News

Above & Beyond Award, 8/15

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Foundation recently started a new award within PBSO called the Above & Beyond Award. The Above & Beyond Award recipient for August, 2015 is Gang Prevention Coordinator Marcia Bahia.

When Marcia’s supervisor heard about this award, he immediately thought about Marcia because he says she epitomizes the words Above & Beyond. As Gang Prevention Coordinator, she has exceeded all expectations by totaling immersing herself in her job.

Marcia has taken a holistic approach to gang prevention. This means:

• Teaching awareness and prevention to children and community groups to keep kids from joining a gang
• Assisting current gang members who want to get out of a gang
• Helping communities rectify issues that breed gangs
• And helping those who are released from the criminal justice system find training and jobs to keep them from going back to gangs

Nothing speaks louder about Marcia’s commitment to Gang Prevention than all the committees and organizations she is involved with, including:

• Glades Ministerial Alliance
• Planned Approach to Community Health
• Teen-Parent Connection for Teens at Risk
• Pahokee Youth Summit
• Palm Beach County Youth Summit
• Tattoo Removal Program
• Law Enforcement Work Group
• Neighborhood Accountability Board
• Community Re-entry Task Force
• And the GREAT Program, which stands for Gang Resistance Education And Training

Thanks to Marcia’s proactive approach and selfless actions, thousands of at-risk kids in Palm Beach County have been kept out of gangs, and hundreds of actual gang members have been transitioned into productive members of society.

Marcia Bahia, the Sheriff’s Foundation thanks you for going Above & Beyond!