MENU TITLE: Revitalizing Communities: Innovative State and Local Programs.
Series: BJA Monograph
SUBJECT: Crime Prevention, Program Evaluations
Published: June 1997
Author: Bureau of Justice Assistance

165 pages
344,804 bytes

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U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
810 Seventh Street, DC 20531

Janet Reno
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice

John C. Dwyer
Acting Associate Attorney General

Laurie Robinson
Assistant Attorney General

Nancy E. Gist
Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance

U.S. Department of Justice Response Center
1-800-421-6770

Bureau of Justice Assistance Clearinghouse
1-800-688-4252

Bureau of Justice Assistance
World Wide Web Home Page
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA

------------------------------

This document was prepared by the National Crime
Prevention Council, supported by cooperative
agreement number 95 DD BX K011, provided by the
Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice
Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this document are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent the official
position or policies of the U.S. Department of
Justice.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of
the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes
the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National
Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office
for Victims of Crime.

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Revitalizing Communities: Innovative State and
Local Programs Monograph

June 1997

NCJ 165360

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Foreword

Frustrated by persistently high levels of crime and
juvenile delinquency, Americans are looking for
new, effective approaches to preventing and
controlling crime. This monograph documents a
variety of initiatives, including several among
Native American tribal communities, that focus on
preventing crime and its consequences through
community revitalization. Among the problems 
targeted by these programs are neighborhood 
blight, drug trafficking, and related crime, as 
well as inappropriate or ineffective jail sentences 
for nonviolent offenders. Of particular concern is a
significant population of youth at risk for
dropout, delinquency, and violent crime.

Although on these pages the programs are organized
by State, they are intensely local, responding to
local problems with local resources. Virtually all,
however, can be replicated in other communities,
either in whole or in part. Within each program
description there is enough information about how
the program was developed and implemented to give
other communities guidance about pitfalls to be
avoided and factors that can lead to success.

The approaches represented by these programs may
involve bringing together various elements of the
community, some of which may have been hostile to
one another in the past. Many involve forging
partnerships between police and neighborhood
residents and implementing other aspects of
community policing. A number of programs
demonstrate ways neighbors are working together to
respond to threats to their safety and the well-
being of their children. 

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is committed to
helping local communities develop effective means
of controlling crime and ensuring neighborhood
safety. We hope the information presented in this
monograph about what some communities have
accomplished will be helpful to others facing
similar challenges.

Nancy E. Gist
Director
Bureau of Justice Assistance

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Acknowledgments

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) wishes to
thank Kellie J. Dressler, Assistant Director for
Special Projects, Justice Research and Statistics
Association, for her outstanding work in
supervising and coordinating the preparation of
this document. She and her colleagues at the
Justice Research and Statistics Association
coordinate BJA's State Evaluation Development
Program, which stimulates the development of local
partnerships to implement the reporting and
evaluation requirements of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act
of 1988.

In addition, BJA wishes to recognize the 
contribution of the State and local representatives
on the State Evaluation Development Program's
National Planning Group for their valuable input 
to the program.

------------------------------

Introduction

This monograph was developed and written for the
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) by the Justice
Research and Statistics Association in coordination
with the National Institute of Justice, the Bureau
of Justice Statistics, and the Executive Office for
Weed and Seed. It documents the input of more than
60 planners, local practitioners, researchers,
analysts, and law enforcement officers,
representing 21 States, who have been involved in
implementing or evaluating programs to improve the
criminal justice systems in their communities. This
monograph describes their programs, including
goals, components, results and impact, and
prospects for replication. Although the programs
are local in scope, each program description
provides enough information about how the program
was developed and implemented to give other
communities guidance in developing similar
programs. 

The 24 programs included in this monograph are
funded under the Byrne Formula or Discretionary
Grant programs. Several have been extensively
evaluated at the State and local levels with
results reported at the Annual Conference on
Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation and in
other forums. The nomination of effective BJA-
funded programs for inclusion  in our publications
is a joint effort by BJA, the Byrne State
Administrative Agencies, and local criminal justice
program managers. State and local criminal justice
researchers and practitioners documented the
results of the program evaluations using BJA's
evaluation guidance. 

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Table of Contents

Arizona
 Gila River Indian Reservation--The O'Otham 
 Oidak Farm Project and the Vechij Himdag 
Alternative School for Delinquent Youth 

California
 City of Oxnard Operation Revitalization Grant 
 Program 
 
FALCON Narcotics Abatement Unit

Colorado
 Adolescence Cognitive Healing Program

District of Columbia
 Public Housing Orchestra Program

Florida
 The Eckerd Family Youth Alternatives, Inc.,
Re-Entry Program

Georgia
 The Atlanta Project--Public Safety 
Component

Illinois
 St. Clair County Sheriff`s Department Alternative
Offender Work Program

Maryland
 Community Anti-Drug Assistance Project

Massachusetts
 The Safe Neighborhood Initiative

Minnesota
 Strong Neighborhood Crime Prevention
Program

Montana
 Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal 
Court Community Service Program

New Mexico
 Albuquerque Police Department Neighborhood 
Improvement Program--San Jose Neighborhood
 
 Albuquerque Police Department Neighborhood
Improvement Program--South Broadway Action 
Team

 Jicarilla Apache Tribe Domestic Violence Program

Oklahoma
 CARE Program

Pennsylvania
 Public Nuisance Task Force

Puerto Rico
 Puerto Rico National Guard Public Housing
Intervention Project

Rhode Island
 The Positive Role Model Program

South Carolina
 Police and Community Together Program

Texas
 Community Justice in Austin

 Mayor`s Anti-Gang Office and the Gang 
Task Force

Washington
Seattle Indian Center Youth Program

Wisconsin
 Menominee Law Enforcement Community 
Organization Project

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Arizona

Gila River Indian Reservation--The O'Otham Oidak
Farm Project and the Vechij Himdag Alternative
School for Delinquent Youth

Statement of the Problem

The Gila River Indian Community is facing
increasing and more serious juvenile crime. The
problems of young people are further compounded by
four generations of cultural erosion, government
policies disruptive to the family unit, and
multiple generations of alcoholism. The historical
and social problems of the Gila River Indian
Community are reflected in the lives of its
troubled youth. These young people now often seek
their identities in gang-oriented peer culture
rather than in tradition. Their sense of loss is
reflected in low self-esteem, polyaddiction, and a
lack of identity with their elders.

The 372,000-acre Gila River Indian Community,
occupied by the Pima and Maricopa peoples, is
located in south central Arizona. The Pima and
Maricopa were historically well known for their
prosperous farms, intricate system of irrigation
canals, and sharing of food with early settlers,
whom they befriended. In 1929 the Gila River was
dammed up, bringing this agrarian-based culture to
an abrupt end.

Today, the reservation has a population of 10,000,
with approximately one-fourth between the ages of
10 and 18. Data from 1992 reflect 310 juvenile
arrests, representing 17 percent of the community's
teenage population. All of these youth were
detained within the confines of the Juvenile
Detention and Rehabilitation Center. This exceeds
the national average of juvenile arrests for the
same period by 12 percent. The recidivism rate for
detained youth reached just over 47 percent in
1992. The data revealed that most chronic offenders
were representative of approximately 30
dysfunctional families who could be identified as
"families in need of care." Often abused and
neglected, by adolescence these youth are acting
out their anger through alcoholism and other
destructive behaviors. They are a disenfranchised
group, and their behaviors serve to further
alienate them. They are frequently rejected by the
community, feared by elders, and targeted in the
schools as troublemakers, contributing to a history
of school failure.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the center's programs is to
rehabilitate these troubled young people by
reconnecting them with the essential values of
their heritage, while linking them with the
critical knowledge and skills needed to be
successful in today's complex world. The O'Otham
Oidak ("Fields of the People") Farm Project and the
Vechij Himdag ("New Way") Alternative School are
two vehicles designed to meet the specific needs of
the target population.

The goal of the O'Otham Oidak Farm Project is to
enhance self-esteem and cultural identity. By
connecting these youth with their history and
tradition and reconnecting them with the earth and
the growing of crops, they learn how to nurture--at
first the plants and, finally, themselves. The
following objectives were designed to reach this
goal:

o Learn how to plant, tend, grow, and harvest
native seeds in the traditional manner and share
the resulting produce with the elders and
physically and economically needy in the community
through a food distribution program.

o Learn modern agribusiness skills, such as the
care of an orchard and truck farm and carefully
prepare the harvested produce for display and sale
in the community. 

o Learn the art of gathering desert crops and
preparing native foods made from these crops.

The goal of the Vechij Himdag Alternative School is
to provide education and vocational training to the
community's youth. Through a broad-based
educational program, youth begin to establish life
goals and visualize a more positive future. The
following objectives were developed to reach this
goal:

o Provide a holistic and individualized education
tailored to each student's needs, with a focus on
experiential learning and vocational skills.

o Provide a small student-teacher ratio centered
around positive role modeling, reinforcement, and
student-teacher relationships. 

o Provide a culturally relevant curriculum that
includes farming, Pima language, myths, songs, and
traditional arts and crafts.

Both the O'Otham Oidak Farm Project and the Vechij
Himdag Alternative School have as their main goal
the rehabilitation of these young adults toward
becoming productive and contributing members of
their community. The following objectives were
developed to reach this goal:

o Develop a solid work ethic by developing
traditional and modern agricultural skills,
involvement in community service activities, and
onsite job training. 

o Provide life skills including computer and
interviewing skills, technical training, cognitive
skills development, and community college
coursework.

Program Components

O'Otham Oidak Farm Project

The farm project received strong community support
from its inception. The idea was originally
suggested by a prominent community member, then
chairman of the successful Gila River Farms Board.
The agencies needed to launch the project came
together to join in its design and implementation.
The group included representatives from the
community's Land and Water Resources and Irrigation
Rehabilitation departments, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA), Gila River Farms (GRF), the
University of Arizona Agricultural Extension
Agency, and the Natural Resources Conservation
Services (NRCS).

Implementing this project involved surveying by
NRCS and laser planing, disking, and plowing by
GRF. The Irrigation Rehabilitation Department put
in irrigation ditches, and BIA supplied water for
irrigation. GRF also donated startup funds and the
orchard with money from an Adopt-a-Tree Program.
The Tribal Council and Governor supported the
project by granting the center 10 acres of land
adjacent to the facility. This land, known as Tract
One, had not been tilled for more than 50 years.
The impact of seeing this land come back to life
affected the entire community. The O'Otham Oidak
Farm Project continues to be sponsored by NRCS of
Gila River. For the community and the youth, the
farm project has become a symbol of the
regeneration of small tract farming and community
gardens, a tradition with deep roots that supported
positive spiritual and social values.

Based on the principles of sustainable agriculture,
the O'Otham Oidak's main program component is the
10-acre farm. Youth from the center and the
alternative school work on the farm in rotating
groups. They have learned how to lay out and plant
an orchard, prune trees, irrigate, fertilize, mulch
the soil, weed, and compost, as well as how to meet
the many challenges of nature. Youth have learned
how to battle white flies, ground squirrels, high
winds, alkaline soil, and countless weeds.

Familiar with buying vegetables at the supermarket,
many of the youth had no idea that carrots grew in
the earth or that watermelons grew on vines above
the ground. They better understand the struggles
their ancestors endured to survive in the desert
and have learned to appreciate the hard work
involved in making the fields yield crops. Youth
have learned what a tree-ripened peach tastes like,
and the difference between fresh and store-bought
produce. More important, they know the feeling of
sharing their produce with others and what it means
to rise at 5 a.m. and put in 4 hours of hard work
each day.

Once the crops are carefully harvested by hand, the
produce is washed, packaged, and prepared for sale
or distribution to members of the community. Many
youth from the center and the alternative school
have participated in preparing meals, utilizing the
produce they helped grow. They have learned to cook
traditional meals with tepary beans, cholla and
saguaro cactus buds, corn, squash, and wild
spinach--most of which are valued for their ability
to prevent or control the diabetes that is
prevalent in the community. Many of the youth have
tasted foods made from desert and native crops for
the first time, and through the Tribal Health
Nutrition Program, healthier dietary choices are
being introduced to the youth and the community.

Distribution of farm produce has been made possible
by two consecutive grants from Share Our Strength,
a local nonprofit organization. Food, seeds, and
more than 200 deciduous fruit trees have been made
available to community members at minimal or no
charge. The University of Arizona agricultural
extension agent, assisting the farm from the
beginning, has also provided demonstrations and
information to the youth and the community on
starting a garden, controlling pests, and pruning
and caring for fruit trees.

Farm plots have also been made available to
interested community groups, such as the local
youth residential program, and to the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of a diabetes
prevention project. As it is harvested, farm
produce is distributed to the Commodity Foods and
Elderly Nutrition Programs, elders, and others. In
this way, the youth not only share in their
tradition of giving but provide a valuable
community service. The Work Incentive Share Program
(WISP), using funds from the sale of farm produce,
provides pay to participating youth for their work
on the farm, based on number of hours worked and
shares earned. Youth work on the farm until their
sentences have been completed.

Vechij Himdag Alternative School

The need to create a community-based alternative
school became evident upon analyzing the successes
of the center's own school. The alternative school
serves several vital needs for its delinquent
population: (1) enabling youth who have been
released from detention to continue their
individualized education within the community; (2)
serving as a transitional program to reintegrate
youth into the community; (3) providing support to
families of these youth; (4) serving as an
alternative disposition; (5) providing a structured
program for youth on probation; (6) reducing
delinquent behavior and recidivism; and (7)
providing the youth a strong foundation based upon
their cultural identity and heritage.

Admission involves a comprehensive assessment that
includes an extensive psychosocial history and
measures academic achievement level, self-esteem,
and vocational aptitude and interest. In addition,
records are gathered on the student's prior
educational, delinquency, and mental health
histories. Together, this information serves as a
baseline from which to measure student progress and
as a basis for making appropriate referrals for the
student and the student's parents.

Family involvement and participation are essential
aspects of the alternative school. Parents are
required to sign a school participation agreement,
volunteering their time in a variety of ways such
as teaching traditional arts and crafts or
tutoring. A parent advisory board and monthly
parent meetings serve to involve parents in school
planning and decisionmaking. Communication between
school staff and parents is maintained through home
visits, telephone calls, and parent visits to the
school.

Students, parents, and school staff jointly develop
an individualized plan for each student, including
a wide range of areas such as substance abuse,
health, behavior, education, and vocational skills.
A case manager meets weekly with each student
and/or parents to discuss progress and any problems
interfering with attainment of the student's goals.
Weekly individual and group counseling is provided
for the students by staff from local agencies such
as the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program, Behavioral
Health, Family Planning, and Tribal Social
Services. The family counselors from the center
also provide weekly cognitive skills training to
students.

Community service is an integral part of the
alternative school. Students become involved in
community cleanup projects such as repainting over
graffiti on homes and community buildings and
maintaining community cemeteries by repainting
crosses and removing trash. Because these services
are highly visible to the community, such projects
serve to change the community's perception of these
youth.

In collaboration with the tribal Employment and
Training Program, students also participate in the
Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Through
placement in local job sites, they gain direct work
experience and specific vocational skills. Students
ineligible for JTPA due to age or income serve as
apprentices in local job sites. The vocational
component is modeled after the Communities As
Schools Program, with students' vocational
experiences expanded upon through an integrated
curriculum. Students leave the Vechij Himdag
Alternative School when they are ready to enter the
public school system, anywhere from 3 months to 2
years after enrollment.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

Although quantitative measures have not been
designed or implemented for the farm project thus
far, informal observation has revealed change and
improvement in the attitudes of participating youth
and reduced resistance to participation in the farm
project. A survey instrument is being developed to
better assess such changes.

In addition to profile information on students, the
alternative school compiles quantitative data on
attendance, grades, recidivism, self-esteem, career
interests, and goals based on pre- and post-
testing. The real performance measures, however,
are the students who have achieved solid
educational goals that they might not have achieved
without the program.

Implementation Problems and Successes

Lack of adequate farm equipment and staff has been
the major implementation problem confronting the
farm project. In addition, work on the farm
requires a higher level of commitment from staff,
who are also learning to reconnect with their
agrarian roots. Higher numbers of youth and lack of
staff prevent getting enough youth out to the farm
at one time. A building is also needed for storing
and distributing produce.

The need for a larger alternative school became
evident soon after the school's opening. Its
waiting list continues to grow, and school staff
have had difficulty keeping up with the high number
of inquiries and requests for admission. Additional
funds are being sought from the tribe and the
State's Charter School Program to double the
school's size.

Successes and Accomplishments

While quantitative measurement of the O'Otham Oidak
Farm Project is difficult, approximately 5 tons of
fresh produce have been distributed throughout the
community since program inception. The farm project
has served as an inspiration and model for many
community and school gardens, and other tribes have
visited the farm and expressed interest in
beginning farms and gardens in their communities.
The Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico utilized O'Otham
Oidak as a model for a similar farm project with
their delinquent and at-risk youth.

The Vechij Himdag Alternative School has had
incredible success, reducing recidivism from 84
percent to 14 percent among the students it serves.
While many of these youth had previously not
attended school for as long as 3 years, the
alternative school's student attendance has
averaged between 85 percent and 92 percent. In less
than 2 years of operation, the school has helped 10
students earn their 8th-grade diplomas, and 8
students have passed or are completing their
General Equivalency Diplomas (GEDs). Three of these
students have continued on to community college.

Prospects for Replication

Both programs are easily replicated in Native
American and non-Native American communities. As
with any program, success depends on interagency
support and collaboration and the full support of
the community. Both program models can easily be
adapted as needed, with the scope of the projects
adjusted to meet the needs and resources of almost
any community. The cost for starting these programs
is moderate in comparison to the cost of keeping a
youth in detention. Although the O'Otham Oidak farm
is 10 acres in size, this is a variable that can be
easily adjusted to meet a community's budget and
resource limitations.

Contact Information

Laura Yergan
Executive Director
Gila River Indian Community Juvenile
Detention and Rehabilitation Center
P.O. Box 219
Sacaton, AZ 85247
520-562-3373
602-899-9856 fax

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California

City of Oxnard Operation Revitalization Grant
Program

Statement of the Problem

The City of Oxnard has a broad range of economic
foundations. The target area of this program is
known as the Colonia and has been compared to the
East Los Angeles area. The Colonia has
approximately 10,000 citizens, of whom about 95
percent are Hispanic. The average income for the
majority of these citizens is at the poverty level.
The main source of employment in the Colonia is
agriculturally based. The average daily wage for an
8-hour day is $34, and the average family size is
five people. Nearly half of the housing in the
Colonia is owned and managed by the Housing
Authority, and a large portion of the residences is
supplemented by Section 8 housing.

Due in large part to these conditions, there is an
exaggerated amount of crime in the Colonia, an area
that has become well known in Ventura County as a
source of narcotics and violence. In 1992, there
were 932 narcotic and alcohol-related arrests.
Geographically, the Colonia comprises about one-
eighth of the overall 25 square miles of the city.
The city's current census population is
approximately 144,000, with an estimated 15,000
undocumented residents.

In 1992 the City of Oxnard had a total of 3,736
juveniles referred to juvenile probation youth
services and 5,522 youth referred to juvenile
intake. The Colonia accounted for 57 percent of
these youth. Data indicate that there is a large
problem with drug and alcohol abuse in the Colonia.
This problem affects the community and the
students' ability to attend and succeed in school.
The very nature of substance abuse leads to a
variety of crimes, and assaults involving substance
abuse are common in police contacts with teenagers.
Because of the small number of juvenile facilities
in the city and county, many teen substance abusers
are not handled in the same manner as adult
abusers.

There is a strong need for a communication link
between law enforcement and the schools with regard
to youthful substance abusers. A conservative
estimate would be that only 25 to 30 percent of
these youth are being handled in a criminal and/or
intervention manner. Although there are programs in
place to assist these juveniles, there is no
consistent manner in which they are being handled.
The majority of drug- and alcohol-related
citations, particularly for first-time offenders,
are handled informally through their attendance at
specifically designed diversion classes and/or
liaisons with school-based programs such as the
Student Assistance Project. As a result, the school
is unaware that many students have a drug or
alcohol problem.

Delinquency prevention is often inconsistent in
providing support for the schools due to increased
caseloads and lack of coordinated efforts with law
enforcement involvement and ongoing school
activities. There is a need for combined efforts in
providing delinquency prevention services to
students in the target area. Further, there is a
general lack of awareness among community members
about ongoing community partnership programs,
juvenile focus action committees, and community
pride-based action groups in Oxnard.

