APD, AISD Host Free 5th Annual Gang Resistance Education And Training Summer Camp

The Austin Police Department, along with the Austin Independent School District Police Department, will be hosting a free Summer Camp July 18-22, 2016 at Martin Middle School, 1601 Haskell Street in Austin. 
 
The Joint Juvenile Gang Unit (J.J.G.U.) works within the City of Austin to deter juvenile gang violence and the impact it has on the city and its residents. The J.J.G.U. will be hosting the 5^th Annual Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) youth summer camp. The camp will work towards empowering approximately 150 Austin area youth (4th graders) and their families to become both physically and emotionally active members in their community. The J.J.G.U. is hosting a free, one-week summer camp to those students that participated in the G.R.E.A.T. program during the school year.
 
The camp will focus on goal setting, anger management, anti-bullying, fitness, healthy eating habits and pride in the community. The youth will receive daily exercise and nutritional tips which will provide them with healthy alternatives. The idea is to expose the youth and their families to foods and exercise they would normally not try.
 
The focus of the camp is to provide the youth with lessons that will reduce violence while empowering their families with resources to nurture healthy and positive choices for all members of the family. These are lessons they can then take back and share with their community.
 
The youth will also participate in a graduation/celebration of achievement at the end of each camp which will be a great avenue for the youth, their parents and even grandparents to come together and celebrate the lessons they were taught over the duration of the camp.