25 Jan 2005
Twenty-Seven-Year Veteran Of Working With Youth Named To New District Post
DALLAS—The Dallas Independent School District has named 27-year youth specialist and former Hillcrest High School Youth Action Officer Charlotte Lewis as gang intervention specialist, a newly created position designed to work with district and municipal police, as well as schools and community partners to stem the tide of gang activity in the district.
Lewis, who began working for the Dallas County Juvenile Probation Department in 1979, rose through the ranks, beginning as a juvenile detention officer and moving up to an assistant field supervisor in 1996, and began working as a youth action officer at Hillcrest in 1997.
"Part of her role is to assist the district in developing a model for improving and providing gang intervention services," said DISD Police Chief Manny Vasquez. "Because of her unique position and experiences, she has the ability to work with our police department, the district's Psychological Services department, the Dallas Police Department and the courts system in an intervention role and can assist with identifying criteria and standards for any contract vendors for intervention services. We are excited about the expertise she brings to our efforts to curb gang activity in and around our schools."
Lewis' position was created as a result of DSI: Dallas, the district's safety initiative launched last year.
"This is an exciting opportunity for me as a former probation officer and youth action officer in our schools to have a positive impact on what we see as an increasing problem in the Dallas area—not just the district, but the entire surrounding area," Lewis said. "I'm honored to have been given the opportunity to do this job and to work to make a difference."
Lewis graduated in 1978 from Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas. Her major was in social work and minor in psychology. She also has received special training in "strategies in problem-solving techniques," CPR and is a certified mediator.
Her areas of expertise include assessment and evaluation of student needs, determination of placement, individual and group program coordination, individual, group and family counseling, public speaking, working with at-risk youth, and has extensive knowledge of appropriate referral programs and social services.
Among her duties, Lewis will develop and put in place a gang intervention model, coordinate programs and processes for the provision of direct gang intervention counseling services to students.