University Seeking 500 Residents for Crime Panels

Taking a cue from Madison Avenue advertising firms, Cal State Long Beach officials have launched a yearlong program that forms “focus groups,” in which citizens brainstorm for solutions to crime problems.

Planners hope to lure 500 residents to 50 “study circle” groups for the yearlong project, which is funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich.

They plan to mix participants of various ethnic backgrounds and recruit neighborhood leaders from within one of the city’s high-crime areas, a square-mile area bounded by Pacific Coast Highway, 7th Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the Los Angeles River.

“This innovative community-based program will help empower local . . . residents to be involved with the future of their communities,” said Jim Kelly, director of the Social Work Program at Cal State Long Beach.

Participants in the talks will be asked to attend six weekly two-hour sessions.

Although intended to be free discussions, the sessions will include viewings videos and photographs, as well as a booklet titled “Confronting Violence in Our Communities,” which was used to spark such sessions in San Mateo; Rapid City, S.D., and Tampa, Fla.

“What these groups do is share their expertise and their ideas,” says a newspaper editorial from Wichita, Kan., where study circles on violence began in January. “Everyone has a chance to speak. They learn from each other.”

In Los Angeles, lawmakers staged a similar “Day of Dialogue” in October, three weeks after a jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of double murder charges.

At nearly 100 sites citywide, in churches and synagogues, classrooms and auditoriums, citizens gathered to talk about racial differences.

Among the participants was New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, who said, “I believe the dialogue has to be deepened.”