Mark Your Calendars to LINCCK Up June 27 and Combat Violence

Local leaders are working to combat violence under an organization called LINCCK, which stands for Linking Civility, Compassion and Kindness.

This violence prevention task force came about as a result of several health summits organized by the , according to local attorney and LINCCK leader Trip Hart.

The objective for LINCCK is to combat all elements of violence which includes external incidents like bar fights as well as domestic violence between partners, siblings and even adult children against their elderly parents, said Hart.

The organization seeks to assist potential victims get the help they need before something serious happens, encouraging them to find someone -- a third person who is receptive to them reaching for help in the first place. "We want to build that into our culture more," Hart said. "Victims would be able to short-circuit that potential escalation of violence."

LINCCK's efforts also reach out to potential perpetrators as well. "It's not just 'don't do that -- don't hit,'" Hart said. "It's what can you do ahead of time. What can you do to make sure you're not in a position to want to hit an individual?"

Part of that is better communication; it's learning to deal with vengeful feelings; and it's recognizing the potential harm you could cause, he said.

The Enumclaw community gets its first chance to hear directly from the leaders behind LINCCK on June 27 during an open meeting at . Special guest speaker Maggie Baker will be on hand to share her own story of how an act of violence changed her life and what she's learned from it. Baker chairs the King County Elder Abuse Council and is an assistant professor at the University of Washington.

Leaders will also unveil several projects that fall under the LINCCK organization, all with the aim of bringing the community together to combat violence, bring awareness to the problem and promote the civility, compassion and kindness reflected in the organization's name.

It begins with 'National Night Out' on August 2, conceived as several neighborhood block parties organized across the city with the purpose of helping neighbors get to know neighbors. The idea is that a victim of a domestic violence incident will very likely turn to a neighbor first before calling police, Hart said, and this event helps to ensure neighborhoods are working together to help prevent crime.

Then in October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, LINCCK will build on previous years' work of putting up signs and silhouettes at City Hall and at the Library for the Silent Witness program as well as arranging purple lights in store fronts in an effort to emulate the Purple Light Nights program that the Covington DV Task force began several years ago, Hart said. That program has spread to a state and nation wide basis, and other parts of the world as well.

Light appetizers will be served at the June 27 public meeting. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to conclude at 8 p.m.

Schools to Promote Kindness, Compassion

A third project that falls under the LINCCK umbrella is Rachel's Challenge. More information about this school district project is forthcoming as the new school year begins later this fall, but some details are available now.

Enumclaw Schools Superintendent Mike Nelson explained that Rachel Scott was the first person killed during the school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999.

Rachel had written in an essay shortly before her death: "I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go."

Nelson likened the 'chain reaction of kindness' that he'd like the district and community to pursue to a literacy project that the city embarked on about 10 years ago called 'What Book are you Reading?'

Members of the community logged all the minutes they spent reading, he said, while local businesses served as locations to deposit these minutes. The goal was to read 10 million minutes and the project culminated in a community-wide rally promoting literacy and reading.

Nelson said he believes the project had a direct correlation with the current high school students' strong reading scores. They were the kids who were just starting to learn to read during this literacy project, he said.

With Rachel's Challenge, Nelson envisions students and other community members in Enumclaw and Black Diamond catching each other in the midst of sharing random acts of kindness and then noting them on strips of paper that can then be linked into a chain -- a visual representation of the community's kindness and compassion. He and his staff are working through the details of bringing this project to life beginning the the fall. They will involve presentations to district staff as well as students at all eight schools -- from the high school level down to elementary, he said.

While Nelson spearheads this project within the district, LINCCK will work to involve the community beginning with a community summit on September 1, an evening community presentation at Enumclaw High School on September 22 and a final Rachel's Rally sometime in the spring of 2012.

Rachel's Challenge seeks to:

• Create a safe and productive learning, working or community environment by delivering proactive antidotes to violence and bullying
• Create positive bottom-line results by actively involving the entire community in the kindness process.
• Provide leadership development and individual growth through culturally relevant social/emotional training.
• Improve retention and achievement by engaging the participants’ heart, head and hands in the learning process.

These lofty goals have helped Nelson and the district garner support from various local entities in the form of grants, including the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation, the Enumclaw Schools Foundation, and a federal Title 2 grant for teaching and development. Nelson said the district has also applied for support from the Muckleshoot Tribe, Franciscan Health Systems and even the Enumclaw Rotary Club.

"Everything has magically come together to fund it," Nelson said of the project that he's been aware of and pursuing over the last seven years, beginning with when his daughter opted to study the Columbine shooting for a history project.

Through the years, Nelson said he'd come to know several families affected by the shooting as well as Columbine High School's principal. Then this year, Nelson came across Rachel's father at a presentation for a national school administrators conference, which led to an invitation to a KING 5 presentation, which led to growing support for bringing Rachel's Challenge to the school district.

This 'chain reaction' of sorts was not expected, said Nelson. "I've never had a project where all these things just lined up together so well," he said.