By Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
The North Carolina Gang Prevention and Intervention Task Force convened in Raleigh Tuesday morning with law enforcement, public safety officials, and community leaders as the state grapples with a recent surge in youth-related violence and “teen takeover” incidents in the capital city.
The meeting, held at the Governor’s Crime Commission and streamed online, was led by co-chairs Leslie Cooley Dismukes, secretary of the Department of Adult Correction, and Siarra Scott, director of the N.C. Office of Violence Prevention, who are overseeing the work of the 20-member task force established by Gov. Josh Stein through an executive order in August 2025.
The task force was created to reduce the presence and impact of gang activity across North Carolina, with a particular emphasis on preventing youth involvement. Its formation comes amid growing concern over juvenile crime and organized youth activity, underscored in recent weeks by the July 4 “teen takeovers” in Raleigh’s Brier Creek and Glenwood South areas. Those incidents led to multiple arrests, including a 15-year-old from Durham County and a teen from Goldsboro who was charged as an adult in connection with a shooting on Capital Boulevard.
In response, the Raleigh City Council has moved toward implementing a curfew for minors, with Mayor Janet Cowell stating, “This entire Council is backing you and the police department on a curfew,” in support of Police Chief Rico Boyce.
Against that backdrop, task force members emphasized that enforcement alone would not address the underlying drivers of gang involvement. During workgroup updates, speakers repeatedly pointed to systemic issues such as poverty, housing instability, and lack of access to resources as foundational concerns.
“If someone doesn’t have food when they go home, they don’t have housing, they don’t have medical care, they’re not going to be like, ‘Listen, I really don’t want to be in a gang,’” Siarra Scott, co-chair and Director of NC Office of Violence Prevention said.
Members also discussed the need for a broader understanding of trauma in shaping prevention strategies.
“Trauma absolutely is being held at gunpoint, but it’s also that you grew up with unstable housing… you’ve changed your school district four times… or you haven’t been in school because you haven’t been established,” she said. The force stressed that recognizing these varied experiences is essential to designing effective interventions.
A recurring theme throughout the meeting was the inconsistency and fragility of funding for violence prevention programs. While officials acknowledged that grants can help launch initiatives, they warned against short-term thinking.
“What we don’t want to do is start a program that is good for the first year, and it gets completely unfunded afterwards,” Prevention Chairman Kevin Blackburn said. “We want to make sure that we’re not setting ourselves up… to have a task force again in two years to do the same thing.”
T he task force also discussed existing efforts, such as the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, which allows Medicaid funds to be used for non-medical needs. Officials noted that the program has demonstrated measurable outcomes, including “reduction in healthcare costs of about $164 per month for people in Medicare.” Still, they acknowledged that it does not specifically target gang activity.
Similarly, local reentry councils operating in 26 counties were praised for providing individualized support, though members pointed to “unequal coverage” and the challenge of scaling programs across all 100 counties.
Data-sharing gaps between agencies emerged as another critical issue. Participants described how information from the juvenile justice system often fails to transfer effectively to adult correction systems, disrupting progress. In response, the intervention workgroup proposed several recommendations, including the creation of a statewide office of gang prevention and intervention.
The envisioned office would act as a centralized hub for information, programming, and coordination, with regional case coordinators extending services into both urban and rural areas: “If we had a hub… that is going to be the catalyst for information, for programming, for awareness,” Blackburn said.
However, they acknowledged the challenge of establishing and sustaining such an entity, noting that “a statewide office—that’s the challenge,” particularly when it comes to funding and long-term consistency.
Other recommendations included mandatory gang awareness training for school personnel, expansion of school justice partnerships across all districts, and the development of second-chance career pathways through community colleges. These initiatives aim to address early warning signs and provide alternatives for youth at risk of gang involvement.
The group also emphasized the importance of “credible messenger” programs—interventions led by individuals with lived experience—but cautioned that without structure, such efforts can falter. Establishing a statewide framework, members said, would ensure consistency and measurable outcomes while maintaining flexibility in how programs are delivered.
Throughout the meeting, officials stressed that gang activity is not confined to any one region or demographic. Members reiterated that all 100 counties in North Carolina face some level of gang-related challenges and that solutions must account for the distinct needs of both rural and urban communities.
