Organizational History
In the back yard of the Nation’s Capitol, just east of the Anacostia River, there exists a community that has been long plagued by crime, poverty and disenfranchisement. “East of the River,” the tag name for this section of Southeast, Washington, D.C., is a label that has become synonymous with an attitude of feisty underdog pride. It was in that spirit, one of a community seeking to pull itself up, that a partnership between the clergy, police and the community was born.
In August of 1999, pastors from twenty churches in the area met with Police Chief Charles Ramsey and other high-ranking officers to discuss how the clergy might work with the police to reduce the critically high number of homicides among S.E. youth. That dialogue initiated a police/clergy rapport that laid the foundation for a partnership aimed at steering young people away from drugs and crime and toward stable and productive lifestyles.
In the early discussions, Chief Ramsey and Rev. Anthony Motley, the President and CEO of Inner Thoughts, a S.E. community organization dedicated to a form of street level ministry which has been offering redemption to at-risk youth since 1981, considered how DC might replicate a police/clergy collaboration which had successfully and dramatically reduced youth crime in Boston, known as the “10 Point Plan.” The Boston program was presented to the group at the first meeting and was well received. By the time of the second meeting in September of 1999, the plan was adapted to the S.E. environment, had 8 points and each minister was committed to lead the development of a point. Later in the year, the group consolidated two points, which were similar and finally settled on the “7 Point Plan”.
Community stakeholders were more than ready to embrace the East of the River Clergy Police Partnership’s concept of using a holistic approach to addressing youth crime. It rapidly grew in membership and quickly attracted support and resources. At the outset, Chief Ramsey devoted the resources of the Regional Operations Command covering the eastern portion of the city (ROC-East) and along with that he delegated Assistant Chief Michael Fitzgerald as the primary police liaison.
By the third meeting of this loosely formed group in October of 1999, the members decided to start directly impacting the targeted youth and to that end held an all day planning session at Camp Brown. After listening to the input of youth, it was clear that in order to adequately address the social ills that lead youth to crime, the group should enlist the assistance of community social service providers. At this point, the collaboration evolved from being just a police/clergy effort to being a community wide partnership.
By November 1999, just four months after its inception, Rev. Motley saw the value of building the collaboration as a more formal entity with a secure infrastructure. He then sought the support of the Enterprise Foundation who was asked to take the lead in linking services to the youth and their families.
In keeping with its rapid momentum, the formation of the collaborative was announced in December 1999; The East of the River Clergy, Police, Community Partnership was born. The partnership became incorporated on October 4, 2000 and received its 501 (c) (3) in January of 2001.
