The city of Davis, Davis Joint Unified School District, UC Davis and Yolo County partnered to host the event
By ALMA CULVERWELL — city@theaggie.org
On Monday, Oct. 30, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) presented a Communication and De-Escalation Forum to the community of Davis in response to the series of recent bomb threats.
The forum highlighted ways to effectively communicate while discussing controversial issues. The event featured experts from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, the FBI and local law enforcement.
The DOJ proposed the forum as a response to the five bomb threats in the city of Davis. They reached out to the city, Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD), UC Davis and Yolo County to provide adequate resources and information and the opportunity for a community forum, which was accepted by all organizations involved.
Jenny Tan, director of community engagement for the city of Davis, said the city may plan to host future forums. Tan also said similar events may be a part of the city, county and campus-wide project, Hate Free Together.
“We’ll have to kind of play things a little bit by ear […] we did take a lot of notes,” Tan said. “There were about four breakout sessions yesterday, and so we’re still sort of compiling the notes and looking through them. It may be that we have the Department of Justice come back for a follow-up meeting. It may be that, you know, this gets folded under Hate Free Together. We definitely want our community to know that we’re listening and that we value their input. But we also understand that this is a tough time for all of us who call Davis home.”
The event hosted a range of attendees including various organizations, nonprofits, local parents and invested community members who were curious about ways to better approach and deal with the presence of hate crimes in the Davis community.
Tan described the most important things for Davis residents to keep in mind moving forward in respect to recent occurrences.
“Our priority is always to keep our residents safe,” Tan said. “And you know we all have a role to play from a person who lives in Davis all the way to someone who works in government and is responsible for different parts of the government. But essentially, we all have a role to play in how we keep each other safe and how we stand up to things that happen in our community.”
Tan noted the city’s willingness to accept feedback from community members.
“If they [the community] have ideas, if they have ways to support, to reach out to their local government agency, whether it’s the city, whether it’s UC Davis or Yolo County or the school district, we’re always open to their feedback and want to hear what they have to say.”
Written By: Alma Culverwell — city@theaggie.org
