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A s more f a m i l i e s w i t h c h i l d r e n a r e moving i n t o t h e Downtown E a s t s i d e , s o a l s o i s t h e awareness of t h e q u a l i t y of l i f e and t h e need f o r s a f e t y growing. A t a p u b l i c meeting c a l l e d by t h e Downtown E a s t s i d e Resi d e n t s ' A s s o c i a t i o n (DERA) , f o u r people whose work and i n t e r e s t s d e a l w i t h young p e o p l e and s o c i a l problems addressed both t h e present s i t u a t i o n and what i s b e i n g done i n t h e neighbourhood t o improve c o n d i t i o n s . Muggs S i g u r g e i r s o n , P r e s i d e n t of t h e Carnegie A s s o c i a t i o n , c h a i r e d t h e p a n e l and asked each of t h e f o u r t o i n t r o d u c e themselves and t h e i r i d e a s .
F i r s t was Carol MacCallahan of t h e Victim Witness S e r v i c e . Carol highl i g h t e d t h e need t o e d u c a t e people on what t o l o o k f o r i n k i d s ' b e h a v i o u r ; ' i f i t changes from b e i n g o u t g o i n g t o n o t t a l k i n g a t a l l , from b e i n g a c t i v e t o s t a y i n g home o r i n t h e i r room, o r i f t h e i r grades f a l l sharply i n a s h o r t time - a l l t h i s p o i n t s t o somet h i n g v e r y wrong, t o some i n c i d e n t t h a t they a r e a f r a i d t o t a l k a b o u t . When c h i l d r e n a r e v i c t i m i z e d , e i t h e r a t home o r o u t s i d e , t h e y c a n ' t g e t by the feeling that i t ' s t h e i r f a u l t . I f t h e y w i t n e s s some c r i m i n a l a c t and a r e t h r e a t e n e d by t h e one performing i t , they t e n d t o c r a w l i n t o a s h e l l