Due to insufficient staff and funding, the juvenile
offender has been allowed freedoms not awarded to
adult offenders. The inability to punish juvenile
offenders has resulted in a disregard for law
enforcement and the court system. In 1992 Public
Housing compiled a needs assessment of the Colonia.
A major portion of this report indicated crime as
the number one concern of the majority of
residents. Of major concern was the increase in
juvenile crime in the target area, and residents
expressed fear of leaving their homes. Second among
their concerns was the overall condition of the
Colonia and the lack of community involvement.

Goals and Objectives

The main goal of the program is to improve the
lives of teenagers in the Colonia. Suppression of
and intervention in criminal activity, improvements
in neighborhood appearance, and increases in pride
and education among all residents of the target
area are the main objectives of the program.

Program Components

The program is a five-component collaborative
effort involving the Oxnard Police Department
(OPD), Youth Services of the Corrections Services
Agency (Juvenile Probation), the Oxnard Union High
School District, Ventura County Alcohol and Drug
Programs, and the Skills Training and Retention
(STAR) Program. Two police officers and one
representative from each of the other agencies work
as a single unit. These members, along with
representatives from the Ministerial Association
and El Concilio, make up the project steering
committee.

OPD and Juvenile Probation began the program by
initiating contacts within the target area and
utilizing existing probation files on juvenile
offenders. During the startup period, the officers
assigned to the project made merchant and citizen
contacts, established an office in an existing
Colonia storefront, and used print and radio media
to inform the citizenry of the program. Also during
this time, members of the other participating
agencies were involved in the planning process.

The full program was activated in September 1993.
Arrests and placement with the project probation
officer were initiated at this time. The probation
officer uses prior criminal history and current
charges to determine the disposition of the
offender. Offenders are placed in the Student
Assistance Program, classes and counseling with a
part-time group psychologist, and existing Youth
Services classes through the probation department,
or are referred to an Alcohol and Drug Program
(ADP). Serious felony offenders are sent through
the court system.

Once offenders are placed into an ADP, they undergo
an intensive 12-week program. This program includes
components for the substance abuser and the
offender's family. Teacher and parent education are
handled by the OPD Youth Services officer using an
already established curriculum. Upon completion of
an ADP, the offender is placed into the Skills
Training and Retention program. This intensive,
long-term program builds self-esteem, provides job
skills training, and provides job placement.

Throughout the 18-month program, community
improvement is supplied by the Public Works
Department with the assistance of the beat
coordinator. Improvements in lighting, quicker
graffiti removal, neighborhood watch programs,
street and alley cleaning, and neighborhood
councils make for an improved living situation
within the target area. Each component of the
program is described below.

Oxnard Police Department. Two street-level officers
are assigned to the Colonia. The officers work with
existing storefront officers, Housing Authority
personnel, neighborhood councils, and other
departmental units in identifying and dealing with
problems in the Colonia neighborhood. Their duties
include drug and alcohol investigations and arrests
involving juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18
living in the designated area or involving
incidents occurring in or near any school attended
by target-area youth. Various police techniques are
utilized. Sales and use cases are investigated on
the street and on Oxnard High School and Rio Mesa
High School campuses. Arrests are referred to the
assigned project probation officer. The officers
refer substance abusers to the district attorney
for prosecution or directly to the probation
officer assigned to the Operation Revitalization
Program.

Juvenile Probation Officer. The juvenile probation
officer assigned to the project handles only those
juveniles referred to him or her by the street team
officers. The primary purpose of the juvenile
probation officer is diversion of appropriate
minors who are cited through informal handling and
participation in an established school or
community-based intervention/counseling program.
The probation officer assists in developing and
establishing community-based delinquency prevention
and parent education programs within the Colonia. 

To be screened and diverted through this program,
minors must be at least 14 and not older than 17
years of age, reside in the targeted area, and have
committed a substance abuse or alcohol-related
offense. The following factors are considered by
the Probation Officer in determining whether a
minor should be diverted through the grant project:
the prior history of the minor, the seriousness of
the current offense, and the willingness of the
minor and parents to accept an informal handling of
the offense.

The following minors are not diverted into the
program:

o Those cited who do not fall within the specified
age or who do not live within the targeted area.

o Those whose alleged conduct would be a felony.

o Those who are or have been wards or dependents of
the court.

o Those who have other referrals or petitions
pending.

o Those who are or have been on informal probation.

o Those who pick up their fourth and subsequent
citations.

o Those who are arrested or cited for an offense
that must be referred to the District Attorney's
Office.

o Those who have circumstances that indicate that
the filing of the petition is necessary to promote
the welfare of the minor or to protect the public.

The probation officer works daily with the street
team and is responsible for the juvenile's
disposition. Referrals are made on a case-by-case
basis. Referrals can be through probation services,
school programs, or county drug and alcohol
programs. The probation officer is responsible for
direct contact with the assigned school liaison
personnel.

Oxnard Union High School District Personnel. The
high school district provides one half-time
clerical assistant to maintain the program's
records and one half-time school liaison. The
school liaison's duties are to coordinate with the
assigned probation officer as juveniles are
arrested and disposition is given. A current list
of arrestees is maintained and provided to school
officials. If the juvenile is assigned school
programs, these are tracked by the liaison. The
school liaison makes regular contact with the
participating clients. Referrals for family
counseling are generated by the school liaison.

One half-time drug/alcohol therapist works with
arrested juveniles. The program includes an
established curriculum geared toward grade levels 9
through 12. Parental workshops focusing on drug and
alcohol abuse and their effects on the family,
family parenting classes, gang awareness, and
family group training are conducted when possible.
Parental cooperation is sought in all cases. When
possible, lessons are taught in a student's native
language.

The drug/alcohol therapist:

o Conducts self-help and/or counseling as part of
the ongoing counseling for students in groups or on
an individual basis.

o Maintains personal interaction with students and
acts as a positive role model.

o Monitors and evaluates student behavior on
campus.

o Schedules and supervises afterschool activities
geared toward self-esteem building.

o Provides an onsite contact person for the student
during school hours.

o Makes referrals to other agencies as needed.

Ventura County Drug and Alcohol Program. Arrestees
are assigned on a case-by-case basis to the
program. A preestablished program is administered
to the juvenile and includes family counseling.
This program is utilized at the discretion of the
probation officer and takes place within church
facilities, a traditionally safe place for gang
members.

The Level I diversion curriculum includes
assessment of the client's drug use, education
about chemical dependency and other related issues,
personal awareness related to drug use, and
individual counseling. The total curriculum takes
12 weeks to complete. The information and personal
awareness sessions are offered in 2-hour segments.
A 261/2-hour commitment is required of the client
to complete the diversion program.

Beyond ensuring that there is a cognitive
understanding of the curriculum, staff consider the
various learning styles, the range of skill levels,
and the need to reach the client at an effective
level. A multisensory and interactive approach is
used in delivering the diversion curriculum.

The Level II diversion curriculum includes the
assessment and information components from the
Level I diversion curriculum. Additionally, Level
II is an intense self-discovery process featuring a
series of guided discussions focused on examining
individual and family-related risk factors,
understanding the client and the addiction process,
understanding the client and the recovery process,
and exploring personal and community resources. In
addition to the contact hours required in Level I,
Level II demands 24 hours in group processing plus
6 individual counseling sessions for a total of
56.5 contact hours.

Skills Training and Retention Program. Serious
offenders may be placed in the STAR program for job
training and placement. STAR is a 490-hour program
aimed at the total person. Through self-esteem
building, behavior modification, and job skills
training, the client is given the opportunity to
make a positive lifestyle change. Onsite job
training is provided in an effort to afford the
client a new perspective. Closely monitoring the
process of the client throughout the training cycle
enables STAR personnel to make changes in the
curriculum to ensure success.

One new program component involves the public
housing units and includes sports activities, a
teen pregnancy program, and Saturday night
activities. In another new component, called
Citizens on Patrol, citizens trained by police
officers patrol the streets and alert the police to
suspicious activity via donated cellular phones.
Placement into one of these program components is
determined by the project probation officer.

Results and Impact

Implementation Problems and Successes

Initially, problems were encountered with community
understanding of the program. Fear of police and
selective enforcement was voiced by community
members. This problem was overcome by continual
contact with citizens on a personal level. School
personnel were initially very slow in understanding
and cooperating with the program. A buy-in by
school personnel became a reality only after
extensive inservice training and the reporting of
successful results from youth already in the
program. The program has experienced a problem in
that parents of children in the program were being
arrested for drug sales. Twenty-seven percent of
these parents admitted to being drug users. This
problem can be corrected if the parents' probation
terms are amended to mandate their attendance in
alcohol and drug abuse classes. Program staff are
working with adult probation to bring this about.

Successes and Accomplishments

The main success of the program has been the
response from youth. Of great interest has been the
influx of self-referrals from substance-abusing
youth into the program. After observing the success
of their peers in the program, many youth refer
themselves to the program either through schools or
through campus-assigned officers. Also of note has
been the addition of more services from other city
and county agencies. El Concilio, a local
community-based organization, added services for
family counseling and job skills training. Public
housing added sports programs, pregnancy
counseling, and citizen patrol services in the
target area.

The original projection for the number of youth
referred to the program was 400. As of June 30,
1995, 781 youth had been in the program. Of this
total only 22 were referred for court intervention.
Assigned narcotics officers were responsible for
323 arrests for sales and/or possession of
narcotics. Neighborhood buy-in has been tremendous,
with the original target area going from the worst
in the city to one of the cleanest. The City of
Oxnard experienced one of the lowest crime rates in
the State during the first 6 months of 1995, with
daytime burglary dropping 39 percent. This can be
attributed to the number of youth involved in the
program during that time.

The program has received awards and recognition at
local and State levels. It has been featured on
"Prime Time" and "Walter Cronkite's Victory Over
Violence" television programs. The program has gone
citywide during the past year due to its success,
and neighboring cities have expressed interest. The
City of Oxnard Operation Revitalization Grant
Program is also featured on a local television
program called "Street Beat." 

Prospects for Replication

The project could be easily replicated and modified
to fit in most cities. A multicomponent approach
and support from all parties involved ensures a
strong foundation. Teamwork and careful personnel
selection are imperative to a successful program.
To date the program has been introduced to schools
and police departments in Utah, Texas, Rhode
Island, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts.

Contact Information

Gino Rodriguez
Detective
Oxnard Police Department
251 South C Street
Oxnard, CA 93030
805-385-7602
805-483-8408 fax

------------------------------

California

FALCON Narcotics Abatement Unit

Statement of the Problem

Los Angeles, with a population of 3.6 million
people, has the second highest volume of narcotics
cases in the United States. The Los Angeles Police
Department (LAPD) made 34,547 narcotics-related
arrests in 1994, an increase of nearly 11 percent
over the previous year. A recent intelligence
briefing to the chief of police identified
narcotics "hot spots" throughout the city. The 5-
year statistical overview of narcotics arrests and
seizures demonstrates the need for a strategy
beyond traditional enforcement.

Narcotics-related nuisance activities have also
mushroomed, particularly in low-income
neighborhoods. Property values in these
neighborhoods have steadily deteriorated as a
result of neglect, abandonment, or inadequate city
services. Drug dealers and gang members vandalize
structures and intimidate residents and business
owners, furthering neighborhood decline. Residents,
often unaware of available resources and ignorant
of ways to fight back, live in a state of siege.
Researchers have documented the relationships among
drugs, crime, and neighborhood disintegration. When
residents see active drug dealers, flourishing
"drug houses," and blight conditions, they feel
that the police and the community have lost control
and perceive their neighborhoods to be inadequate
environments for raising children and establishing
businesses.

Traditional law enforcement excludes other
governmental agencies, fails to tap community
resources, and overlooks the potential for
cooperation of property and business owners in
abating narcotics-related problems. Traditional
abatement is often unable to provide long-term
solutions to criminal nuisance problems because it
is too site specific and fails to consider other
neighborhoods' needs. To address these
shortcomings, the Focused Attack Linking Community
Organizations and Neighborhoods (FALCON) Narcotics
Abatement Unit was initiated in November 1990 with
grant funding from the California Office of
Criminal Justice Planning.

Goals and Objectives

FALCON is an innovative, comprehensive program for
abating narcotics nuisance activity in communities.
The FALCON Narcotics Abatement Unit is a
multiagency task force comprising personnel from
LAPD, the City Attorney's Office, and the
Department of Building and Safety.

FALCON's primary goal is to curtail crime and urban
blight in drug-infested neighborhoods through a
concentrated, coordinated effort by police,
prosecutors, and regulatory and service agencies
working closely with community groups. The program
stresses teamwork, recognizes the importance of law
and code enforcement in eliminating narcotics and
related criminal activity in targeted
neighborhoods, and addresses factors that create
environments receptive to crime.

The program's major objectives are (1) eliminating
narcotics nuisance locations by encouraging
cooperation of property owners, filing narcotics
abatement lawsuits, and seizing real property; (2)
establishing an integrated network of law
enforcement and government agencies, community-
based organizations, and concerned citizens; (3)
providing neighborhood crime prevention and
education programs to residents and businesses in
targeted areas; and (4) fostering community
coalitions among property owners, tenants,
residents, and business owners.

Program Components

Teams of police officers, prosecutors, community
resource specialists, and regulatory inspectors
develop and implement approaches to address
specific needs of neighborhoods. FALCON personnel
include a lieutenant (officer in charge), sergeant,
detective, seven police officers, a management
analyst, and a senior clerk typist from LAPD; a
supervising assistant city attorney, two deputy
city attorneys, two community resource specialists
(administrative coordinators), a legal assistant,
and a legal secretary from the Los Angeles City
Attorney's Office; and a senior mechanical building
inspector from the Los Angeles Department of
Building and Safety.

Identifying and Targeting Nuisance Locations.
FALCON investigating officers and city attorneys
collect and review information about narcotics
nuisance locations provided by citizens, community
groups, local police divisions, and city
councilors. Police officers conduct surveillance,
prepare search warrants, and make arrests to follow
up complaints of narcotics activities. Prosecutors
and investigating officers review all data and
evidence to determine the appropriate abatement
remedies.

Coordinating Multiagency Investigations. FALCON
personnel help to develop strategies for criminal
and regulatory enforcement in targeted areas. Code
inspectors, local police officers, and anti-gang
officers are consulted during various stages of
FALCON investigations, and FALCON city attorney
personnel research the legal aspects of search and
seizure, issues relating to regulatory enforcement,
and the filing of criminal and civil actions.
Attorneys also tailor probation conditions to
prohibit convicted narcotics dealers from returning
to targeted areas.

Evaluating Nuisance Remedies. FALCON city attorneys
and police officers examine possible remedies such
as voluntary abatement, civil abatement, property
seizure and forfeiture, and criminal prosecution.
To determine which remedies will be most effective
in abating particular nuisances, city attorneys and
investigating officers review investigative
packages containing narcotics-related crime,
arrest, and property reports linked to nuisance
properties as well as property title reports,
zoning ordinances and variances, business and
operating licenses, and property owners' other real
property assets. 

Notifying Property Owners. As required by the
California Health and Safety Code, FALCON city
attorneys notify property owners of all relevant
narcotics activities associated with particular
properties and of the legal sanctions that may be
imposed.

Conducting Property Owner Hearings. FALCON
personnel compile comprehensive property profiles
detailing criminal activity and deteriorating
building conditions. These profiles are presented
to property owners at city attorney hearings.
FALCON city attorneys, police officers, and the
building code inspector advise owners of narcotics
activities and code violations at their properties
and work with them to develop nuisance abatement
plans. Owners are given timetables for complying
with codes and implementing improvements to deter
narcotics activity. FALCON city attorneys also
advise owners of the civil and criminal sanctions
that can be imposed for failure to abate nuisances
voluntarily.

Filing Civil and Criminal Lawsuits. FALCON city
attorneys prepare abatement filings and review
forfeiture cases against owners who fail to
voluntarily abate nuisances at their properties.
Prosecutors file criminal cases against property
owners and tenants who fail to comply with orders
issued by regulatory inspectors.

Forming Community Impact Teams. FALCON emphasizes
neighborhood block projects, allowing the unit to
cover broad areas. FALCON community resource
specialists, with the assistance of FALCON police
officers and prosecutors, develop Community Impact
Teams (CITs) to launch multipronged attacks on
crime in targeted neighborhoods. CITs complement
community policing by increasing patrols,
identifying chronic offenders, evicting drug
dealers, screening tenants, and enforcing building
and safety regulations. FALCON develops CITs to
enhance dedicated municipal services in blight
areas.

CITs are organized around committees devoted to
particular issues, including enforcement,
enhancement, community outreach, education,
housing, and economic development. The aim of CITs
is to galvanize residents to work with government,
local social service agencies, and each other to
improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods.
CITs concentrate on neighborhood outreach,
organizing residents, teaching crime prevention
techniques, providing apartment manager training
and neighborhood beautification; they bring
government services to bear on problems such as
inadequate street lighting, graffiti, abandoned
cars, and poor sanitation. Community resource
specialists facilitate interaction and act as
liaisons with law enforcement, regulatory, and
service agencies; community groups; city council
staff; and property and business owners.

Fostering Community Coalitions. FALCON community
resource specialists work to develop coalitions of
residents, property owners and managers, and
business owners in each targeted area to enhance
neighborhood ability to regain control and improve
the quality of life. The specialists assist
existing neighborhood watch groups in identifying
and expressing community concerns; improve
communication among owners, tenants, and the
police; and provide neighborhood crime prevention
programs.

Educating Property Owners and Tenants. FALCON
personnel train owners to screen prospective
tenants, identify chronic offenders, and manage
apartments. They also provide neighborhood
beautification and crime prevention training and
resources for owners and tenants.

Training Police Officers and Prosecutors. To
facilitate implementation of LAPD's community
policing approach, FALCON police officers and city
attorney personnel have developed an LAPD and
Police Officer Standards of Training (POST)-
approved training curriculum for all LAPD senior
lead officers. These lead officers are specially
assigned to coordinate law enforcement efforts and
act as community liaisons in particular areas. The
nuisance abatement training provides the officers
with essential tools to target nuisance locations
and develop ties with city council staff and
municipal service agencies. Outside law enforcement
and prosecution agencies also receive training
based on the FALCON model for narcotics abatement.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The program's success can be measured
quantitatively by reviewing the reduction in
residential and commercial narcotics locations and
the number of police calls for service, narcotics
arrests, and drug-related crimes, as well as
numbers of substandard properties and amounts of
blight noted in a targeted neighborhood. Further
quantitative measures include the number of
neighborhood block projects completed; community
impact teams established; property owner, tenant,
and business owner coalitions formed; and training
sessions provided to law enforcement and
prosecution agencies. Qualitative measures include
survey results from residents in a targeted area,
declarations of satisfaction from senior lead
officers and community members, and observations of
improvements in the physical conditions in a
targeted neighborhood.

Implementation Problems and Successes

Initially, officers selected for the FALCON program
had received training only in traditional law
enforcement techniques. The FALCON approach
required officers to learn narcotics abatement
procedures in the context of a neighborhood-based
drug control strategy. As officers developed
expertise in the FALCON methodology, they also
gained tenure and became eligible for promotion
within LAPD. Under the current LAPD organizational
structure, officers are required to transfer to a
new assignment upon promotion. This systemic
turnover creates a need for continual training of
new officers.

FALCON is a comprehensive effort involving three
separate agencies. Initially, the distinct
organizational hierarchies presented coordination
difficulties, which required changes in operating
procedures.

The program was also hindered by a lack of relevant
legislation. FALCON staff and supporters were
obliged to draft legislation and lobby for its
approval in the local and State legislatures. These
laws covered trespassing and loitering with the
intent to commit a drug-related offense.

Additionally, FALCON has been unable to assist many
geographic areas within the city due to limited
staffing and the lengthy time commitments required
for neighborhood revitalization projects. A recent
citywide survey resulted in 154 requests for FALCON
block projects. Personnel allocations prevent
FALCON from undertaking more than two block
projects and numerous site-specific locations at
any given time.

Successes and Accomplishments

From January 1991 through June 1995 the FALCON
program identified and reviewed 2,505 properties
referred for possible abatement and initiated 1,052
investigations. Of these investigations, 854
resulted in successful abatements through arrests,
service of search warrants, code enforcement,
building demolition, property owner management
training, evictions, hearings, and civil or
criminal proceedings. FALCON personnel are
monitoring most of the remaining properties for
voluntary abatement. Eleven neighborhood block
projects and community impact teams, representing
nearly 7,000 residential units, were established.

More than 500 training sessions were conducted for
community groups, LAPD and other law enforcement
personnel, and prosecutors. Training manuals on
narcotics abatement procedures, abatement
pleadings, and real property forfeitures were
prepared and distributed to more than 500 law
enforcement, prosecutorial, and other municipal
agencies. The forfeiture manual was accepted for
publication and distribution by the U.S. Department
of Justice, National Criminal Justice Reference
Service (NCJRS). In addition, FALCON collaborated
on the publication What You Need to Know About
Gangs and Drugs: A Handbook for Property Owners in
Los Angeles.

