Kids GET REAL About Gangs

Many people are hurt by gangs, says 9-year-old Marieke Moyers.

Her classmate, Jacky Arnold, 9, says she would choose a youth group over joining a gang.

Kennedy Griffith, 10, says gangs are negative and that she would rather focus on the positive things in life.

Mission accomplished.

The trio of fourth graders from are part of the first graduating class of the GET REAL program (Gang Education Training Respecting Everyone's Alternative Lifestyle). The pilot, developed by a pair of retired Hayward police officers, provides gang prevention resources to youth.

Seventeen students completed the eight-week program that ended Tuesday.

"We want to reach as many kids as we can," said Frank Bowman, who co-developed the GET REAL program. "We want to prevent them from going in the wrong direction."

Bowman, an Oakland resident, served for more than 25 years as an officer with the Hayward Police Department. He co-developed a gang intervention program for the City of Hayward and served as a longtime DARE instructor.

A few year's ago, Bowman's daughter, who was an Oakland school principal at the time, sparked the program. She requested that Bowman teach kids about gangs after a rash of gang-related shootings near her school.

Bowman contacted his friend Larry Bird to help develop GET REAL.

Bird, a Livermore resident, retired as a sergeant in 2008 from the Hayward Police Department, where he served for more than 28 years. He, too, co-developed a gang intervention program for Hayward and served as a longtime DARE instructor.

In addition, Bird managed a gang and narcotics unit for the Hayward Police Department.

The program took several years to develop and countless hours of rehearsing and practicing how they would deliver the curriculum to students.

Bird said Our Savior Lutheran School was a natural place to start the program — staff was familiar with his work because he served as a DARE instructor.

The weekly program launched April 5.

Each week, students covered topics such as reducing violence, consequences of gang life and enjoying life without the stress of gangs.

"They have educated me in the fact that kids this young are starting to be approached by gangs," said Linda Greenhagen, fourth-grade teacher at Our Savior Lutheran. "If and when that occurs, my students will be prepared to handle the situation respectfully and appropriately."

Bird and Bowman run the program as volunteers. They plan to pursue grants that will help fund a program that will grow, with local officers teaching gang prevention to area students.

"From our viewpoint, the program was extremely successful," Bird said. "We know it works. Now it's just getting it out there to the public."

For more information on the GET REAL program, email Larry Bird at lsjbird@aol.com.