Nov. 26, 2007 — After distributing 1,000 Speak Your Peace CDs to public and private schools on St. Thomas, Project Safe Neighborhoods will extend its efforts this week to schools on St. John and St. Croix.
About 700 of the CDs were distributed earlier this month at the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School, after an assembly in which students took a pledge to be gun free. In the summer of 2006, Project Safe Neighborhoods — a nationwide initiative aimed at reducing gun crime — launched its first Speak Your Peace contest in the Virgin Islands, challenging the territory's young people to write music with an anti-gun-violence message. The 18 contest winners saw their music produced at ISW studios on St. Thomas. (See "Students Give Electric Response to Governor's Anti-Violence Message.")
With the help of an anonymous donor, Project Neighborhoods was able to put all the winning songs onto a single CD, with the goal of distributing them to each student in the territory, according to a news release from the U.S Attorney's Office.
"The goal is to allow every school-aged person to have a copy of this CD," said Wesley Hand, law-enforcement coordinator with the U.S. Attorney's Office, according to the release. Any teachers or administrators interested in having the CDs distributed to their students can call Hand at 774-5757, ext. 2240, or email him.
Back Talk Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