Nearly 250 hearings with owners and managers of
targeted properties were conducted, and 1,563
followup visits were made to evaluate compliance.
Six injunctions were obtained subsequent to the
filing of narcotics abatement lawsuits, and 23
FALCON-initiated matters filed by the U.S.
Attorney's Office resulted in Federal asset
forfeiture.

FALCON has received national and local recognition
for its creative neighborhood revitalization
strategies. Presidents Clinton and Bush have both
praised FALCON. The program has also been commended
by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and was
nominated for the Webber Seavey Award for Quality
in Law Enforcement and the Helen Putnam California
Cities Award of Excellence. In 1992, FALCON
received a commendation from the Los Angeles City
Council for its exemplary work in revitalizing the
Lanark Park area, formerly notorious for drug
dealing. Additionally, FALCON has received the Los
Angeles City Quality and Productivity Commission's
Productivity Improvement Award for the past 2
years. Results from resident surveys and
declarations of satisfaction from senior lead
officers and community members also attest to the
program's success.

Prospects for Replication

FALCON has been recognized for its ability to
produce lasting results. Police and prosecution
agencies from a number of cities have sent
representatives to Los Angeles for training from
FALCON personnel. Other agencies have requested and
received copies of FALCON's training manuals so
they can develop programs based on the FALCON
model. Several cities have replicated all or
significant components of the FALCON program.

The prospects for replicating the FALCON program
are excellent. Its common sense approach is easily
duplicated by jurisdictions willing to commit
existing resources, including police officers,
prosecutors, community organizers, code inspectors,
and other municipal service providers. The
participation of local governmental agencies,
citizens, and community-based organizations is
necessary for FALCON's neighborhood-based 
drug control strategy.

A police department policy requiring each officer
to commit time to the program with the opportunity
for promotion within the program tends to bolster
success. Program organizers considering replicating
the FALCON model must examine the availability of
civil and criminal nuisance abatement remedies in
their jurisdictions. They must also determine which
government legal counsel is authorized to initiate
abatement proceedings. Implementing a maintenance
program after the initial narcotics nuisance
problem is solved helps ensure that the problem
does not return. Police officers and community
members must be vigilant to prevent illegal
activity from returning to the neighborhood.

Contact Information

Lieutenant Jerry Szymanski
Officer in Charge
FALCON Narcotics Abatement Unit
1645 Corinth Avenue
Room 107
West Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-575-8910
310-575-8920 fax

Mary Clare Molidor
Supervising Assistant City Attorney
FALCON Narcotics Abatement Unit
1645 Corinth Avenue
Room 107
West Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-575-8500
310-575-8546 fax

------------------------------

Colorado

Adolescence Cognitive Healing Program

Statement of the Problem

The Southern Ute Tribe has limited resources and
treatment options available to deal with
problematic Indian youth. Substance abuse by Indian
youth residing on the Southern Ute Indian
reservation continues to be an area of great
concern due to its excessive nature and the high
level of tolerance exhibited by youth as young as
13 years of age. Substance abuse, limited problem-
solving skills, and dysfunctional families appear
to have a direct effect on a youth's willingness
and ability to modify his or her behavior patterns
to experience educational undertakings in a
positive and beneficial manner and to avoid
criminal or destructive actions which can often
lead to serious involvement with the criminal
justice system.

In the absence of a highly structured environment
such as detention, the Indian youth who are
adjudicated as delinquents often demonstrate no 
inclination to modify their behavior or to address
the underlying issues  resulting in court
involvement. Local treatment programs normally 
utilized in an attempt to divert Indian youth from
detention have proven  ineffective in the vast
majority of cases. Limited funding and the desire
to avoid removing Indian youth from their homes to
a detention facility in  Blanding, Utah, have
severely restricted the rehabilitative options
available to the Southern Ute Tribal Court. 

The Adolescence Cognitive Healing Program
effectively deals with problematic issues relating
to alcohol and substance abuse by Indian youth. The
program reduces the need to detain Indian youth and
provides benefits to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe
by reducing the number of adults requiring
incarceration in the future through the stopping of
negative behavior during youth.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of this program is to provide delinquent
Indian youth between the ages of 13 and 18 with
cognitive skills and programs that help reduce or
eliminate the need for detention. Research
indicates that recidivism is reduced when youth
successfully complete an appropriate cognitive
restructuring program. The Adolescence Cognitive
Healing Program focuses not only on reducing the
recidivism rate among Indian youth but also on
diverting Indian youth from reaching the stage
where formal adjudicatory proceedings are required.
To accomplish these goals the following objectives
are necessary: 

o Reduce and prevent drug and alcohol abuse.

o Heal the internal wounds of Indian youth. 

o Build self-esteem, creativity, patience,
confidence, and problem-solving skills in each
youth. 

o Reunite youth with their culture through planned
activities.

o Divert high-risk youth from involvement with the
juvenile justice system.

Program Components

The Adolescence Cognitive Healing Program is
administered through the tribal court and serves
nine Indian youth at a time. These youth have
either been adjudicated as delinquents by the
Southern Ute Tribal Court and are currently being
held in detention, are subject to possible future
detention, or are determined to be at risk for
future involvement with the justice system. The
program collaborates with various departments such
as tribal education, probation, school, and social
service as well as the Tribal Council and utilizes
tribal members to teach program sessions.

The Adolescence Cognitive Healing Program offers
counseling, artistic endeavors, traditional
sessions, and educational field trips for Indian
youth who participate in a total of 36 hours of
sessions. Discussion topics include violence, death
and grieving, enhancing tradition through
education, cultural awareness, self-esteem, alcohol
and substance abuse, patience, herbs that heal,
horticulture, and the Annual Bear Dance. Hands-on
experiences are also used and may include some of
the following programs.

Art Work. This session teaches patience through
beading and emphasizes that artwork expresses what
an individual feels and who he or she is. Youth
complete beadwork using bright colors, which
symbolize happy tones and a happy life.

Storytelling. Traditions and information about
cultural events and ceremonies are passed down by
elderly tribal members through stories that
emphasize their meanings and importance. Elders
teach the youth how to build these traditions into
their lives.

Healing Through Herbs. Many youth turn to alcohol
to "heal their pain." This session teaches the
youth how to bring themselves closer to their inner
selves by giving them confidence in knowing that
they can use herbs to heal themselves naturally
rather than alcohol and drugs. 

Shape Up Program. This program includes a session
offered by the Colorado Department of Corrections
at the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility.
Selected youth are taken to the facility to be
exposed to the reality of prison life through
discussions with inmates. A second field trip to
the facility requires parental accompaniment and
involvement. 

Field Trip to The Home of Sam English, Sr. Youth
experience art and learn about an Indian artist's
experience with alcoholism. The use of art as a
form of expression is emphasized to keep youth from
turning to drugs and alcohol.

Camping Out Trips. Youth use the following cultural
traditions during the trip: tepee setup, hunting,
horticulture, nature hikes, horseback riding,
cooking, and storytelling. The purpose of the trip
is for youth to enjoy the environment and
experience the land around them. At the conclusion
of the trip, youth are expected to use skills they
learned to find their way back home. This activity
requires self-confidence and assertiveness to make
decisions in order to return home.

Talking Circle. This activity offers the
opportunity for youth to express themselves and
discuss their problems. The talking circle takes
place in a natural setting, usually during a
camping trip.

All program activities are inner related and focus
on teaching youth self-confidence, patience,
assertiveness, creativity, and the use of
traditions to help them cope with their problems
and lead positive lives.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The program measures its success based on the
following indicators: (1) a comparative study based
on the behavioral changes in the program
participants, (2) recidivism rates, (3) number of
traditional skills taught to youth, (4) evaluations
of artistic projects, (5) number of youth diverted
from adjudication, (6) tribal council feedback, and
(7) number of youth successfully completing the
program.

Implementation Problems and Successes

A lack of available resources such as
transportation, equipment, and materials was an
implementation problem. In some cases it was
difficult to achieve parental involvement because
many parents did not want to admit or show their
problems to others in the tribe. Some parents are
alcoholics and substance abusers, which creates a
bad environment and poor role models for the youth.
To counteract this, the program tries to expose the
youth to positive role models throughout all
activities. The program also hopes to involve past
program participants to act as mentors to the youth
currently involved in the program.

Successes and Accomplishments

There were positive responses from the counselor,
the probation department, the youth and their
families, and the Tribal Council. The  program
expanded youth cultural awareness through various
hands-on experiences. To date, only one of the
youth has reoffended and is involved in the
judicial system. The youth in the program have many
negative issues to deal with in their personal
lives. The program can only hope that the teachings
will provide guidance to resolve these difficult
issues.

Prospects for Replication

To replicate the Adolescence Cognitive Healing
Program, traditional and nontraditional teachings
must be designed to enhance a youth's natural
creative abilities, build self-esteem and cultural
awareness, and support a positive approach to life.
Appropriate programming for minority youth and
gender-specific services are recommended. The
program should also make use of community members
in all aspects of program development from planning
through implementation.

Contact Information

Elaine Newton
Tribal Judge
Southern Ute Indian Tribe
P.O. Box 737
Ignacio, CO 81137
970-563-0100
970-563-0396 fax

------------------------------

District of Columbia

Public Housing Orchestra Program

Statement of the Problem

The District of Columbia has long struggled with
violent and drug-related crime. According to
research by the Metropolitan Police Department,
overall crime increased 9 percent between 1989 and
1993. During that period, rapes and assaults
increased 74.2 percent and 55.9 percent,
respectively. The department also reported that
homicides increased markedly in the 1980s and have
failed to recede. Crime has had a dramatic effect
on the city's public and assisted housing
population.

Children and youth who reside in public housing and
lower income communities are continually exposed to
drugs and violence. Violence has become an everyday
occurrence for these residents. Without constructive 
activities to turn to, these children have little 
hope of changing their predicament. Middle-and 
upper-class neighborhoods may face similar
obstacles on a smaller scale, but children growing
up in these communities have greater opportunities
for education and advancement. In contrast, young
people in public housing and lower income
communities do not have the same educational and
enrichment opportunities. Their economic situation
can change the focus of their goals from academic
and professional growth to mere survival. For
example, according to the Department of Public and
Assisted Housing's (DPAH's) 1995 demographic 
statistics, the average household income for 
families in public housing is $8,132, which 
provides families only with bare living
essentials such as food, clothing, and medical
expenses.

DPAH has undertaken projects that provide youth
with activities such as organized sports and
recreational programs that expand children's minds,
enhance their natural abilities, and directly
address the social ills existing in the city's
public housing developments. The Levine School of
Music has worked closely with DPAH in the planning
and implementation of the Public Housing Orchestra
(PHO) Program.

Music should be viewed as a tool to spark
children's imaginations, build self-esteem and
feelings of self-worth, promote chances for social
interaction, and provide a useful outlet that can
transport a youngster away from a life of violence
and hardship to a life of greater hope and
opportunity. Organized recreational and cultural
activities have proven successful in deterring drug
use, crime, and violent activity. Further, the
skills that the Levine School's PHO Program promote, 
including self-motivation, discipline, and
socialization, serve youngsters not only on a
short-term basis, but throughout their lives.

Goals and Objectives

The primary goal of the PHO Program is to turn
young people away from the temptations of drug
abuse, gangs, and violence and involve them in more
constructive, meaningful, and productive activities
that develop creative abilities, build self-esteem,
and nurture a sense of empowerment and self-worth.

Program objectives are to:

o Provide positive and constructive alternatives
for at-risk youth.

o Provide opportunities for at-risk youth to
acquire specific skills, a sense of mastery,
personal fulfillment, and the discipline that
accompanies music activities.

o Increase the number of children from minority
communities and lower income families who receive
music instruction at early ages and introductory
levels.

o Provide children with effective and dynamic
artistic role models through direct experiences
with musicians from diverse cultural, ethnic, and
international backgrounds.

o Provide potential professional skill development
for youth and expand employment opportunities for
public housing residents.

o Improve the public image and perception of public
housing communities.

Program Components

Music instruction is provided at the Frederick
Douglass Center year round to students in groups of
four for 40-minute sessions. Each child receives
lessons once per week September through May and
twice per week July and August. Clarinet, piano,
saxophone, violin, early childhood music, and vocal
classes are offered to students ages 5 through 18.

Music instruction is also provided at the Holy
Comforter School to groups of four students for 
40-minute sessions once per week September through
May. Violin, viola, cello, percussion, trombone,
trumpet, and vocal classes are given to students
ages 5 through 18. 

Summer Music and Arts Camp takes place July and
August half-days for 4 weeks. Thirty students in
grades 3 through 6 are involved in instrument
sampler (introduction to four instruments), voice,
dance, percussion, instrument making, and visual
arts. Youth ages 12 to 15 serve as apprentices to
the younger children.

Three recitals occur each year during winter,
spring, and summer on public housing properties or
at other program sites.

Members of the Kinara Quartet, a very talented and
dedicated Washington-based African-American string
quartet, serve as instructors and artist mentors in
the program. A large portion of the Quartet's
repertoire includes music written by African-
American composers. The Kinara Quartet members and
5 other African-American artists provide musical
instruction and mentorship at the 2 sites and
perform 10 concerts during the year at public
housing properties and other community venues.

The Pre-Orchestra Training Program involves early
childhood music classes that provide children the
opportunity for self-expression and self-discovery
through movement, improvisation, playing of simple
percussion instruments, and singing. This program
is provided to children ages 18 months to 7 years
so that when the children are ready to channel
their musical interest, they will be integrated
into the PHO Program. Students are drawn from child
care centers and the neighborhood, all within
walking distance to the Frederick Douglass Center.

The purpose of the Minority Teacher Training in
Early Childhood Music Program is to train teachers
and caregivers who are not musicians about
developing children's learning through music and
movement so that these media may be included in
their lives on a daily basis. This is an expansion
of Levine's ongoing Early Childhood Teacher
Training Program, which includes scholarships for
minority candidates who currently work or plan to
work in a child care or caregiver position.

The curriculum is fashioned in sequential stages
beginning with introduction to instrument technique, 
musical notation, style, and interpretation. 
Students are expected to progress to the best of 
their individual abilities from elementary to 
advanced levels, to perform in ensembles, and, 
within 1 to 2 years, to perform in an orchestra. 
Each student's skill development is evaluated by 
Levine faculty members throughout their musical and 
artistic studies.

Daily attendance records are maintained on each
student in the program. Two consecutive absences
result in a telephone call from the staff. If there
is no telephone in the home, either a relative or
neighbor is contacted and/or a letter or visit to
the home occurs. Three absences within the context
of a semester initiate a parent-teacher conference
at which the reasons for the absences are discussed
and appropriate measures are determined.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The Levine School expects that the PHO Program will
annually provide 75 to 90 young people 
(approximately 95 percent will be African American)
between the ages of 5 and 18 with comprehensive
musical instruction, opportunities to attend
professional performing arts events, artist
mentoring, and performance opportunities. The
artistic, musical, disciplinary, and technical
skills taught will serve program participants for
as long as they choose to continue their studies.
Further, the program will nurture socialization and
developmental skills.

Appropriate indicators for the success of the
program include participant attendance and length
of study as well as professional evaluation of
students' skill development and willingness to
actively participate in program activities.
Furthermore, Levine faculty and administrators will
follow the personal and academic progress of
participating students. Students and their
instructors will be surveyed to determine the
effects of the PHO Program in reducing students'
engagement in crime and drug activity.

Faculty, administrative staff, and board members at
the Levine School, along with participating
community organizations, will continue to evaluate
the PHO Program in terms of student attendance,
skill development, performance, peer response/
feedback, and the overall impact of the program on 
participants' lives.

Implementation Problems and Successes

One major programmatic shift occurred in the
program's first year. Originally, Levine planned to
bring all program participants to the main campus
in Georgetown. However, this concept was
unrealistic for two reasons. First, the facility is
not easily accessible by public transportation.
Second, busing numerous participants would have
been logistically and financially unrealistic.
Levine staff worked with the Department of Public
and Assisted Housing as well as other District
housing providers to identify ideal sites for
instruction in the students' communities.

Because of building renovations, the second
community site at the Eastern Branch Boys and Girls
Club facility was not available for classes in
February and March 1995. It closed abruptly,
causing the program to be temporarily suspended
until a new location was secured. Lessons started
again in April, and students from that site were
transported by a rented bus to the Levine School
once a week until the close of the semester in May
1995. In June 1995, a church-affiliated school,
Holy Comforter, was selected as the site to
continue this portion of the program. It is in
close proximity to the Eastern Branch facility. The
Holy Comforter facility offers greater flexibility
and space to maintain and expand the program in the
near future. The program did not experience great
student attrition because of the move.

Major challenges include maintaining a presence
within DPAH. As the political landscape changes, it
will remain a continual challenge to keep new
staffers informed about the project.

Managing the program's development from paper to
reality was a challenging process. Much has been
learned about logistics, institutional staff
changes with DPAH, and managing broad cultural
perspectives.

Securing an authentic relationship and interchange
between the programs in public housing communities
and the main campus has also been a challenge.
Levine's philosophy of inclusion is often difficult
in its actualization, especially when it involves a
complex program such as this one.

Successes and Accomplishments

At the Frederick Douglass Center there was 98-
percent retention of students finishing classes in
June and returning in September 1994. Students
arrive early and sometimes stay for the later
class. The children attend class regularly and are
progressing with their skill development. Students
who attend class consistently are allowed to take
their instruments home on a regular basis, and not
one instrument has been lost or stolen.

Staff at the community sites are extremely
accommodating, helpful, courteous, and proud of the
program and its effect on the center. The teachers
are very pleased and positive about the students'
progress and attentiveness. The mentor portion of
the program has been manifested through the bond
that has developed between teachers and students.
Teachers talk with students outside the classroom
and some have even taken students, on their free
time, to various cultural events.

The Kinara Quartet has had a positive impact on the
program. Since May 1994, the quartet has performed
in the community once a month in such sites as
public housing properties, the Sumner Museum for
D.C. public school students, and retirement
communities. They have also performed twice in the
Foyer Concert Series at the Kennedy Center and were
featured performers at the Corcoran Gallery for the
"I Have a Dream" Foundation Gala in May 1995. Two
members of the quartet were involved in a
composers' workshop featuring two of America's
foremost African-American composers, George Walker 
and Hale Smith. Four PHO faculty members coached 
Levine's PAL (Partners and Levine) Program students 
in a workshop at Levine in February 1995. In 
addition, Kinara Quartet members have received 
ensemble coachings since June 1994 with renowned 
conductor Michael Morgan, who is artistic adviser 
to the PHO Program.

Levine's mission of excellence and accessibility is
being significantly advanced through the expansion
of its community outreach programs. Children living
in traditionally underserved areas continue to be
introduced and exposed to music as a much-needed
and vital form of self-expression. Music is more
accessible to them at critical developmental stages
in several communities not previously a part of
Levine's targeted community. Also, a real connection 
is being made between the artists/teachers and 
public housing neighborhoods. Children who otherwise 
might not be able to afford music lessons are 
introduced to music in various forms without cost 
being an issue. Children are experiencing positive 
reinforcement with the introduction of different 
styles of music to their lives and are obtaining a 
sense of focus, discipline, and self-esteem through 
creative expression. Neighbors and neighborhoods 
have the opportunity to see and experience the 
creative process happening where they live.

The PHO Program, its students, and the Kinara
Quartet have been featured on nationally
broadcasted National Public Radio's "Performance
Today" and on the local Public Broadcasting System
(PBS) radio station, WAMU-FM. In addition, the
program was the subject of a feature article, with
photographs, published in the Washington Post on
July 27, 1995.

Three community recitals have taken place, with
attendance by community members and government
officials, including representatives from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Prospects for Replication

Replication of the PHO Program is definitely
possible if the programs reflect and include the
communities they serve and understand how vital it
is to incorporate the needs and desires of the
targeted community and its population. Without
their involvement and cooperation, programs cannot
work to everyone's advantage. Also, program staff
should realize and understand how to manage the
evolution of a program's development from paper to
process in order to best serve the needs and
interests of the recipients, the provider of the
service, and the funders. In order to have a
lasting and positive impact on the community, a
continued presence of the founding music school is
needed over an extended period of time to forge a
stronger bond with the students and the community.

Contact Information

JoAnn M. Williams
Director of Outreach Programs
Levine School of Music
1690 36th Street NW.
Washington, DC 20007-2391
202-337-2227
202-337-2268 fax

------------------------------

Florida

The Eckerd Family Youth Alternatives, Inc., 
Re-Entry Program

Statement of the Problem

A longstanding concern in the juvenile corrections
field has been the failure of correctional
facilities to reduce the recidivism rates for
substantial numbers of juvenile offenders coming
out of secure commitment programs. Variables
identified as contributing to this problem include
youth moving from highly structured, supervised
environments to the unstructured community; lack of
community intervention services; home environments
plagued by high levels of violence, chaos, and
dysfunction; substance abuse; poor educational
services; and high dropout rates.

