detective Sergeant Tony “Pac-Man Moreno, and editor and publisher of the upcoming book, White Noise: A Journey Through Drugs, Gangs and Prison, by former outlaw biker Rick Osborne. Michael is the country’s foremost media commentator on street gangs and related criminal justice matters, with 500+ national and international media credits including CTV National News, CBC’s The National, Canwest Global Television, CBC Radio One, National Post, Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, Aljazeera and many more.

Summit Agenda

The Summit Agenda and brochure, including fees and registration options, will be released January 11, 2010. Check back for more information!

Summit Venue - St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts

The Summit will be hosted in the beautiful Jane Mallett Theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, located at 27 Front Street East in Toronto, just one block from the corner of Front and Yonge. Our host hotel is the Novotel Toronto Centre, which is offering delegates a special conference rate of $120 per night. See brochure for more details.

Registration & Fees

Delegate fees are as follows:

Individual Early Bird: $295.00, payment deadline February 26, 2009

Individual Regular: $350 thereafter

Group rate: $255.00 for 6 or more in 1 envelope. To be eligible for Group Rate, all registrations must be mailed/faxed together, and paid with one cheque or credit card number. We cannot issue individual receipts for group payments. 

Host Hotel

Novotel Toronto Centre
Special rate of $120 per night

https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=1965930

By phone: 416-367-8900, quote group code of HDCGAI0325 or state you are with 2010 Canada – US Gang Summit