Prince George’s County officials will launch programs — including grant funding for a handful of nonprofit organizations — targeted toward youth crime prevention as the county grapples with an uptick in carjackings and other violence, County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks announced Monday.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       The new effort represents a strategy to work across government agencies with the formation of the Hope in Action Anti-Violence Project, which will include funding 16 community groups and creating a violence prevention task force, said Alsobrooks (D).

       Alsobrooks outlined plans to provide an array of services for “targeted care” to reduce gun violence, with after-school enrichment programs, food insecurity assistance and pretrial diversion efforts for youths facing criminal charges.

       Homicides soar in District, Maryland suburbs in 2021

       “We want to make sure we are imagining ways we can create positive outcomes for youth and adults alike who are at risk for committing violent crimes,” Alsobrooks said. “We realize this problem is complex. We are using multiple weapons to address it.”

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       She also made an urgent plea to county parents to get more involved in their children’s lives, to talk and listen to them, and to help discover the issues driving youth violence.

       In early February, Prince George’s and D.C. officials highlighted an extraordinary rise in carjackings in their jurisdictions since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. County police recorded nearly 400 such crimes last year, compared with 100 reports in 2019, and early in 2022 about half the people police arrested for carjackings were juveniles, officials had said.

       County Police Chief Malik Aziz said his department will continue to target violent crime in an effort to bring justice to victims and their families. But Aziz said he also recognizes the need for “a holistic, wraparound approach.”

       Story continues below advertisement

       Police officials will partner with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington and the Police Athletic League to provide programs and activities throughout the year, Aziz said. The department also plans to host a roundtable discussion to hear from youths about crime issues and how police interact with young people, the chief said.

       Advertisement

       The anti-violence collaborative will be headed by the Rev. Tony Lee, pastor of the Community of Hope AME Church, who said that the strategy is to do “systemic work” modeled after an approach used in Oakland, Calif. It will attempt to combine efforts from faith groups and nonprofit, for-profit and government organizations.

       The plan, Lee said, will employ “three legs to this stool” — violence interrupters hired to embed in communities to resolve conflicts as they arise, the newly formed task force and the grant funding for the 16 nonprofits.

       Story continues below advertisement

       The “Hope Collective” will provide grant funding for the nonprofit groups and is designed to address issues such as health care, housing and mental health resources, Alsobrooks said.

       The county executive appointed 20 people to serve on the violence prevention task force to create “innovative solutions and strategies,” she said. The appointees include parents of gun violence victims, community activists and teachers.

       “You can’t arrest your way out of this problem,” Lee said. “We can’t do this in our individual silos.”

       Lee added: “We can stem the tide of the violence in our communities. We can do this, but we have to do this together.”