Eckerd Family Youth Alternatives, Inc., a private,
nonprofit corporation, contracts with the Florida
Department of Juvenile Justice to operate one of
the State's training schools, the Eckerd Youth
Development Center (EYDC), in Okeechobee, Florida.
Created because of a belief that traditional
aftercare services were inadequate to address the
needs of youth, EYDC expanded its contract with the
State in 1985 to operate its own aftercare
services.

Goals and Objectives

A cornerstone of the Eckerd philosophy is that
institutional goals and purposes must have a
discernible bearing upon a youth's return to
community life. This belief clearly implies that
aftercare cannot be separated from the institution
by system or structure, which suggests that the
aftercare concept is somewhat of a misnomer.
Therefore, Eckerd considers its aftercare services
a re-entry program, the goal being to provide an
integrated residential/aftercare treatment program
for youth in which individual re-entry goals drive
treatment plans from the first day of admission to
the institution or residential program through
discharge from supervision.

Program objectives include:

o Teaching delinquent youth to behave responsibly
and to live independently within their communities.

o Developing a clearly defined effort by staff to
maintain a sense of continuance between the
residential and aftercare portions of each youth's
program.

o Placing a greater value on community living than
on institutional conformity throughout the
residential institution.

o Making parents full partners, not just
bystanders, in the process.

o Building strong, high-quality relationships
between staff and residents in which each party
accepts responsibility for the relationship's
successes and shortcomings and in which positive
reinforcement and a sense of self-worth are key
components. 

Program Components

The re-entry program's primary component is its re-
entry counselors. These counselors live and work in
the communities where the youth will be returning.
They operate out of home offices, are required to
do extensive traveling to the facility, and are
provided auto allowances, pagers, and long-distance
calling cards to accommodate this arrangement.
Because counselors are scattered throughout
southern Florida, managers are strategically
located to be within a 2-hour drive of counselors
to provide supervision. Managers also use home
offices and are further equipped with laptop
computers and fax machines to facilitate
communication with their central office support at
the facility. All staff are salaried and are
expected to work nontraditional hours, which
include some weekends and evenings, depending upon
the needs of the clients. They are on call 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week.

Upon admission to the residential facility, all
youth are assigned a re-entry counselor. Within the
first 30 days of admission, counselors have face-
to-face contact with the youth, make home visits to
the family, review existing assessments and case
files to determine the risk classification of the
youth, and develop re-entry goals that will drive
the treatment plan. Their research provides the
residential staff with a working knowledge of
issues facing the youth, important family needs,
and reasonable resources available to the youth
from his or her family and community upon release,
thereby ensuring that residential and
nonresidential goals are reasonable, attainable,
and reality based.

Throughout a youth's residential stay, the re-entry
counselor is an integral influence, building the
critical bridge between the youth, the community,
the facility, and the family via monthly contacts
with both the youth and the youth's family. Such
contacts help counselors to establish and develop
relationships that will make re-entry services less
intrusive upon release as well as resolving any
community placement issues before that time.
Counselors also provide families with
transportation if necessary and help them secure
services that can assist them in preparing for the
youth's return, including parenting classes,
substance abuse counseling, and basic needs
assistance. 

Re-entry counselors intensify their involvement
when the youth reaches the transition stage of the
residential program. The transition stage is the
time between accomplishment of the majority of the
residential phase goals and discharge. At EYDC,
this is approximately 60 days prior to release from
the residential component of the program. During
this time, agreements and performance contracts are
made among youth, family, residential staff, and
the re-entry counselor.

During transition, the re-entry counselor's duties
revolve around home visits and the youth's upcoming
discharge. Youth are allowed one or more home
visits at which they are to address family,
education, vocation, employment, independent
living, mental health, substance abuse, and
physical health. Such visits are not considered a
reward or incentive but rather an essential
component of the re-entry program. These visits
allow contact with community services and resources
and a gradual reintegration into the family. Re-
entry counselors attend these meetings to assist
the youth in accomplishing his or her objectives
and to evaluate the family or placement source.
When necessary, the youth's release can be delayed
if any placement issues need to be resolved. Other
counselor duties during the transition component
include transporting youth to appointments and job
interviews, scheduling visits to schools for
enrollment purposes, meeting with youth and family
for intervention and support counseling, attending
all treatment team meetings, and participating in
youth evaluations and the discharge decisionmaking
process. 

Upon the youth's release, re-entry counselors
provide intensive supervision and structure,
allowing the youth to slowly reintegrate into a
less structured community. Re-entry counselors meet
the youth in their communities within 24 hours of
release to review the goals and objectives of
aftercare. Performance and supervision contracts
are signed by the youth, family, and counselors and
include the youth's individual competency goals,
completion of court sanctions, appropriate curfews,
and public safety needs. Re-entry counselors also
ensure that the youth and family secure the
services they need, that the youth's enrollment in
school or employment is successful, and that the
youth has appropriate leisure time activities/
recreation such as community service projects with 
counselors. For all high-risk youth, the typical 
contact schedule for the re-entry phase of the 
program is a minimum of three face-to-face contacts 
between counselor and youth per week, both scheduled 
and unscheduled, as well as two telephone contacts. 
Contacts vary in location between a youth's home, 
school, and place of employment. One additional 
face-to-face contact and telephone contact occurs 
with the family. Throughout the re-entry phase, 
counselors maintain regular contact with schools, 
securing progress reports and being available to 
school personnel and employers for any emergencies 
or assistance. In many cases, a counselor is able 
to de-escalate situations, preventing school 
suspensions as well as motivating the youth to 
continue with his or her studies or work.

As the youth progresses through the re-entry
program, the goal is to raise his or her level of
self-sufficiency within the limits of the law. If
the youth clearly demonstrates consistent
responsible behavior, the frequency of contact may
be reduced. Any proposed decrease in contact
schedule by the re-entry counselor is first
approved by the manager. Increases in contacts are
also allowed when necessary to ensure a youth's
adherence to program standards or when the family
and/or youth are in crisis. Simply put, contact
schedules are need driven, not calendar driven.

The average length of stay in a residential program
for re-entry high-risk youth is 9 months. Once a
youth has completed his or her re-entry plan, the
counselor petitions the court for direct discharge.
In most cases, all court sanctions must be
completed prior to the discharge request.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The primary performance measure is the contract
that is developed and agreed to by staff, family,
and youth. Contracts provide information on
residence; school enrollment; employment; special
needs; and rules, regulations, and sanctions
required by the counselor or the court. Other
performance measures include number of client
contacts, progress reports, number of successful
completed contracts, recidivism reports, and 1- and
5-year plans.

Implementation Problems and Successes

Staff. Due to the nature of field work, staff have
to be highly self-motivated, self-disciplined, able
to work independently without ongoing, direct
supervision, and of high moral integrity. Special
attention needs to be given to staff recognition,
workshops, retreats, and attractive compensation
packages, including travel expense benefits. Re-
entry workers are in the field representing the
organization. They need to be professionals and to
be compensated fairly for this increased
responsibility. Low staff turnover indicates that
such requirements are being met.

Family. Family apathy and financial constraints are
major challenges. For re-entry counselors these
problems require additional attention and
aggressive responses toward the family as well as
additional counseling for the youth to help him or
her deal effectively with the situation.

Contracts and Contacts. High-risk youth are often
unable to complete all the requirements of their
contracts, due to their high-level sanctions and
time constraints. Although these are considered
unsuccessful terminations, reports to judges on
progress often indicate that the youth performed
adequately but that the sanctions were too
difficult to accomplish. With regard to counselor-
client contacts, State audits have indicated that
the numbers have been lower than hoped.

Geography. In reality, community-based residential
programs are serving youth in wider areas than the
community where the residential program is located,
therefore requiring re-entry counselors to be
deployed far from the facility. This can hamper the
counselors' ability to be onsite for staff meetings
or visits and can result in too much of their time
being spent traveling rather than working with
youth on re-entry. Creative methods, such as
substituting conference calling, faxing of
information, and buddy-system approaches
(counselors covering for each other), were
developed to meet onsite requirements.

Agency Relationships. Providing re-entry to
programs not operated by the same unit can present
unique challenges. There can be resistance from
both units to accommodating each other and no one
authority to resolve conflicts. This can be
minimized by including within the contracts
provisions that revise State policies to reflect
mutual goals and by requiring the residential and
nonresidential units to establish positive
relationships and clear expectations. Both sides
need to be willing to be flexible in making the
model work, keeping the needs of the youth as the
litmus test for all decisions.

Caseload Sizes. An average caseload of nine youth
on re-entry and four in transition is workable for
meeting contact schedules and completing other
services. The geographical areas, the distance
between the youth supervised by a counselor, the
distance between the counselor and the facilities
the counselor was assigned to, and the time devoted
to paperwork and court appearances all had to be
considered when determining caseload. There also
needed to be a method for controlling numbers so
the re-entry program could adequately provide its
services. While continuity of service is best
achieved when re-entry takes on the case from day 1
to completion, a carefully controlled process for
transferring cases should be in place in the event
it is needed.

Funding. Adequate funding needs to be available.
Counselors need significant compensation or the
program will suffer from poor staff quality,
burnout, and high turnover. There should be an
equitable auto allowance if staff use their own
vehicles, or dependable leased vehicles with
maintenance agreements. A heavy concentration of
youth in one area will change over short periods of
time. However, it is impractical and unreasonable
to relocate staff over these short periods. To
compensate in these per diem areas, the program
accepts youth from other programs who reside in the
particular catchment areas.

Successes and Accomplishments

Since 1985, the Eckerd Re-Entry Program has been
providing aftercare  services to youth being
released from EYDC. Throughout the residential
component, the program has met with large success
in providing and integrating its own aftercare,
managing accountability, and supervising the
program in general. In the 10 years of the
program's operation, it has gone from serving 176
EYDC youth to more than 500 youth from EYDC as well
as other State and privately operated institutions
ranging from low- to high-risk youth. As Table 1
indicates, the total number of clients served
almost doubled, but the recidivism rates did not
significantly increase. Further, the number of
youth staying in school or employed 12 months after
release from residential treatment almost doubled,
consistent with the doubling of the population
served.

The program has also successfully expanded its
number of intakes and duties. In 1993, two
Department of Juvenile Justice districts on
Florida's east coast contracted with Eckerd Family
Youth Alternatives, Inc., to extend their re-entry
program to youth released from other private and
State-operated residential programs, adding almost
300 youth to the program and doubling the staff
group. As a result, the program expanded to include
delinquency case management, which includes all
tasks previously associated with the State's
probation officer, including processing law
violations, performing interstate compact work, and
supervising recommitted youth. This means that once
a youth is committed to a residential program, the
case is transferred from the State to the Eckerd
Re-Entry Program, which maintains responsibility
for the case until the youth can be discharged from
court jurisdiction or is admitted to a program that
has its own aftercare. The youth will be returned
to the State only if he or she re-enters the
juvenile justice system. Therefore, the continuity
of service for youth in these areas is enhanced,
and accountability is increased.

Prospects for Replication

The concept of implementing re-entry from the first
day of a youth's residential treatment has been
highly successful and well received by the State,
as demonstrated by recent expansion efforts and
duplication in the State`s own re-entry units. In
fact, the Eckerd model has now been adopted by the
State of Florida and is reflected in its policies
and procedures. Thirty-three counselors are
currently working in south Florida, covering half
the State from Tampa to Vero Beach. Successful
replication requires dedicated staff, strong youth-
family-counselor relationships, and a belief that
youth can return to independent, responsible
community living only when aftercare is the main
goal from intake to discharge.

Contact Information

Ron Stepanik
Vice President
Eckerd Family Youth Alternatives, Inc.
Juvenile Justice Services
P.O. Box 7450
Clearwater, FL 34618
813-461-2990
813-442-5911 fax

Holly F. Ventrano
Re-Entry Director
Eckerd Re-Entry Program
721 U.S. Highway 1
Suite 204
North Palm Beach, FL 33407
407-840-4865
407-840-4867 fax 

------------------------------

Georgia

The Atlanta Project--Public Safety Component

Statement of the Problem

The Nation's greatest domestic challenge is to
improve the quality of life in urban communities.
Despite a vast array of government and private
programs designed to find solutions, the problems
associated with poverty grow more severe each day.
There is a sense of hopelessness among poor
families and an equally serious lack of hope among
leaders who doubt that any amount of additional
funds or personnel will make a difference.

Atlanta is one of the most progressive cities in
America. However, it is really two cities--one for
those who are able to realize their dreams of
success, and one for those who lack the
opportunities they need to break the cycle of
poverty. Crime and drugs touch every life, and
unsafe streets and blighted neighborhoods are a
shared burden. Incarcerating an increasing number
of offenders and providing medical care for needy
mothers and their children are resulting in
enormous costs. Therefore, what happens in the city
affects everyone.

Approximately 500,000 people live in the area that
The Atlanta Project (TAP) has targeted for help,
including some of the poorest families in the State
of Georgia. Major problems are tearing apart these
families and  crippling the city--instability at
home, violence, drug abuse, teenage  pregnancy,
substandard housing and homelessness, lack of
health care  services, juvenile delinquency, high
numbers of school dropouts, and  unemployment.

Goals and Objectives

The primary goals of TAP are to help Atlanta's
poorest communities gain access to the resources
they need to solve their problems and to unite
Atlanta as a community working to improve the
quality of life in its neighborhoods by empowering
citizens to develop solutions.

The primary goal of the Public Safety Component is
to provide an opportunity for individuals who work
with TAP to improve their relationships with each
other and law enforcement officers, making their
neighborhoods safer.

In an effort to fulfill the goals of TAP, the
Public Safety Component seeks to meet the following
objectives:

o Establish public safety forums dealing with
violence and drug abuse.

o Establish community watch programs.

o Develop crime reports and public safety resource
lists.

o Present safety information seminars.

o Develop citizen advocacy groups.

o Develop a crisis hotline for kids.

o Implement community-based policing.

o Continue to develop partnerships with other
agencies.

o Assist in the design of community awareness
campaigns on public safety issues. 

o Implement a volunteer probation officer program.

Program Components

TAP is unique because it does not seek to duplicate
or compete with other groups. It aims to be a
unifying force, putting people in touch with the
ideas and services they need. TAP is bridging the
gaps where government and private groups do not
communicate and where different volunteer
organizations unknowingly duplicate each other's
services. TAP calls upon service groups to work
together as a team and encourage government and
businesses to cut through the red tape that hinders
change. TAP helps communities organize under the
leadership of neighbors and friends. It asks
communities in need to tell the rest of Atlanta
what goals they have and what help they need.

TAP's structure is designed to make it easy for
communities to find and share fresh ideas and to
recruit volunteers. The following areas are the
building blocks of the project.

Cluster Communities. These are TAP's most basic
units. TAP's efforts are focused on the needs of 20
neighborhoods or "clusters" in Atlanta and its
surrounding counties. Each cluster is centered
around a high school and the middle and elementary
schools that feed into it. TAP's energy is directed
into these communities, and TAP's overall direction
is set by them.

Cluster Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators.
These help lead each cluster. They are TAP
employees who are chosen for these roles because
they have lived and worked in their communities for
years. They are aware of their neighborhoods' needs
because they are exposed to them every day. Cluster
coordinators and assistant coordinators are the
communities' spokespersons and links to TAP.

Steering Committees. These help define each
cluster's message. Residents of each cluster work
together on these committees to set their
neighborhoods' goals. The committees are divided
into task forces that deal with issues such as
public safety.

TAP Collaboration Center Staff. These help the
clusters carry out their ideas and plans, and the
center serves as a clearinghouse for information.
The center's staff, housed at TAP headquarters,
consists of a cluster support group and a resource
team. The support group provides direct assistance
to the clusters on their activities and programs.
The resource team consists of senior professionals
who have indepth experience in TAP's initiatives
and related areas. In the area of public safety,
resource team goals are to foster incremental
change by the following methods: addressing issues
related to combating drug abuse; enhancing the
relationship between citizens and law enforcement
officers; providing alternative activities for
community children; educating residents about the
law, its processes, and how it affects their lives;
and informing residents about child safety and
health issues.

The Policy Advisory Board. The board is composed of
veteran leaders from TAP's communities along with
leaders representing Atlanta's government,
business, religious, and educational sectors. The
board's primary responsibility is to set policy for
TAP and to make the project accountable for
responding to community needs.

Volunteers. These are the backbone of TAP's team.
Thousands of people from all over the city have
volunteered to assist the project. They are working
with cluster residents to form partnerships. TAP's
volunteers and the residents of each cluster are
the people who will make the project work.

The resource team is designed to promote
collaboration at all levels. It is composed of 
12 coordinators, each with experience in the areas 
of art, children and youth, economic development,
education, health, housing, volunteer programs,
service provider relations, legislative
initiatives, training, and public safety. It
supports 20 cluster neighborhoods by responding 
to their needs, mobilizing the necessary resources,
and providing expertise to cluster organizations 
in the planning, development, and implementation of
initiatives.

TAP's cluster coordinators meet regularly with the
cluster support team to discuss the needs and
concerns of each community. The cluster support
team, comprising professionals in each of TAP's
five functional areas, can address each issue on an
individual basis--catering to the needs of each
particular cluster. For example, in the area of
public safety, resource coordinators can provide
resources such as inaccessible information, human
resources, technical assistance, or funds or help
the community tap into these resources by
collaborating with agencies in the community. TAP
has a close relationship with the police department
and gives it valuable community information to
combat public safety problems in the community. TAP
has applied new approaches to solving problems
associated with poverty in the metropolitan area.
The resource team is one of the unique features of
TAP that allows it to address problems in a way
that is different from other philanthropic efforts.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

Baseline data--including the number of people in
attendance at cluster meetings, community input
data, and data elements collected by cluster
coordinators and community service providers--are
gathered by TAP's cluster support team, which
provides extensive data processing, analysis, and
technical support to each cluster. Community
satisfaction surveys are also collected on an
ongoing basis.

The expected outcomes of TAP's public safety
component include a better working relationship
with law enforcement officers, strengthening of
curfew enforcement, safer neighborhoods, and
greater awareness of safety issues.

Implementation Problems and Successes

In an effort to avoid any competitive turf battles,
TAP was planned and implemented with the message
that it is not an organization that duplicates or
competes with other groups. At first, coordinators
avoided being put in a position of receiving or
raising funds. Instead it was made clear that TAP's
mission is to teach people how to access resources
that are already in place. As a result, TAP is not
perceived as a competitor but as a nonpartisan
facilitator.

Engaging community support is always a difficult
task. However, community members are the foundation
of TAP. TAP coordinators found that by collecting
data from the community via surveys, community
members' interests were sparked because their
concerns were being addressed.

Successes and Accomplishments

After 4 years, TAP's collaborative, neighborhood-
centered approach is making significant gains in
the areas of public safety, health, and children
and youth where isolated attempts and bureaucracy
have failed. The following represent TAP resource
team key initiatives that directly address the
challenge of youth, drugs, and violence.

TAP Into Peace. This TAP-wide initiative focuses on
violence as a public health issue and seeks to help
Atlanta adopt a more peaceful way of life. The
initiative was launched with a 5,000-volunteer
neighborhood walkthrough to ask residents to
embrace peace as a lifestyle and to provide them
with information on community resources to prevent
violence.

In a survey conducted during the door-to-door
campaign, more than 6,660 Atlanta area residents
registered their opinions about what should be done
to make their communities safer. This survey marked
the first time community residents had been polled
on a large scale. Those surveyed pointed out gun
control, increased police patrols, closer personal
contact with law enforcement, and more activities
for youth as potential solutions to the crime
problem.

Survey results have been shared with the Atlanta
city government, metro county governments, the
State of Georgia, and Federal agencies, including
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, in an effort to foster grassroots
solutions to crime and violence. The TAP Into Peace
initiative continues to sponsor and facilitate
community workshops, seminars, and rallies on
issues such as guns, conflict resolution, safety
education, student involvement, families, youth
violence, and peace.

In response to an identified need for increased
community police patrol, TAP collaborated with the
Atlanta Police Department in writing a grant to the
U.S. Department of Justice requesting funding for
additional police officers. The grant was approved
and resulted in the hiring of 20 additional
officers in two TAP cluster police zones.

