Purpose:
To bring together a broad, non-partisan cross section of Newport News citizens whose mission will be to continually focus the entire community on efforts to bring down rates of criminal violence among youth and young adults.

Concept:
To assemble both a leadership and operationally capable team of Newport News-focused citizens, bringing together the resources and perspectives of non-profit agencies, the faith community, government and concerned citizens. The intent would be to transcend all current anti-violence and youth development initiatives while building on all existing efforts that have proven to be productive. The philosophy of the effort would be one of continuous improvement, best practices implementation, and inclusiveness. The role of City government would be that of partner and facilitator, but the effort must fundamentally be non-governmental.

Structure:
With City Council support, the Mayor would appoint individuals to a two-tiered structure. An approximately 30-person strategic leadership and advisory group would function as a steering committee and be chaired by the Mayor.

An operational working group would also be appointed and tasked with preparing practical action plans and implementation tactics, consistent with the strategic direction established by the advisory group.

Reporting:
Through the strategic leadership and advisory group, progress reports would be provided to the public and to the contributing institutions (government, churches, etc.) no less than biannually.