Volunteer Probation Officer Program. In partnership
with the Fulton County criminal justice system,
this program pairs TAP volunteers, trained and
deputized as probation officers, with first-time
offenders. The program provides individual
mentoring, job training, self-esteem workshops,
excursions, motivational speakers, group sessions,
and enrollment in General Equivalency Diploma (GED)
programs. Participants enrolled in the session who
fulfill all of the directives of the court and
attend the 1.5-hour sessions twice a month have
their probation time reduced by half.

At-Risk Youth. This cluster initiative by
recreational centers provides youth with an
alternative to crime through seminars, workshops,
forums, and afterschool activities.

Future Force. This personal and leadership
development initiative was developed to assist
cluster youth in designing and implementing
community service projects. Future Force was formed
as a partnership among TAP, the U.S. Department of
Defense, and Exodus/Cities in Schools. It currently
operates in 10 city schools and is being expanded
to encompass 2,000 children.

Neighborhood Watch. This initiative makes a range
of crime prevention options available to citizens
in the targeted communities. The initiative
collaborates with local law enforcement to link the
residents to police efforts.

Youth LIFE. Youth Legacy of Intercultural Fitness
Education (LIFE) will build upon the sports aspect
of the Olympics to provide positive alternatives
for children to develop their bodies, minds, and
spirits. This initiative represents a partnership
among Atlanta's children and youth organizations,
county and city school systems, parks and
recreation departments, and the Atlanta Committee
for the Olympic Games. The Metropolitan Atlanta
Boys and Girls Clubs is the lead agency on this
initiative.

Super Stars. This culturally specific substance
abuse prevention model was developed and
implemented by the Metropolitan Atlanta Council on
Alcohol and Drugs to heighten awareness of the
dangers and potential inducements to substance
abuse for families with children ages 6 to 11
years.

Prospects for Replication

Since its inception, people around the country have
looked to TAP to provide guidance in solving the
problems that plague urban America. To share this
knowledge in the most effective way, The America
Project was established in 1992. The mission of The
America Project is to use TAP's experience to
assist other communities in their efforts to 
improve their quality of life by undertaking broad,
community-based, comprehensive initiatives. In
addition, The America Project serves as a catalyst
and center for such activities and works to link
cities to create both information sharing and
advocacy opportunities.

Contact Information

Wallace S. Woodard, Ph.D.
Coordinator of Public Safety
The Atlanta Project
Carter Collaboration Center
675 Ponce de Leon Avenue NE.
Atlanta, GA 30307
404-881-3419
404-881-3477 fax

------------------------------

Illinois

St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Alternative
Offender Work Program

Statement of the Problem

East St. Louis, Illinois, has a national reputation
as one of the most violent cities in the United
States. The city suffers from urban decay; very few
industries offer employment to residents and the
local economy is weak. Almost every segment of
local government is in turmoil as it attempts to
maintain fiscal stability and operational
credibility. The crippling effects of these
problems are compounded by illicit drugs and
violent crime. To help combat drug and violent
crime problems, the St. Clair County Sheriff's
Department implemented the Alternative Offender
Work Program (AOWP). AOWP contributes to the
overall efforts of the multifaceted East St. Louis
Area Drug Initiative. 

Goals and Objectives

The overall goals of the initiative are to
eliminate the drug problem in greater East St.
Louis and to bring social and economic changes to
the community. AOWP's main goals are to:

o Prevent jail overcrowding. 

o Provide nonviolent offenders a positive
alternative to incarceration. 

o Restore the community's faith in law enforcement
and the criminal justice system's ability to deal
with the drug problem. 

o Hold drug users and dealers accountable for their
actions. 

o Reduce drug-related crime.

Program objectives are to:

o Have 80 percent of participants complete the AOWP
program.

o Maintain an average daily workforce of 7 to 15
people. 

o Maintain close communication with the probation
system, the State's Attorney's Office, and the
courts.

Program Components

AOWP offered nonviolent offenders arrested for
drug-related crimes the opportunity to perform
community service work rather than spend time in
jail. AOWP staff consisted of two corrections
deputies (one sergeant and one corrections
officer), a community organizer, and a substance
abuse counselor. Program staff networked with
existing community
organizations to plan and implement service
projects that would improve public health and
safety. AOWP community service workers were
assigned to the program as a condition of their
court-ordered probation. The program targeted
probationers who would have been arrested for drug-
related crimes. 

Initially, AOWP sought participants who met the
following criteria: (1) had no prior prison
sentences; (2) were physically and mentally capable
of participating; (3) had no multiple-offense
convictions involving domestic violence; (4) were
not long-time perpetrators of domestic violence;
(5) had no convictions for actual or attempted
criminal sexual assault, assault with intent to
commit criminal sexual assault, or arson; (6) had
no pending escape charges or a pattern of flight
behavior or any pending felony charges at the time
of sentencing; and (7) could meet their own food
and housing needs. However, most of those arrested
had criminal histories, were accused of violent
crimes, or had other elements that made them
ineligible for AOWP participation. Consequently,
the criteria for participation were revised to
include more offenders.

Program activities that supported the efforts of
local and State agencies were as follows: (1)
cleaning abandoned and neglected properties, (2)
disposing of illegally dumped materials, including
75,000 tires, (3) initiating neighborhood
organization/beautification efforts, (4) restoring
parks, and (5) providing emergency relief services.

Much of AOWP's neighborhood improvement activity
resulted from its support for a citywide effort
entitled "Operation New Spirit." Earlier plans for
this project disintegrated because of disaster
emergencies, depleted funding, and other
organizational problems. However, through
partnerships developed by AOWP, some 25
organizations, including the State Community
College of East St. Louis, the University of
Illinois Action Research Project, and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service
(now the Natural Resource and Conservation
Service), formed the East St. Louis Area Ecosystem
Council. This council provided the coordination and
communication necessary for efforts such as
Operation New Spirit, and the program was reborn.
With help from AOWP, Operation New Spirit launched
numerous neighborhood
revitalization efforts and restored public trash
pickup, which had been suspended in East St. Louis
for 7 years.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

Performance indicators for the program include:

o Number and type of arrest by overt squads.

o Number and type of arrest by covert squads.

o Number of offenders prosecuted.

o Number and sentence of offenders convicted.

o Number of offenders assigned by probation and
outcome of probation.

o Number of offenders assigned to community service
and outcome of service.

o Number of service projects successfully
completed.

o Number of neighborhood watch groups organized. 

o Number of community meetings conducted.

Implementation Problems and Successes

During the first year of AOWP operations, it was
difficult to maintain an adequate work crew of 7 to
10 people. A liaison for AOWP was appointed by the
probation director to assist with the flow of new
participants from the intensive probation section.
In addition, this liaison assisted in aggressive
efforts by AOWP staff to convince court services to
consider AOWP as an alternative to incarceration in
nonprobation cases.

After the aggressive campaign to alert the court of
the existence of AOWP, enrollment increased
significantly. However, a stabilized workforce
required adequate equipment in order to have an
impact on the community. Initially the heavy
equipment necessary (trucks, front-end loaders, and
power tools) was loaned by county and State
governments for use in the coordinated projects.
Unforeseen problems caused these sources to recall
their equipment. The loss of the equipment required
AOWP staff to plan and implement service projects
that required only manual tools. Diligence in work
performance was demanded of AOWP workers, resulting
in the successful completion of service projects
and improved personal development of workers. These
were key factors that prompted additional grant
funding from the Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority for the purchase of
equipment. In 1992 a 1-ton dump truck marked the
beginning of equipment acquisitions that allowed
AOWP to make significant impacts on the problems of
the community. Other equipment purchased included a
20-foot transport trailer, a compact John Deere
tractor with bush hog cutter and farm implements, a
lawn tractor, and various power tools.

Successes and Accomplishments

AOWP saved taxpayers $484,488 in incarceration
costs. In 4 years of operation, AOWP crews
contributed 63,580 hours to the community--which,
at a court-designated rate of $5 per hour,
represented $317,900 in cost-saving benefits to the
community. In these service hours AOWP crews
improved more than 1,000 worksites, and the program
persuaded the city to take over various
beautification and maintenance sites that were
originally maintained by AOWP workers. Crews
completed other improvements and maintenance in
several neighborhoods where drugs and drug-related
crimes were high, and improved abandoned and
neglected properties to allow more positive uses
such as community gardens and miniparks.

The true successes of the program were the changes
experienced by the participants themselves. Staff
demanded and expected each of the workers to give
their best, which improved self-esteem. These
workers realized that they were helping to solve
critical community problems rather than creating
problems through criminal behavior. Many
participants formed their own businesses, returned
to school, and found gainful employment because of
their experience with AOWP.

The partnerships formed by AOWP staff with
community organizations also brought positive
changes to the program participants. In 1994 and
1995, the East St. Louis Area Ecosystem Council
brought a $275,000 Americorps project to the area
as well as $500,000 in Urban Resource Partnership
grants. These projects offered social and economic
changes that improved the quality of life of area
citizens. The Americorps program offered job
training, a stipend, and an educational award to
participants in return for service. The Urban
Resource Partnership grants supported improvements
to parks and neighborhoods and projects for youth
development. In all of these efforts, AOWP crews
were included as partners. Because of AOWP's
positive impact, the St. Clair County Sheriff's
Department has undertaken similar service efforts
and activities using incarcerated offenders.
Original Byrne funding for AOWP has expired, and
the sheriff's department now supports AOWP efforts
and activities under other programs.

Prospects for Replication

Replicating AOWP would not be difficult. Court
services across the country are discovering the
savings in alternatives to incarceration. Besides
tremendous reductions in jail costs, these programs
provide positive service benefits to the community.
Many of the communities could not have otherwise
completed service projects conducted under AOWP. 

Initial startup requires funding, and maintaining
adequate work crews is an ongoing struggle. Savings
in operational costs will more than equalize these
financial outlays. The rewards of public support
for law enforcement and the courts can be
substantial, especially if a partnership approach
is developed with community organizations.
Coordination among the various related prosecution,
judicial, and enforcement departments is also
critical to success.

Contact Information

Steven Saunders
Lieutenant/Deputy Sheriff
St. Clair County Sheriff's Department
700 North Fifth Street
Belleville, IL 62220
618-277-3505 ext. 757 
618-277-4213 fax

------------------------------

Maryland

Community Anti-Drug Assistance Project

Statement of the Problem

According to the Baltimore Police Department, 792
narcotics raids were conducted at residential
properties throughout Baltimore City in 1993. Drug
houses create a nuisance in neighborhoods, cause
significant deterioration in the community, and
provide a haven for criminal activity. The presence
of an intractable nuisance in a neighborhood
undermines community pride and causes its members
to feel victimized, powerless, and demoralized.
Outside the efforts of the police department, there
appear to be limited options available to address
the growing epidemic of drugs and their detrimental
effect on the community.

As a result, in June 1991 the Maryland Legislature
enacted the Nuisance Abatement Law, Annotated Code
of Maryland, Real Property, Section 14-120. This
statute gives community associations, the Baltimore
City State's Attorney's Office, and the Baltimore 
City Solicitor's Office the authority to file a 
civil action against the owners and tenants of 
properties that are being used as a base for drug 
activity. Properties may be occupied or unoccupied, 
single or multifamily units. The law was amended 
during the 1993 legislative session to include 
commercial properties and public housing.

This statute provides long-term effective
assistance to neighborhoods. This legislative
approach aids citizens who can no longer tolerate
drug abuse, violent crime, the physical decay of
housing, and the life-threatening conditions that
illegal activity breeds in a community. The
nuisance abatement legislation provides the impetus
for change and serves as a valuable tool to empower
and mobilize community groups.

Goals and Objectives

The goals of the Community Anti-Drug Assistance
Project (CADAP) are to (1) ensure that the statute
provides long-term effective assistance to
Baltimore City neighborhoods; (2) assist
neighborhoods in using nuisance abatement as a tool
to empower and mobilize community groups to combat
drug problems; (3) complete manuals for the
community, the police, and local attorneys who
represent community associations; and (4)
supplement services provided by the Community Law
Center. 

The Community Anti-Drug Assistance Project
established the following objectives to achieve
these goals:

o Coordinate the efforts of the Nuisance Abatement
Task Force comprising representatives from the
Community Law Center, the Baltimore City State's
Attorney's Office, the Baltimore City Solicitor's
Office, the Baltimore City Police Department, the
Mayor's Coordinating Council on Criminal Justice,
the Baltimore City Office of Housing and Community
Development, the Baltimore City Partnership for
Drug Free Neighborhoods, and the Citizens Housing
and Planning Association.

o Collect and review data pertaining to properties
identified as being involved in drug trafficking
for use in preparing appropriate legal actions.

o Refer properties involved in previous drug
activities to the Baltimore City Police Department
for possible lockup. 

o Educate Baltimore City community organizations
about the law through community forums.

Program Components

The Community Anti-Drug Assistance Project is
housed and administered by the Baltimore City
State's Attorney's Office. The Deputy State's
Attorney is currently the project manager and
serves as chairperson of the Nuisance Abatement
Task Force. The Nuisance Abatement Task Force was
formed by the State's Attorney's Office in June
1991. This group convened monthly to prepare the
first case under the newly created law in Baltimore
City in February 1992. The case was filed on behalf
of the Upton Planning Committee and the Provident
Homeowner's Association. This case established the
procedures necessary to bring action in the State
district court.

The partnerships created with other cooperating
agencies provide the support needed to make this
project work efficiently. The following agencies
are members of the Nuisance Abatement Task Force:

o The Baltimore City Police Department provides the
data necessary to determine if a drug nuisance
exists, testifies in court hearings, conducts
surveillance, works with community organizations,
and secures properties recommended by CADAP.

o The Community Law Center provides legal
assistance to file civil suits on behalf of
community organizations and assists in community
organizing efforts.

o Citizens Planning and Housing assists in
mobilizing the neighborhood with regard to nuisance
abatement and organizes educational forums to
enhance empowerment strategies.

o The Housing Authority of Baltimore City initiates
eviction proceedings against city-owned properties
identified by CADAP as being involved in drug
activity, provides ownership information on
properties, and assists the neighborhoods with
other zoning and housing code violations against
landlords as recommended by CADAP.

o The City Solicitor's Office helps the police
department secure properties recommended by CADAP. 

o Partnership for Drug Free Neighborhoods a
division of the Mayor's Criminal Justice
Coordinating Council, coordinates the objectives of
CADAP in its mission to invoke drug prevention
activities in Baltimore City and assists the
project with community mobilization.

Additionally, the shift toward community-based
policing by the Baltimore Police Department
complements the community empowerment theory that
underlies the Nuisance Abatement Law. Police
officers who work directly with community
organizations can facilitate the relationship and
gather the resources needed to assist the CADAP
project. These officers have firsthand knowledge of
nuisance properties and can testify in cases
involving threats to and intimidation of community
leaders. Project staff members also work closely
with the drug units within the police department to
identify nuisance properties.

The Community Law Center plays an integral role in
the development of nuisance abatement cases. This
nonprofit, community-based organization assigned
two attorneys to provide pro bono legal assistance
to bring about a civil nuisance abatement action.
These two attorneys work directly with the
prosecutor from the Baltimore City State's
Attorney's Office. Additional attorneys are
recruited as needed to assist with the abatement
effort. Orientation and training for these
individuals is provided by staff members of the
Community Law Center and the Baltimore City State's
Attorney's Office.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

CADAP's efforts have led to a decrease in drug
activity in the targeted neighborhoods. Discussions
with landlords, tenants, law enforcement officials,
and neighborhood leaders resulted in immediate
actions to resolve the problem. The indicators for
program impact are numerous--number of tenants
evicted by landlords, number of properties boarded,
decreased drug activity, and number of cases filed.

Implementation Problems and Successes

Changes in leadership, the task of establishing
collaboration among several agencies, and low
community involvement in various
neighborhoods were some of the implementation
problems CADAP experienced.

CADAP overcame changes in leadership at four police
districts by altering the program's approach and
developing a pilot project to implement the
nuisance abatement statute in a more comprehensive
manner. This special project, Operation Move 'Em
Out, aspired to handle 200 cases during a 90-day
period. The police department assigned a program
coordinator and an investigator to help coordinate
each district's nuisance abatement efforts with
those of CADAP. This team of police personnel and
CADAP staff developed additional outreach materials
and met with police units within the district and
many community associations. Northwestern was the
first local police district to assign a police
officer full time to collecting and reviewing data
on properties identified as being involved in drug
trafficking. Properties were identified by
community associations based upon their
observations, by police officers as an outgrowth of
executed search and seizure warrants, and by
citizens who had received CADAP fliers.

Interagency collaboration and cooperation were
difficult to establish initially but were easily
developed over time. Once the program was
initiated, participating agencies were very
supportive. For example, project staff fostered a
relationship with the police department that
resulted in staff being notified of addresses that
had been recently raided by the police. Utilization
of this information allowed CADAP to take a
proactive approach to assist neighborhoods.

The lack of community involvement in some areas was
due to the decline of hope and ambition within
communities. CADAP targeted individuals who
appeared to want to be involved in making
significant changes and having an impact on their
communities. Additionally, CADAP identified six
neighborhood associations and solicited their
direct assistance in alleviating drug nuisance
properties in their respective neighborhoods.
Project staff expanded this effort to include other
neighborhoods outside of the targeted areas.
Agreements were also reached with city agencies to
address city-owned properties involved in drug
activity.

Successes and Accomplishments

The CADAP team has handled 579 cases since the
start of the project 2 years ago. A total of 198 of
these cases were resolved by some form of action by
the property owner. Another 234 of these cases were
closed, for a variety of reasons, after being
investigated.

CADAP has filed 18 cases in district court over the
past 2 years. Seven of these cases were filed
during the first 6 months of 1995. Five cases were
filed on nuisance properties as part of the latest
initiative with Eastern Police District, Operation
C.A.N.N. (Committee Against Neighborhood Nuisance).
Two cases were filed on nuisance properties in and
around the Park Heights neighborhoods of Pimlico
and Reisterstown.

During the first year of operation, the project
established the methodology required to prepare a
case against a landlord for nuisance abatement.
CADAP staff successfully developed a manual to
enable neighborhood  organizations to file suits
independently of CADAP. This manual can be used as
a technical blueprint for other jurisdictions
within the State of Maryland. It includes step-by-
step procedures from the identification of a
problem property to reaching a resolution. The goal
was to create a working project model that could be
easily duplicated in other local police districts. 

Operation Move 'Em Out lasted for 6 months and
exceeded its goals. More than 70 percent of cases
were resolved. The eviction of drug-dealing tenants
by landlords was the overwhelming method of
resolution. In some instances, the problem was
resolved by police raids and criminal prosecutions.
The following categories show how cases were
resolved/closed: 

Landlord evicted tenants for drug activity 23

Landlord evicted tenants for nonpayment of rent 4

Tenants moved before formal eviction 2

Victims were in process prior to effort 1

Arrest from search and seizure warrants 7

Agreements with property owners  8

Court intervention 5

Landlords secured property 3

No documentation of police activity 42

Vacant (referrals to housing inspections) 18

Other 10

Filed  7

Total 130

Note that the filed cases are also counted under
court intervention and agreements.

Prospects for Replication

A number of local initiatives are in place that
assist in CADAP's efforts. Projects such as the
Empowerment Zone and the Comprehensive Communities
Program supply resources so that training of
community leaders and the police on the use of the
nuisance abatement statute can continue. The
coordination and cooperation among other city
agencies may continue through the Baltimore City
Police Department's shift to  community policing
over the next few years.

Contact Information

Sharon May
Deputy State's Attorney
State's Attorney's Office
110 North Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
410-396-4797
410-539-5215 fax

------------------------------

Massachusetts

The Safe Neighborhood Initiative

Statement of the Problem

The Safe Neighborhood Initiative (SNI) project
covers the residential and business areas of Fields
Corner, Bowdoin Street, Four Corners, and Geneva
Avenue in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Choice of this
area centered on its high incidence of urban crime,
the intensive investigative and prosecution efforts
within its police and court district, and the level
of existing community-based programs and
neighborhood crime watch groups.

This area suffers from high rates of poverty and
unemployment. The overall poverty rate in the
district in 1989 was 22.4 percent. Of all groups of
children in the district, 32.7 percent live in
poverty; 74 percent of Asian children live in
poverty.

Many people in the area have little formal
education. Thirty-five percent of adults 35 and
older lack a high school diploma, and only 13
percent have a college degree. Young people
continue to drop out of high school at a high rate.
Many young people face obstacles to entering the
labor market because of education deficiencies,
lack of local job options, or discrimination. Most
employed residents work in relatively low-paying
occupations.

The area has an elevated infant mortality rate,
especially among the African-American population. A
relatively high proportion of mothers do not
receive the recommended prenatal care, and many are
very young. The AIDS case rate and deaths related
to substance abuse show that there are serious
unmet health needs in the area.

In the past, local organizations that seek to
improve standards of life have operated
independently, often isolated from each other and
sometimes even distanced from their target
community. This lack of interagency coordination
has led organizations to unintentionally replicate,
impede, or even negate the activities of other
agencies. The absence of frequent and structured
communication wastes effort and encourages a
climate of distrust that undermines the potential
for far-reaching impact. 

Community leaders, government officials, and
neighborhood residents are increasingly recognizing
the need to make multidisciplinary connections
specifically among health, law enforcement, and
criminal justice systems in order to adequately
address the needs of the community. Interactive
relationships among relevant organizations provide
valuable opportunities for coordinating services
and information, thus maximizing the benefits for
the target population.

Goals and Objectives

The Safe Neighborhood Initiative is an outgrowth of
a 3-year partnership between the offices of the
Massachusetts Attorney General and the Suffolk
County District Attorney. In February 1991, the
Attorney General's Office assigned three full-time
assistant attorneys general to work with the
Suffolk County district attorney's office
prosecuting major violent felonies and gang-related
offenses. This unit of attorneys was responsible
for prosecuting hundreds of cases.

While this infusion of additional resources was
helpful, both Attorney General Scott Harshbarger
and District Attorney Ralph Martin agreed that the
problems facing urban neighborhoods demanded a
comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach--namely a
collaborative effort among police, prosecution, the
courts, probation, youth services, human services,
and the community--to effectively deal with the
escalating violence and fear that threatened the
quality of life in Boston's neighborhoods.

To provide this collaborative effort, SNI was
formed in February 1993 as a pioneering partnership
among community residents, the State Attorney
General's Office, the county district attorney's
office, the Boston Police Department, and the
Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services. The
overall mission of SNI is to bring law enforcement
agencies, community organizations, and local and
State governments together in a coordinated way
that helps revitalize neighborhoods. The specific
goals of SNI include:

o Strategic reallocation of existing neighborhood
resources to maximize impact through effective
communication and planning.

o Implementation of a multidisciplinary approach to
focus efforts on the core principles of prevention
and treatment, coordinated law enforcement, and
neighborhood revitalization. 

o Coordination of services to increase interagency
communication and collaboration, partly through the
establishment of regular meetings of the SNI
Advisory Council, a governing body made up of
community residents and top government officials.

Program Components

The SNI model has three core components: (1) law
enforcement, (2) prevention and treatment, and (3)
neighborhood revitalization. To implement these
components, the principal offices of SNI work with
five subcontracted programs throughout the target
area.

SNI's law enforcement component consists of several
innovative crime-reduction projects of the Area
C-11 Boston Police Department, and targeted
prosecution work from the State Attorney General's
Office. The prevention and treatment strand
includes the Child Witness to Violence Project, a
Boston City Hospital-based training and treatment
program serving children and families who have
witnessed community and domestic violence; the
Dorchester Youth Collaborative, an intervention
program for gang-associated youth; and the Holland
Community Center, a facility providing education
and recreation projects to more than 315 residents
each weekend. Area C-11 police also provide a
Vietnamese liaison and Vietnamese youth worker to
assist in prevention and treatment efforts. SNI's
approach to neighborhood revitalization includes
city service delivery efforts from the mayor's
office and "This Neighborhood Means Business!" a
local merchant education and loan facilitation
program. By concentrating on one geographical area,
SNI has demonstrated the tangible results achieved
when residents, law enforcement, and human service
representatives work together and strategically
coordinate their efforts. Results and Impact

Performance Measures

SNI has made substantial progress in its mission,
including strategically reallocating resources,
implementing a multidisciplinary approach, and
coordinating subcontracted services in the target
area.

Each subcontracted program has implemented a
variety of tools to measure its own performance,
ranging from questionnaires to statistical
evaluations. These data will be available for
interpretation in the summer of 1996. Furthermore,
the Attorney General's Office has created a
preliminary evaluation report from interviews
conducted with members of the subcontracted
programs. A formal evaluation report is
forthcoming, and expected results include:

o An improvement in the standard-of-life indicators
such as health, crime rate, and fear of violence.

o Growth in the numbers and substance of
interagency collaborative projects.

o Improved satisfaction of area residents with SNI
program service. 

o Improved performance of SNI subcontracted
programs.

Researchers from Northeastern University Center for
Applied Social Research have worked with a senior
police official from SNI to develop and implement
two sets of community surveys as evaluation
instruments. Researchers are analyzing the survey
data to prepare a comparative piece for the final
report.

The district captain from the SNI area reported the
following criminal activity statistics in the
target neighborhood: In 1994, homicide decreased by
67 percent, burglaries decreased by 13 percent, and
aggravated assaults by 16 percent. Overall, the SNI
area reflected a 16-percent reduction in Part I
crimes. From January to June 1995, the SNI area
showed a 7-percent reduction in Part I crimes
compared to the same reporting period in 1994.
While these statistics cannot be scientifically
linked to the activity of SNI, the dramatic shifts
suggest that collaborative, community-based law
enforcement efforts may have a significant impact
on public safety. 

Implementation Problems and Successes

The lack of identified funding for the future of
SNI poses a strong implementation problem.

Successes and Accomplishments

SNI law enforcement efforts have gleaned concrete
resources for the target community. The settlement
of a case handled by the Attorney General's Office
against the Glass Top Lounge, located in the Fields
Corner area, requires the proprietors to pay
$12,000 in quarterly payments of $1,000 to the
combined accounts of Fields Corner Community
Development Corporation (CDC)/Safe Neighborhood
Initiative. These forfeiture funds have supported
several cultural events and targeted youth
activities. 

Several activities of the Attorney General's Office
have furthered the success of the prevention and
treatment strand of SNI. For example, the Attorney
General's Office worked with the police department
and telephone company to remove pay telephones that
have been used for drug and gang activity within
the target area, and the office has also worked
with local communication companies to remove
billboards that depict violence. The Attorney
General's Office has continued to work closely with
the SNI Advisory Council and community groups,
including business and crime watch groups, to
address criminal activity and other community
issues. Additionally, the office's peer-mediation
program, Student Conflict Resolution Experts, has
been successfully implemented in Grover Cleveland
Middle School and Dorchester High School.

As part of the initiative's neighborhood
revitalization efforts, SNI has targeted abandoned
property for rehabilitation and resale. To date the
Abandoned Housing Task Force has identified 10
properties within SNI boundaries as pilot sites for
the project and has sent initial notification
letters to the owners of these properties,
launching an expedited receivership process. The
Abandoned Properties Program has generated serious
inquiries from several municipalities outside
Boston.

The project has successfully obtained funding for
many of its principal objectives. For example,
representatives from the Attorney General's Office
received a first-year grant of $382,971 from the
Massachusetts Committee on Criminal Justice and a
second-year grant of $341,314. In 1995, SNI
received accolades from the City of Boston, placing
as a finalist for the Boston Management Consortium
Excellence Award.

SNI has made considerable strides toward its goal
of revitalizing a targeted area. Project
participants report that much of SNI's progress is
augmented by the development of relationships among
SNI Advisory Council members. Enhanced lines of
communication among SNI group members have matured
into viable relationships.

Preliminary findings of the surveys conducted by
Northeastern University Center for Applied Social
Research show positive results for the community
policing program under SNI's coordinated law
enforcement component. Two results of particular
note are:

o Changed perception of area problems--a shift in
residents' concerns about being victims of serious
crimes such as armed robberies, assaults, and
muggings to concern for quality of life issues such
as loitering kids, graffiti, and public drinking. 

o Improved community confidence--a 10.9-percent
increase in the number of people who report they
never avoid going out at night and a 14.4-percent
increase in the number of people who believe it is
not at all likely that they will be victims of
property crimes.

Prospects for Replication

Prospects for replicating SNI are strong. Two major
efforts have already begun, and in April 1995 SNI's
principal offices agreed to support an unfunded
replication of the initiative in the Grove Hall
area of Roxbury. The Grove Hall project has been a
significant undertaking and has made impressive
progress. A Grove Hall working group comprising
community leaders and top management
representatives from SNI's principal offices meets
every other week. The group has defined the
specific target area boundaries and is working with
Roxbury district court judges to begin targeted
prosecution activities.

Expansion of SNI was contemplated extensively
before the initiative's principal offices agreed to
include the adjacent Saint Mark's community in the
target area. SNI principals and participants hope
that the Saint Mark's expansion will not only build
new resources and relationships but will challenge
the core process of SNI as well.

Contact Information

Sara Trenary
Project Administrator
Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Criminal Bureau
Office of the Attorney General
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108-1698
617-727-2200
617-727-5755 fax


------------------------------

Minnesota

Strong Neighborhood Crime Prevention Program

Statement of the Problem

The Payne-Phalen community is attempting to combat
a longstanding trend of increased crime with a
severely challenged economic base. Payne-Phalen is
a diverse community made up of nearly 27,000
people. The neighborhood is located northeast of
downtown Saint Paul. The far northern edge of the
community is middle class and stable. However,
approximately three-fourths of the Payne-Phalen
area is experiencing urban decline.

Much of the Payne-Phalen housing stock dates from
the turn of the century. The median real estate
value for a house is $64,000 compared to a city
average of $75,200. The housing located in the two
census tracts bordering downtown is particularly
run down. More than 10 percent of these houses are
valued at $15,000 or less. Added to this problem is
a shortage of disposable income for housing repairs
and home purchases. The median annual family income
is only slightly above $23,000.

In contrast to low real estate values and incomes,
crime is high. Criminal activity in 9 of Payne-
Phalen's 12 police grids is more than double the
city average. In fact, 10 percent of all crimes
committed in Saint Paul's 198 police grids occurred
in these 9 grids alone. With increased crime has
come fear and a lack of confidence in the
neighborhood's future.

Goals and Objectives

The overall goal of the program is to establish a
comprehensive community-police partnership that
will work toward preventing and fighting crime and
rebuilding the confidence of residents of the
Payne-Phalen community.

The three main objectives are to:

o Build a large network of strong, resourceful
block clubs to serve collectively as the core of
the program.

o Build an internal partnership within the
community through extensive outreach and engage in
effective collaboration with all local
stakeholders. 

o Build a close working partnership with the police
while ensuring that the partnership will remain
community based, community responsive, and
community driven.

Program Components

The Payne-Phalen/District Five Planning Council is
a 30-member board comprising community residents
and business owners who are elected by their peers
to serve 2-year terms. The council has established
the following 11 program elements to achieve its
goals and objectives:

o Expand the existing block club network by
identifying "hot spot" areas where new clubs are
needed.

o Increase the participation of people of color and
other underrepresented groups in block clubs and
the community as a whole.

o Increase youth participation in block clubs,
youth councils, job fairs, and other community
activities.

o Increase renter and landlord participation in
block clubs and the community.

o Encourage and help block clubs to develop
individual work plans based on interviews with
residents expressing their issues, concerns, and
expectations.

o Encourage block clubs to expand their focus
beyond crime watch to include social cohesion and
housing and economic development issues.

o Provide block club leadership training and
encourage leadership networking.

o Serve as a communications link with block club
leaders through newsletters, mailings, and forums.

o Host a National Night Out event or events to
build a stronger sense of community.

o Increase collaborative efforts between the Payne-
Phalen Planning Council and the community as a
whole and encourage block clubs to collaborate with
other community stakeholders.

o Improve community pride through cleanliness and
maintenance of neighborhood properties by
sponsoring neighborhood cleanups and other
projects. 

o Improve the quality of rental property by
providing management referral information to
landlords.

Outreach 

The community needs to continue building a strong,
comprehensive network for crime prevention. The
network educates, communicates, and builds strength
through numbers. Components of this network include
neighborhood crime watch block clubs, business
owner and business district block clubs, senior
centers, social service agencies, community
development corporations, churches and synagogues,
recreation centers, booster clubs, schools, and
parent-teacher associations.

Organization 

The Payne-Phalen/District Five Planning Council
serves as the forum and focal point for voicing
needs assessments and expectations and for planning
and implementing the community's crime prevention
program and strategies. The council, through its
Public Safety Committee and the board of directors,
serves as the voice of the community. At the same
time, neighborhood block clubs and organizations
are encouraged to work with the police, the
neighborhood council, and elected representatives
on short-term tasks and problems.

Interaction 

Representatives of the council meet with the police
on a monthly basis. Council staff and the police
work on a daily basis to resolve short-term tasks
and problems. The police attend block club
meetings, and police officials respond to requests
from block club captains directly to the captains
and to council staff.

Implementation 

The council and segments of the community, usually
block clubs, cooperate with the police in
identifying and solving crime problems in the
community. Other segments of the community not
directly affected by specific problems are called
upon as allies to assist community-police efforts.
The council's Planning Program, the council's Crime
Prevention Program, governmental development units,
and other nonprofit organizations work diligently
to facilitate sound housing and economic
development opportunities in the neighborhood. 

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The crime prevention coordinator maintains records
of meetings, forums, events, and communications.
These records are reported to the Payne-Phalen
Council and its funders. The coordinator meets with
the block clubs periodically to assess their
progress, motivating the less ambitious clubs to
meet their objectives.

The Payne-Phalen/District Five Planning Council's
Public Safety Committee monitors the crime
prevention coordinator's activities, reviews staff
records, and oversees the program's progress and
direction. This committee meets on a monthly basis.
The Public Safety Committee in turn reports to the
board of directors, which also meets on a monthly
basis. 

In addition, Payne-Phalen must report its progress
to its funders. To report progress, staff compare
the council's accomplishments to proposed
activities as listed in its grant contracts.

Perhaps the greatest indicator of Payne-Phalen's
progress is its reputation within the community.
Whether community stakeholders will be willing to
work with the council or turn to it for assistance
will depend mostly on how the council is perceived
by the community.

Implementation Problems and Successes

The major obstacles for the program continue to be
resistance to change, lack of economic development,
and apathy. The City of Saint Paul adopted
community policing in September 1992. Although a
community-responsive structure was put in place,
there is still much police resistance to this
change. Many police officials and officers pay only
lip service to the community. There are still many
sworn officers who retain the attitude that they
are the professionals while community people are
meddlers. Some police officers welcome leads from
the public but do not reciprocate by discussing the
outcome of investigations. Overall, however, the
process is off to a good start.

Community crime prevention does not operate in a
vacuum. Strong local economic development is
necessary. Many absentee landlords do not maintain
their properties or screen their tenants for past
criminal convictions. Homeowners and renters need
to increase their incomes for home repairs and
house purchases.

Perhaps the greatest nagging problem is apathy.
Some people will not join a block club until a
problem occurs on their block. A few block clubs
will not meet unless forced to do so by a specific
incident. Other block clubs will not come to the
aid of adjoining block clubs to solve an issue.
Some segments of the community refuse to see their
interest in community crime prevention.

Successes and Accomplishments

In 1994, the number of residential block clubs
increased dramatically from 130 to just under 180.
This increase occurred largely in response to a
comprehensive advertising/public relations campaign
sponsored by the Payne-Phalen Council. Components
of this campaign included billboards, posters in
businesses, local newspaper advertising, and
extensive door-to-door canvassing.

Participation by people of color and youth has
increased significantly. Prior to September 1994,
only about 20 people of color were active in the
block clubs; most of these people were members of a
single block club. By the end of June, more than
100 people of color were active. Four new block
club captains and co-captains are nonwhite.
Approximately 50 young people, ages 10 to 17,
routinely attend block club meetings. Many ask
about joining the new Payne-Phalen Youth Council
and other community and civic organizations. This
increase is due in part to an aggressive door-to-
door campaign in which fliers describing the
program were handed out. 

In larger apartment buildings, building owners were
encouraged to set up block club meetings to keep
renters from becoming the targets of drug dealers.
The council worked with social service agencies to
educate the Hmong population and increase their
attendance at block club meetings. 

The Payne-Arcade Area Business Association has been
a great booster of the program. As part of Payne-
Phalen's block club promotional campaign, more than
200 local businesses permitted the council to place
recruitment posters in their businesses. The
business association then donated money to allow
Payne-Phalen to continue renting billboard space
for an additional 10-week period.

Payne-Phalen's social service community and local
churches opened their doors to educational and
recruitment programs. Working with the social
service agencies proved particularly effective in
reaching people who do not normally participate in
conventional crime watch forums such as
neighborhood block clubs.

The Payne-Phalen Council continues to staff a
Planning and Economic Development Committee, which
conducts neighborhood planning and monitors
housing, commercial, and industrial development for
the entire community.

The council recently created a Problem Properties
Task Force. This task force helps identify
substandard housing stock and structures that
harbor behavioral problems such as suspected drug
dealing. The task force reports these problems to
the city and monitors city enforcement efforts.

Block club members are encouraged to participate in
these committees and to contact the city or local
community development corporations to investigate
substandard housing on their blocks. Some of the
block club captains serve on the board of directors
of the local community development corporation, and
others participate on one of its committees. Block
clubs are also encouraged to report behavioral
problems directly to the police or other
appropriate city enforcement departments.

Prospects for Replication

Prospects for replication are good. In May 1995,
the crime prevention coordinator spoke about some
aspects of the program at the
Neighborhoods, U.S.A. annual conference. Several
community groups in the Twin Cities have similar
programs. The neighboring community council has
borrowed the billboard component of the Payne-
Phalen Council recruitment campaign.

The program is not expensive. Costs include the
salary of one full-time crime prevention person,
rent, and some advertising. Fundraising has been
difficult, but largely successful. Most of the
program's success is due to the commitment and many
volunteer hours of dedicated block club captains.
The program has benefited greatly from the active
cooperation of local nonprofit agencies, churches,
and other stakeholders.

For the program to be successful, the crime
prevention coordinator must be active in the
community, perceptive of the community's needs,
effective in dealing with people from diverse
areas, and able to make contacts in the community.
At the program's inception, organizers should
investigate the resources available to the
community through the police department.

Contact Information

Tony Tedesco
Crime Prevention Coordinator
Payne-Phalen/District Five Planning Council
1014 Payne Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55101
(612) 774-5234
(612) 774-9745 fax

------------------------------

Montana

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Court
Community Service Program

Statement of the Problem

There are approximately 6,000 tribal members and
Indians from other tribes residing on the Flathead
Indian Reservation. The Tribal Court processes
approximately 480 criminal and traffic cases each
year, and with  retrocession the court expects to
handle more than 1,000 cases this year. Using
present trends, it is expected that approximately
25 percent of those cases will be handled through
some sort of alternative sentencing--either
community service, probation, or home arrest. 

Prior to the establishment of the Community Service
Program, alternative sentences for community
service were not centrally coordinated. Individuals
who were sentenced to community service found their
own worksites, and those that did find work were
not effectively supervised. There was no formal
method to verify hours worked, ensure appropriate
conduct, or supervise attendance. The few employers
located were reluctant to employ community service
workers due to liability concerns. Consequently,
the Tribal Court used community service sparingly.
This led to more incarcerations and increasing 
jail costs. With a jail population of 10 persons 
per day at $25 a day, the cost to the jail was 
approximately $91,250 yearly. Sentencing
individuals to jail without the availability of
alternative sentencing options was depriving them
of the opportunity to develop work skills and work
habits and preventing them from becoming useful
citizens.

Due to the high unemployment rate on the Flathead
Indian Reservation, individuals who were sentenced
to pay fines could not do so without causing
hardship on their families. These individuals were
often brought back to court for contempt, ending up
in jail and creating more expense for the Tribal
Court and the jail and further hardship on the
families. There is a continuing need for the
Community Service Program and other alternative
sentencing options.

Goals and Objectives

The goals of the Community Service Program are to:

o Provide a sentencing alternative to the Tribal
Court, courts of other jurisdictions, and other
programs.

o Provide a sentencing alternative to defendants in
lieu of incarceration, payment of fines, and other
fees.

o Satisfy the needs of the community by showing
punishment being carried out. 

o Provide a capable tracking system for those
individuals placed on community service.

The objectives of the Community Service Program are
to:

o Place individuals at worksites.

o Ensure community service hours are completed in a
timely manner.

o Report to the referring agency the successful or
unsuccessful completion of assigned hours.

o Track the individuals to ensure compliance,
attendance, and attitude. 

o Provide other educational and job opportunities
to community service participants.

Program Components

The Community Service Program was established
within the tribal judicial system to offer
defendants the opportunity to make restitution to
society through volunteer work. The program diverts
selected defendants and provides a means for
indigent or dependent offenders to pay the
consequences of their offenses by working at
community service sites.

When an individual is sentenced to the Community
Service Program, judges assign community service
hours based on the offense committed. All offenses
are accepted. An individual is then referred to the
community service coordinator who assesses the
individual's skills, assigns him or her to the
appropriate worksite, and monitors his or her
compliance with the program. If the worker is
noncompliant, he or she is sent back to the judge,
who will sentence the individual either to
additional community service hours or to jail. If
the individual is sentenced to jail, the amount of
time is increased.

The referral agency (worksite) designates a
worksite supervisor who is responsible for
supervising the community service workers,
documenting the hours completed, and serving as the
contact person for the Community Service Program.
Worksite supervisors arrange schedules for the
workers, orient them, and train them.

The community service coordinator serves as the
liaison between individuals sentenced to community
service and the participating referral agencies.
The community service coordinator also:

o Identifies appropriate community service
worksites on an ongoing basis.

o Interviews and assesses community service
participants' skills, abilities, and mental states.

o Places individuals at appropriate worksites
within 10 days of sentencing.

o Provides worksites with contracts and timesheets
to ensure the completion of community service hours
in a timely manner.

o Provides followup with worksite supervisors and
community service participants.

o Reports to the referring agency the successful or
unsuccessful completion of assigned hours.

o Tracks community service workers to ensure
compliance, attendance, and attitude. 

o Initiates and reviews all necessary reports
associated with the program such as probation
office records, worksite records, and court
records.

The Community Service Program offers other
opportunities to participants, including a credit
of 4 hours of community service for participation
in educational programs and job skills programs.
The community service coordinator refers
participants to agencies that provide the following
services:

o General Educational Development (GED).
Individuals take the Take Adult Basic Education
(T.A.B.E.) test, and their skill levels are
evaluated. Participants are placed at the
appropriate skill level and work at their own speed
until goals are accomplished.

o Adult Basic Education. The participant completes
a registration form, takes the T.A.B.E. test, and
completes the Adult Basic Education
Employability/Training Plan.

o Tribal Literacy. This program's activities
include developing literacy materials, training
participants, and providing published reading
materials.

o Vocational Rehabilitation. Individuals with
physical, mental, or emotional disabilities are
provided with training, resources, guidance,
evaluation, eligibility, written rehabilitation
plans, services, job search and placement
information, followup, and closure.

o Job Training Partnership Act. This program
provides practical work experience and helps
develop work habits. The program can fund a
participant for up to 6 months at minimum wage
without a hiring contract from the employer at the
end of that time. This program makes referrals to
other programs such as Aid to Families With
Dependent Children (AFDC), Salish and Kootenai
Confederation, Job Service, Housing, General
Assistance, the Tribal Personnel Office, and
Hospitality Training. Hospitality Training is based
in Spokane, Washington, and is related to placement
on fishing boats in Alaska.

o On-the-Job Training. This program is for eligible
participants seeking full-time employment in the
private sector. It targets specific worksites and
offers reimbursement of half the employee's wages
to the employer. However, the employer is obligated
to hire the participant full time after the
training period.

o Jobs Opportunities and Basic Skill Program. This
program provides AFDC recipients with education,
training, and job readiness skills. The process
includes assessment, an employability plan, and
referrals to other agencies addressing individual
needs such as child care, food, shelter, and
education.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The community service coordinator submits a
progress report to the chief adult probation
officer, the Tribal Court, and the Montana Board of
Crime Control on a quarterly and yearly basis.
Other reports are submitted as needed to accomplish
evaluation and internal assessment. Information in
these reports includes the following performance
indicators: number of referrals, number of clients
accepted, referral source to the Community Service
Program, total number of hours of community service
performed, number of placement sites obtained,
expenditures, client fee collections, and workmen's
compensation information.

The expected results of the Community Service
Program include:

o A cost-effective alternative to incarceration.

o A way for the offender to repay the community.

o The potential for further employment
opportunities for the offender.

o Development of a positive support system for the
offender.

o Provision of a sense of self-worth to the
offender.

o Alleviation of the jail population. 

o Training in good work habits and job skills.

Implementation Problems and Successes

One of the problems encountered during
implementation was obtaining worksite participation
in the program. Many agencies were reluctant to
participate because of the negative results from
prior approaches to community service sentencing
options.

Another problem encountered was transportation.
Because of the vast size of the reservation,
individuals placed on community service had
difficulty getting to their work sites on time. To
address this problem, the community service
coordinator placed individuals at work sites closer
to their homes.

Successes and Accomplishments

Some accomplishments of the Community Service
Program include:

o An increasing number of referrals from other
jurisdictions including cities, counties, State
agencies, and other tribal courts.

o Distribution of program materials to one city
judge.

o Permanent jobs for some community service
participants. 

o Continued funding. 

The Community Service Program has also produced the
following results:

o A total of 174 referrals, increasing daily.

o A total of 189 participants.

o A total of 5,891 hours of community service, at a
cost savings of $109,695 in 18 months.

o Approximately 36 worksites. 

o A success rate of approximately 78 percent.

Prospects for Replication

The prospects for replication are excellent. While
this program exclusively serves the Indian
population on the Flathead Reservation, the concept
used will fit any jurisdiction.

Contact Information

Jacque A. Morigeau
Chief Adult Probation Officer
Adult Probation and Parole
Confederated Salish and 
Kootenai Tribes
P.O. Box 278
Highway 93 North
Pablo, MT 59855
406-675-2700
406-675-4904 fax

Gene Lozeau
Community Service Coordinator
Adult Probation and Parole
Confederated Salish and 
Kootenai Tribes
P.O. Box 278
Highway 93 North
Pablo, MT 59855
406-675-2700
406-675-4904 fax

------------------------------

New Mexico

Albuquerque Police Department Neighborhood
Improvement Program--San Jose Neighborhood

Statement of the Problem

The community of San Jose is a culturally ethnic,
low-income, working-class neighborhood located in
southeast Albuquerque. The community was
established in 1830 with a primarily agricultural
economic base. Upon arrival of the railroad, the
economy shifted toward dependence on wage labor. As
agricultural use declined, property owners divided
land into smaller areas with little or no
organization, making it difficult and sometimes
impossible to reach households experiencing a
problem because the alleys, streets, and homes were
not organized in rows, creating a patchwork with
difficult accessibility.

For more than 100 years the residents respected the
land and water, but in 1982 the Environmental
Protection Agency proposed a Superfund site in San
Jose, with another site named in 1994. The
concentration of environmental pollutants and the
tremendous contamination created by area industry
has caused land use to decline and property values
to fall. The once prosperous agricultural community
is zoned by the Federal Government as a "pocket of
poverty" neighborhood. Environmental hazards,
pollution, health problems, and crime are
prevalent. All of the environmental, social, and
economic tragedies are interconnected. The
degradation of the human spirit breeds well in a
community where human life is devalued and there is
little recourse for the residents. Without a clean,
safe, and healthy place to live, neighbors suffer
from a sense of displacement and a lack of respect.

With improper stewardship of natural resources,
neglect of the infrastructure, little or no
planning, poverty, poor health, lack of employment,
low incomes, inferior education, substance abuse,
inferior housing, biased media coverage, and
victimization by various levels of society, San
Jose was a perfect breeding ground for crime.
Family problems, school problems, neighborhood
problems, poverty, and urbanization contribute to
violent crime and drug abuse as well as to domestic
and interpersonal violence. The people had to take
their community back from the polluters of the
environment--not only the corporations that leaked
chemicals, solvents, and toxic emissions into the
air but also the gangsters, drug dealers,
prostitutes, thieves, and other criminals.

Goals and Objectives

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD)
Neighborhood Improvement Program was developed to
reduce the incidence of crime and create a better
quality of life through actions in partnership with
neighborhoods and other interested people,
agencies, and organizations. The program has the
following objectives:

o Formulate a trusting and compassionate
relationship among the community, APD, and other
partners.
  
o Organize weekly community-oriented policing
meetings to address residents' problems, current
issues, and solutions.
  
o Organize action-oriented steps to lead to problem
solving and prevention.   

o Bring a greater awareness and understanding of
unique, culturally diverse communities by
interaction among stakeholders.

o Reduce the incidence of drug trafficking and
criminal activity.   

o Identify and develop strategies to ensure that
residents become more responsible for their
immediate surroundings and larger community.
  
o Use intensive, innovative enforcement to address
crime and the health and safety of residents.   

o Identify resources and establish partnerships to
improve the cost-effectiveness and ownership by all
parties involved.
  
o Participate in training, educational forums, and
committees to be part of the solution, not the
problem.
  
Program Components

The motto of the program is EMPOWERMENT:

E  Enriched community!
M  Making their own decisions!
P  Putting aside differences!
O  Organizing, organizing, organizing!
W  Willingness for trial and error!
E  Establishing relationships!
R  Rewards--A better quality of life!
M  Move--Do something!
E  Enthusiastic support!
N  Nurture relationships through trust building!
T  Taking control of your situation!

The phases of the program are community based and
consider the unique diversity of the neighborhood.
The criminal activity and culture have existed
within the neighborhood for many years. Therefore,
it was necessary to enlist support from other areas
such as the fire department, mail carriers, and
service providers such as medical clinics,
community centers, schools, churches, and
businesses, as well as from elected officials and
the Albuquerque Police Department. Other city
government departments that continue to be major
players are zoning and weed and litter.

Weekly community meetings with 15 to 30
participants provide the base in which trusting
relationships are nurtured. Oppression and fear
have been the norm for the community. To create an
improved environment, these feelings must be
replaced with trust. Guest speakers lecture about
relevant neighborhood issues, and because
presenters come to the community, they have the
opportunity to visit the neighborhood and talk to
the people that live, work, and play there. This
provides a setting in which information is shared
in a nonthreatening manner and real and lasting
partnerships are developed to improve and enhance
the neighborhood.

Area feeder schools, as well as the high school,
are an integral part of the program. Students
visited the State legislature in 1995 and organized
a  letter-writing campaign asking metropolitan and
Federal judges to impose harsher sentences.
Community center personnel and members of the
community participated in a Court-TV program on
gangs.

Correspondence is sent to landlords, tenants,
homeowners, and businesses that are a public
nuisance and threaten the well-being of the
community. The barrio is very closely canvassed,
and followup actions appropriate to the severity
and nature of the problem are taken.

The criminal element is dealt with in a unified
effort enlisting methodology that has proven
effective. Assistance from a centralized command
center is applied to the selective enforcement of
specific crimes. The zero tolerance approach is
utilized.

Keeping in constant contact with elected officials
and governmental agencies and visiting the courts
and judges in a unified effort are of utmost
importance. People with a common goal have a strong
voice to articulate what they will or will not
tolerate in their neighborhoods. Within a structure
that promotes equal partnerships, problems are
prevented, analyzed, and solved, thus empowering
the citizens. The mayor has begun a public housing
initiative in the community of San Jose, addressing
all issues that affect quality of life within these
areas.

APD incorporates the following community policing
actions as part of their participation with the
program:
  
o Training officers in community-based policing.
  
o Attending meetings and establishing a
relationship with the community.
   
o Collecting information about complaints and the
priorities of residents.
   
o Analyzing information and suggesting ways to
accomplish goals.
   
o Implementing action plans and reviewing the
results of these plans, making modifications as
necessary.
  
o Being honest, building trust, communicating,
listening, and understanding community members.
  
o Using a problem-solving model with emphasis on
resources available to the department and the
community.
  
o Eliciting input and assistance from city
councilors, State senators and representatives, and
the judicial system. 
  
o Forming coalitions to make changes that will
improve quality of life.

APD sponsored the Citizen Police Academy to provide
participants with information and insights that
could be shared with communities. APD organized a
steering committee with membership from all levels
of the community to address problems and concerns.
It also organized the Minority Police Task Force to
address problems inherent in a multicultural
organization.

The following activities are also part of the San
Jose neighborhood initiative: weekly community
meetings; participation in local, regional, and 
national policy legislation, enforcement, and
funding; marches; dissemination of printed
materials; involvement with schools, community
centers, other programs, government agencies,
elected officials, and churches; dissemination of a
newsletter; training and education; guest speakers;
written correspondence; and canvassing.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The measure of success for the program is that
fearful, mistrustful community members have formed
partnerships that have put them in control of their
own destiny. The citizens know that their voices
and actions do count. The neighborhood is cleaner,
safer, and healthier because of a strong partnership 
between citizens and APD that promotes constructive, 
safe, healthy alternatives in preventing, 
controlling, and eradicating crime.

Implementation Problems and Successes

All of the stakeholders in the program face many
challenges on a daily basis. Some challenges are
easily met, while others involve overarching issues
that must be resolved with other agencies and that
take longer periods of time and greater resources.
Short- and long-term goals must be established, and
resources must be identified. Politics, economics,
environment, and social impacts have been used to
create opportunities for partnerships to raise
awareness that the standard of living must be
improved in the neighborhood.

Initially there was mistrust between the community
and the police department. Community members felt
that the police would not respond to their needs.
These feelings of mistrust were alleviated by the
weekly meetings, which built relationships and
trust. Being a fundamental part of the process
empowered residents and reinforced their trust and
confidence in the police department.

Attendance at meetings is generally low when
nothing unusual is occurring in the community. 
It has been documented that when there is a
substantial problem, attendance increases. Meetings
are held in different locations throughout the
community, including community centers, churches,
and schools, to provide better access to area
residents.

Lack of information, motivation, and awareness of
issues is a challenge that must be addressed, as is
the fact that crime has created a dysfunctional and
unstable community. Laws must be changed, and
stakeholders must remain vigilant in fighting the
battle against crime.

Successes and Accomplishments

The program motivated citizens to take action in
response to issues that affected the health and
safety of their neighborhood and encouraged
personal and interrelational growth and development
among the agencies and organizations involved with
the program. An increase in community awareness and
commitment from involved individuals was 
demonstrated by increased partnerships among
government agencies, schools, churches, and other
organizations. APD and the neighborhood hold weekly
meetings, actively participate on committees, and
execute plans of action for the improvement of
these relationships.

The creation of partnerships among a great number
of diverse agencies, organizations, and citizens is
crucial to the prevention and control of criminal
activity in the neighborhood. Using creative ways
to fund the program, including accepting resources
from area businesses, for-profit and nonprofit
agencies, and local and national grants, the
program has realized an increased rate of service,
a decreased rate of criminal activity, and an
environment in which business owners, homeowners,
and tenants are taking responsibility for
maintaining their property.

The public housing project located within the
community is a priority of the mayor's office,
which will address the physical structures as well
as the legal issues surrounding compliance with all
of the rules and regulations of residing in the
development. Tenants are informed and educated
about their rights and responsibilities, and
classes and programs are offered to empower them
and address their immediate needs. A door-to-door
survey is used to identify and assess residents'
needs. 

Measuring a stronger, healthier, safer, and cleaner
community is at times difficult. Often compiling
data and monitoring numbers misses the improved
visual appearance of a neighborhood. It is very
important to note that children are riding bicycles
and playing on the swings in their yards; that
community centers are engaged in a frenzy of
activity full of promise and hope; and that
neighbors, police officers, and other partners
willingly attend weekly meetings, training
sessions, and committees, giving of themselves to
create and maintain an improved neighborhood. The
dedication of these stakeholders is hard to
quantify. Yet, if it is the program's mission to
improve the neighborhood, it is a true measure of
success.

Prospects for Replication

Partnerships that provide support are the key to
success. Awareness, understanding, listening, and
appreciation of diverse opinions in a nonthreatening 
atmosphere where people are in a united effort form 
the basis for a successful program.

Mutual respect, trust, patience, cooperation, and
support from residents, law enforcement, and all
partners must exist as should a willingness to
challenge the system in a proactive, community-
driven approach toward solutions. In a
collaborative effort, parties involved must
identify immediate short- and long-term goals,
devise and execute a plan of action, develop
methods for evaluation of implementation and
effectiveness, and be willing to be accountable to
one another.

Organizers must establish advocacy for the program
through the creation and nurturing of partnerships.
Each success must be celebrated to maintain
participants' morale. A better quality of life must
be advocated. Relationships should be developed
with local and national funding sources, nonprofit
organizations, businesses, government agencies,
private individuals, and foundations.

The following actions might prove beneficial in
implementing this program:
  
o Hold weekly meetings, canvass neighborhoods,
write letters requesting action on property upkeep,
and follow up on problems.
  
o Maintain relationships with city, county, State,
and Federal governments, schools, businesses,
landlords, homeowners, and youth and health-care
service providers.
   
o Solve neighborhood problems collectively.
  
o Create a Community Oriented Police Services
steering committee, a citizen academy, and a
minority police/citizen task force.
  
o Attend court sessions and write to judges.
 
o Get the mayor involved with housing projects.
  
o Keep elected State officials informed of
neighborhood events and successes.   

o Maintain relations with the sheriff's department.
  
o Provide clinics, health fairs, and "Greater
Awareness--Crime Affects Health" programs to
respond to health issues.
  
o Hold workshops on education, diversity, and
stress management.
   
Achieving a safe, healthy, and clean community is a
group effort. Everyone must work together to give
individuals an equal voice and share in a solution
that is reached fairly and equitably.

Contact Information

Dolores Herrera
Executive Director
Albuquerque San Jose Community
 Awareness Council, Inc.
P.O. Box 12297
Albuquerque, NM 87195-2297
505-243-4837
505-243-0385 fax

------------------------------

New Mexico

Albuquerque Police Department
Neighborhood Improvement Program--South Broadway
Action Team

Statement of the Problem

The South Broadway neighborhood is a 112-square-
block area in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is
Albuquerque's most multicultural neighborhood with
a population that is 83 percent Hispanic, 8 percent
African American, 2 percent Native American, 6
percent non-Hispanic Anglo, and 1 percent Asian/
Other. The South Broadway neighborhood is also one 
of Albuquerque's lowest income areas. Many
families in the South Broadway neighborhood have
lived there for generations. They are rooted in the
traditional cultural ties to the land and,
therefore, have a stake in its future.

The South Broadway neighborhood is currently
engaged in a struggle for its survival. In past
years, fueled by the presence of the notorious La
Paloma Bar, which was closed down in July 1994, the
neighborhood gained a reputation in the Western
United States as an easy place to buy and sell
illegal drugs. Ninety percent of the illegal drug
buyers in South Broadway do not live in the
neighborhood, and 25 percent of them do not even
live in Bernalillo County. The neighborhood is
faced with a serious influx of outsiders entering
to engage in illegal drug trafficking activities.
In addition, the South Broadway neighborhood has
experienced an influx of persons with ties to
California and Colorado gangs who traffic illegal
drugs in the neighborhood. With this influx has
come a significant increase in incidents involving
guns.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the South Broadway Action Team is to
engage in community policing work with the
Albuquerque Police Department and others, using
focused, nonviolent strategies developed by the
South Broadway Neighborhood Association, the action
team's parent organization. The South Broadway
Neighborhood Association focuses on crime
prevention by promoting neighborhood pride and
supporting advocacy efforts for the needs of
neighborhood youth.

Program Components

In 1992, South Broadway residents and the
Albuquerque Police Department entered into a
partnership called the South Broadway Neighborhood
Association to begin collaboratively addressing
issues of community safety in the South Broadway
neighborhood. In January 1995, with the assistance
of the Community Development Institute in
California, the South Broadway Neighborhood
Association created the South Broadway Action Team
to coordinate community policing efforts.

The South Broadway Action Team performs several
activities. The team ensures that owners of
properties where suspected illegal activity takes
place stop all illegal activity immediately or
evict the offending tenants as quickly as is
legally possible by using the City Drug Nuisance
Abatement Ordinance.

The team sends bilingual letters (Spanish and
English) to inform registered owners of vehicles
engaging in suspected illegal activity that such
activity will not be tolerated in the South
Broadway neighborhood.

Team members relay information about suspected
illegal activity to the Albuquerque Police
Department and other relevant agencies during
weekly meetings, held to promote consistency and
prevent residents from forgetting important
information. Approximately 25 to 30 residents are
involved each week in the action team meetings.
Residents who do not attend meetings can document
illegal activity and provide it to community
members who attend the meetings or to police
officers in the community. Any information relayed
to the police is kept strictly confidential and is
acted upon on an anonymous basis. The police help
to guide the organization through the legal system,
ensuring that the actions the South Broadway Action
Team takes are legal and helping to design the
means to accomplish the organization's goals.

The team builds relationships with other
organizations and agencies to leverage resources.
At the same time, the South Broadway Neighborhood
Association engages in specific programs and
projects using the theme "Help Make South Broadway
a Great Place to Live!" These activities include
rallies, sometimes in the form of barbecues, in
front of drug houses. The association also promotes
leadership development among neighborhood youth to
foster ownership and impart the decisionmaking
skills needed for youth to become contributing
neighborhood residents.

The neighborhood association is also involved in
advocacy. The association promoted the Public
Safety and Community Policing Tax, a citywide
referendum issue that will add 150 police officers
to the community policing initiative and allocate
funds for crime prevention and drug rehabilitation
programs.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

One performance measure for the South Broadway
Action Team is that community policing will see a
reduction in the number of drug houses. At the same
time, resident participation is another important
index because it reflects a sense of ownership of
the South Broadway neighborhood and a commitment to
making it a great place to live.

Implementation Problems and Successes

By January 1995, the safety of community policing
participants was a major concern. Under a city
ordinance, neighborhood association meetings are
open to all who reside or own property in the
neighborhood, including those who engage in illegal
drug activity. By late 1994, the South Broadway
community policing efforts had made such an impact
that on occasion people attended community policing
meetings as informants for drug traffickers. One
family became the focus of retaliation as a
consequence of its participation in the fall 1994
rally. Creating the South Broadway Action Team as
an organization independent of the South Broadway
Neighborhood Association, enabling it to restrict
membership and require orientation sessions for new
participants, has helped to make community policing
meetings safe for participants. 

A related problem, still unresolved, is how to take
important community policing matters to the news
media without jeopardizing the safety of South
Broadway residents. In 1995, with hopes of not
sacrificing its bold initiatives, the South
Broadway Action Team decreased its profile in the
media.

Legal protection is another unresolved issue. The
South Broadway Action Team cannot afford $3,000
each year for board insurance, so it remains
unincorporated and ad hoc in nature without public
files or membership lists. So far, the South
Broadway Action Team has been successful in talking
several lawyers out of threatened litigation
against the team. 

Another implementation problem encountered involves
the need to expand the views of community members,
including convincing residents to advocate for the
needs of the entire South Broadway neighborhood
instead of a parochial advocacy for their own
block. To counter this tunnel vision mentality, the
South Broadway Action Team instituted neighborhood
bus tours for its participants as well as frequent
reminders that South Broadway will not be a safer
place to live as long as any section of the
neighborhood is experiencing serious problems with
criminal activity. Activities that promote
opportunities for residents to get to know and
trust each other, including social events and
refreshments, have also proved helpful.

Another variation of this limited vision was
experienced by the South Broadway Neighborhood
Association early in 1995. Many association members
wanted to participate on the action team because
crime was perceived as the most urgent neighborhood
issue. South Broadway residents were not looking
beyond crime to the fundamental importance of the
work of the South Broadway Neighborhood
Association, including promoting neighborhood pride
and developing and affirming the young people of
the neighborhood. The action team needed to
maintain a core of committed participants but was
becoming burdened by the continual presence of many
new participants who often came to meetings out of
a sense of urgency for the problem on their own
block but lacked the larger neighborhood vision. At
the same time, the neighborhood association was
lacking members.

Successes and Accomplishments

The successes of community policing in the South
Broadway neighborhood continue to multiply. From
early 1994 to September 1995, illegal drug
trafficking activity was stopped at more than 50
locations in the South Broadway neighborhood
including two notorious bars, which were both
closed. When community policing first started in
South Broadway, residents did not believe it was
possible to shut down even one crack house. Now
community members expect these drug houses to be
shut down immediately. 

These accomplishments resulted from building a
collaborative working relationship with the
Albuquerque Police Department and other
organizations and agencies able to contribute
toward making South Broadway a safer place to live.
In addition, building a grassroots, resident-driven
organization that works hard as a team to help
reduce criminal activity in the South Broadway
neighborhood has been an important element of the
program's success.

In the last 3 years, this collaborative grassroots
effort has included:

o A total of 36 public rallies and marches under
the theme "Peace in Our Streets," to send a clear
message that drug trafficking will not be tolerated
in the South Broadway neighborhood.
   
o Biweekly neighborhood meetings with the area
commander for the Albuquerque Police Department.
  
o Advocacy work for the passage of the City Drug
Nuisance Abatement Ordinance, the creation of a
second code enforcement team, and the Public Safety
and Community Policing Tax referendum.
  
o Certified letters sent to the owners of at least
75 properties where suspected illegal activity was
taking place and about 200 letters to registered
owners of vehicles suspected of engaging in illegal
activity in the South Broadway neighborhood. 
  
o Relationship building with more than 30 different
public and private organizations and agencies.
  
At the same time, the South Broadway Neighborhood
Association has promoted annual neighborhood
cleanup events; coordinated field trips, mural
projects, and other activities for children and
youth during spring break; arranged for intensive
leadership training in Santa Fe for 36 neighborhood
youth; and engaged in other activities that promote
the well-being of the South Broadway neighborhood.

This work has gained national recognition. In 
May 1994, South Broadway was named National
Neighborhood of the Year by Neighborhoods USA. Six
months later, the South Broadway neighborhood was
honored with a visit from Joseph Brann, Director,
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services,
U.S. Department of Justice. Most recently, a U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
technical assistance grant was awarded for the
purpose of addressing traffic flow problems which
facilitate illegal drug trafficking activities in
the South Broadway neighborhood.

In May 1995, the neighborhood association assumed
responsibility for the promotion of the Public
Safety and Community Policing Tax, a citywide
referendum issue that will add 150 police officers
to the community policing initiative and allocate
funds for crime prevention and drug rehabilitation
programs. More than 100 South Broadway residents
turned out for a promotional ice cream social with
the referendum's sponsor, City Councilor Steve
Gallegos. Activities in support of this referendum
have given the South Broadway Neighborhood
Association a safe way to integrate community
safety with other neighborhood concerns. The
association is hopeful that it will provide the
needed transition into fall neighborhood projects,
including the creation of a South Broadway Youth
Council and a neighborhood campaign to raise
residents' reading scores. South Broadway
elementary schools have the lowest reading scores
in the metropolitan area, which translate into high
truancy and delinquency rates by the time these
children become teenagers.

Prospects for Replication

At a minimum, the South Broadway Action Team model
would work well in older, urban neighborhoods where
there are families that feel rooted in the
neighborhood; where there is still a sense of hope
for conquering crime problems; where there is the
potential for nurturing collaborative working
relationships with agencies such as the police; and
where there is mutual respect for the importance of
resident-driven, grassroots efforts to empower
neighborhoods.

The key to successful replication of the program is
organizing the neighborhood. If people in the
organization come from the community, trust is
built. Door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor
grassroots activities are extremely important.
Community members need to be educated. A bus tour
of the streets involved in the program is helpful
to give residents a more global outlook on the
problem. The organization should start small, with
emphasis on discovering what is important to the
community and accomplishing a victory over at least
one expressed problem. After the first success is
realized, the organization can go on to another
activity.

Contact Information

Diana Dorn-Jones
Executive Director
United South Broadway Corporation
P.O. Box 24252
Albuquerque, NM 87125
505-764-8867
505-764-1506 fax

------------------------------

New Mexico

Jicarilla Apache Tribe Domestic Violence Program

Statement of the Problem

Domestic violence is a significant problem among
New Mexico's Jicarilla Apache Tribe. The Jicarilla
Apaches' Tribal Domestic Violence Code defines
domestic violence as all forms of familial violence
including spouse abuse, child abuse, elder abuse,
and abuse between individuals who may not have been
married but have a child together. Before adopting
the code and hiring a domestic violence clinician
and client advocate, the tribal police department
and tribal court did not uniformly categorize cases
of domestic violence. Accurate data were not
available until the inception of the Domestic
Violence Program in July 1993 and subsequent
implementation of the code. According to tribal law
enforcement records, 134 victims of domestic
violence were referred to the Domestic Violence
Program from July 1993 to January 1994. Arrest
records show that 70 offenders were arrested during
the 3-month period from October 1993 to January
1994.

The Jicarilla Mental Health and Social Services
Department has tracked significant diagnostic and
functional data from the community including
mental-health-related diagnoses and suicide data.
Thirty-eight percent of clients seen by department
staff were dually diagnosed with alcohol or
substance abuse and a mental health problem. Sixty-
three percent of the clients with mental health
problems fell into the diagnostic category of
family, relationship, and parent-child issues,
which includes domestic violence and child abuse.

An analysis of all mental health diagnoses
determined that children and youth under the age 
of 22 represented 35 percent of the diagnostic
category population for family, relationship, and
parent-child issues. Additionally, children and
youth under age 22 composed 19 percent of patients
in the same diagnostic category.

Service providers concede that the incidence of
domestic violence is much greater than program data
reflect. Many incidents of family violence are not
reported, and victims often seek medical services
from facilities off the reservation. Furthermore,
the overall high incidence of alcohol abuse within
the community is an extremely salient environmental
risk factor. Although the impact of alcohol abuse
is difficult to quantify, health-care staff
consider it a major cause of injury and illness.

Goals and Objectives

The main goal of the Domestic Violence Program is
to establish an integrated, comprehensive,
community-based service delivery system sensitive
to the cultural needs of the community. This system
encompasses direct and support services that are
family focused and community centered to enhance
family functioning and reduce incidents of family 
violence.

The program's efficacy is contingent upon the
development of multisystem collaboration that
provides continuity, respect, and a single point of
access for families. The program objectives are
directed toward enhancing the criminal justice
system, with particular emphasis on developing a
supportive environment for victims. They include:
  
o Improving the criminal justice system response to
domestic violence situations.
   
o Refining the reporting of domestic violence
incidents.
  
o Enhancing and expediting the justice system's
handling of domestic violence cases.
   
o Developing a treatment system of family-based
services.
  
o Enhancing family functioning to decrease
incidents of domestic violence.

Program Components

The Jicarilla Apache Tribe administers the Domestic
Violence Program through the Jicarilla Mental
Health and Social Services Department. The
department provides prevention services at primary,
secondary, and tertiary levels. Besides the
Domestic Violence Program, the department operates
parenting programs; a peer assistance and
leadership program for youth in grades 9 through
12; fetal alcohol syndrome/fetal alcohol effect
home-based services and primary prevention
programs; a suicide prevention program; medical
social services; and a child abuse prevention
program.

Department staff consist of a director, a clinical
psychologist, one master's-level clinician, one
bachelor's-level clinician, four paraprofessionals,
and two support staff. The Domestic Violence
Program provides a variety of community-based,
family-focused services including:
  
o Revising the juvenile code and developing a
protocol for handling sexual abuse cases.
   
o Developing protocols for domestic violence and
child abuse in coordination with law enforcement
and the tribal court.
  
o Providing training for law enforcement, courts,
and service providers to ensure that protocols are
understood and can be executed.
  
o Providing community awareness and prevention
materials to inform the public about the cycle of
abuse.
  
o Developing data collection methods to
substantiate the problem and improve service
delivery.   

o Creating accessible channels and mechanisms for
reporting incidents of domestic violence.   

o Developing information packets for victims.
  
o Providing relevant cultural and community
clinical services to families including counseling
to individuals, families, and couples; a male
perpetrators group; a victims support group and
assistance; evaluations; crisis intervention;
client advocacy; and tribal education and outreach. 
 
o Coordinating services with community and State
resources.    

o Providing information and referrals.
  
Results and Impact

Performance Measures

Hiring professional staff and community members to
develop, coordinate, and implement the program has
been integral to the creation of viable networks
and effective mechanisms for systemic change.
Having more accessible channels for reporting
incidents of domestic violence has encouraged
reporting and decreased the rate of recidivism.
Early interventions and more refined data
collection methods should uncover additional
benefits.

The program will be evaluated using three dependent
measures: community awareness, community change,
and client change, as determined by a 6-month
followup. Performance indicators include:
  
o Number of referrals to the program and
identification of the referral source (i.e., court,
police, self-referred, or other service provider).
  
o Number and type of training sessions conducted
and participants' evaluation of the training.   

o Number of articles in the local newspaper and
public service announcements on a local radio
station.
  
o Client satisfaction survey, to be administered
quarterly.   

o Development of new policies, protocols, and
services.
  
o Development of a data collection system.
  
o Client records that include precipitating
factors. 
  
o A 6-month followup to determine recidivism and
severity of abuse. 
  
Implementation Problems and Successes

The initial number of referrals to the program was
greater than expected, resulting in a delay in the
implementation of activities such as protocol and
data collection development. Training a community
member as a client advocate was viewed by the
community and staff as an integral component;
however, due to the initial number of referrals,
the training was not as comprehensive or systematic
as originally planned. Another obstacle has been in
obtaining continued funding for Domestic Violence
Program staff positions. Lack of funding for the
client advocate position resulted in the
termination of this position for approximately 8
months, causing other staff to assume some of those
responsibilities until additional funding was
obtained.

Procedures for handling domestic violence cases are
complicated by jurisdictional issues that arise as
a result of being on a reservation. Tribal police,
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) investigators, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), State
police, and county police are agencies that may
become involved in domestic violence disputes. The
Domestic Violence Program staff have coordinated
efforts with the Tribal Court and law enforcement
to develop protocols for handling incidents of
domestic violence. However, the attrition rate
among Tribal Police necessitates ongoing training
on issues related to domestic violence. 

Another problem is that the Dulce Health Clinic is
not open evenings and weekends. Individuals seeking
medical attention after traditional work hours are
either seen by emergency medical technicians or
drive significant distances to Farmington,
Albuquerque, or Santa Fe. These distances must also
be traveled to access shelters and safe houses.
There is an insufficient number of foster homes,
and there are no shelters or safe houses within a
reasonable distance. Moreover, there is limited
access to telephones. In the event an individual is
taken to a shelter, there are no transitional
living facilities in the community. A lack of
housing within the community often necessitates
victims returning home to perpetrators. 

Successes and Accomplishments

The greatest success has been the acceptance of the
program by the community, including the tribal
leadership. The number of self-referred victims,
perpetrators, and first-incident reports has
increased. Coordination and cooperation among
service providers have also increased, and gaps in
service delivery have been identified.

Before the Domestic Violence Program, family
violence remained a community secret. The incidence
of family violence was unknown, and no services
existed specifically for victims or perpetrators.
As a result of this program, victims report feeling
protected from disclosure. With support from the
tribal council, the program has created a training
and education video on domestic violence specific
to the Jicarilla Apache Tribe. Victims of abuse
have volunteered to help other victims and receive
training. This program has been accepted as a
community effort that provides culturally relevant
services.

Prospects for Replication

This model is replicable within any community, as
long as all segments of the community participate
in the program's development. The community must
identify culturally relevant services.

Contact Information

Patricia Serna, L.I.S.W.
Director
Jicarilla Mental Health and Social Services
P.O. Box 546
Dulce, NM 87528
505-759-3162
505-759-3588 fax

------------------------------

Oklahoma

CARE Program

Statement of the Problem

The juvenile crime rate in Oklahoma County
continues to increase at an alarming rate. Data
received from Oklahoma County Juvenile Services
shows that the average number of referrals in FY
1994 was 447 per month. In June 1994, the agency
reached a high for the year with 609 referrals. The
number of juveniles referred for delinquent
offenses was 4,772 in FY 1994, compared to 3,549 in
FY 1993. A comparison of the number of violent,
weapons-related, and sex-related offenses referred
in FY 1994 to FY 1993 shows a sharp increase from
598 to 679. This represents a 26-percent increase
over 2 years. The number of female juvenile
offenses referred in FY 1994 was 841, compared to
762 in FY 1993. Of the youth who were referred to
the agency for delinquent offenses, 38 percent were
Caucasian, 51 percent were African American, 4
percent were Native American, and 6 percent were
Hispanic. The ages of the delinquent youth ranged
from 7 to 17 years. These data indicate that the
majority of delinquent offenses were committed by
African-American youth. Additional data received
from probation services at the Oklahoma County
Youth Bureau indicates that the majority of these
African-American youth reside in the northeast
quadrant of Oklahoma City.

If there is no intervention in their lives, these
youth may become the future prison population.
History has shown that the fragmented approaches
traditionally used to alleviate juvenile
delinquency have not solved the problem. The CARE
Program is committed to an integrated, holistic
approach to combat juvenile delinquency. This
approach is implemented through collaboration and
networking between the CARE Program, law
enforcement agencies, county and State social
service agencies, schools, and most important, the
communities where the youth live.

Goals and Objectives

CARE is an innovative program that demonstrates new
and different approaches to enforcement,
prosecution, and adjudication of drug offenses and
other serious crimes committed by juveniles. The
program targets the northeast quadrant of Oklahoma
City, one of the county's most gang-threatened
areas.

The mission of the CARE Program is to provide,
promote, assist, and facilitate a community-based,
integrated, holistic process that provides an
environment where the participants have
opportunities to learn necessary skills to function
successfully in the existing social, educational,
and employment settings of their community.

The primary goals that further define the mission
statement are to (1) divert and intervene in
juvenile involvement with drugs, gangs, and crime;
(2) increase the involvement of communities in
preventing juvenile delinquency; (3) assist
participants in developing skills to enable them to
be successful in their educational, social, and
employment settings; and (4) engage the parents of
the participants in establishing a more consistent
atmosphere between home and the program. 

The CARE philosophy is that all youth can develop
the skills necessary to function successfully in
the existing social, educational, and employment
systems of their community. The program objectives
center around developing and enhancing the
necessary skills for successful functioning in
today's society.

The program achieves these goals through the
following objectives:   

o Develop and initiate participants' leadership
skills and foster a commitment to their community  
and to society as a whole.

o Assess general needs in the participants'
families.

o Assess participants' current level of academic
functioning and needs for specialized services.

o Enhance the participants' awareness of the skills
necessary to prepare for employment.

o Enhance the participants' abilities to make
appropriate and realistic decisions.

o Assess participants' abilities to function
socially.

o Increase the participants' awareness of
appropriate social skills.

o Assess and increase the participants' level of
self-awareness and self-esteem.

o Assess the participants' need to develop
independent living skills and enhance existing
skills.

o Assess the occurrence of abuse among participants
and develop appropriate treatment responses.

o Be involved in all aspects of participants' lives
including school, family, and social activities.

o Meet with community leaders as well as individual
community members to encourage communities to solve
their own problems.
  
Program Components

The program has six components: group sessions,
life skills, academic skills, recreation and
creative arts, counseling, and aftercare. This
integrated and holistic approach nurtures positive
self-esteem, enhances life and stress management,
creates an awareness of obligations to the
community and society as a whole, refines social
and interpersonal skills, and maximizes socially
responsible behaviors.

Youth in the CARE Program are referred by the
Department of Human Services and Oklahoma Juvenile
Services based on the following criteria: (1)
juveniles ages 8 through 17, (2) juveniles who
reside in Oklahoma County, (3) juveniles who have
escalated to court supervision status, (4)
juveniles who are considered to be at risk, and (5)
juveniles who are currently attending a traditional
school. Intake interviews are conducted with the
juvenile, his or her family, a CARE counselor, and
the CARE director. Other significant individuals
who have worked with the youth may also be
included. Each juvenile is assisted by the CARE
staff in developing an individual development plan.
During this process the expectations of both the
youth and CARE are detailed. The development of the
plan results in clearly defined expectations of the
juvenile in the following areas: education,
community service, counseling, and participation in
recreation and creative arts.

Educational sessions are integral components of the
program. The program requires completion of
informational and educational sessions that focus
on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS, and
drugs and alcohol. Many of the juveniles are at the
age of curiosity and experimentation; therefore, a
minimum of 20 hours of information, education, and
counseling are required of each participant. The
bulk of programming hours focus on decisionmaking
skills, values clarification and modification,
behavior modification, communication skills, social
skills, conflict management, and anti-gang
education. Juvenile participants receive 62 hours
of counseling and education related to these
issues. These programs provide skills that empower
the youth to be successful in educational, social,
and employment settings. 

Each participant in the program receives individual, 
family, and group counseling. Assessments are 
conducted on each juvenile. The assessment process 
includes information gathered from the juvenile, 
CARE staff, parents, and any other individual or 
agency who may be able to provide relevant 
information.

The daily schedule for program participants
incorporates the six components of the program into
activities from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with the
exception of monitoring students' community service
as well as some recreational activities that are
scheduled during high-risk times, Friday and
Saturday nights. The program operates year round,
and counselors are available to talk with the
participants 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Juveniles have the opportunity to earn points for
their participation in the program. Points are used
for rewards such as field trips (e.g., camping
trips, fishing) and extended recreation time. 

The aftercare component strives to ensure long-term
crime-free behavior of the juveniles completing the
program. This component includes a monthly peer
support group for past program participants, a
tracking system, and a community mentor program.
All participants are tracked throughout the school
day to ensure high school attendance. Upon
completion of the program, the aftercare program
continues to track clients to provide further
assistance, guidance, and support. Questionnaires,
surveys, visits, and interviews assist in data
collection. All data are compiled for an annual
report.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

During the monthly individual juvenile assessment,
an evaluation is conducted on the individual's
progress in CARE. All assessment data are compiled
in a monthly report to monitor the project's
performance. Areas that are measured include
education, group, life, counseling, recreation, and
aftercare.

Education performance measures include hours of
tutoring; visits to colleges, universities, or
vocational/technical schools; hours on the computer
completing structured learning modules; and hours
at workshops, career seminars, and listening to
speakers. Group performance is measured by the
number of hours completed in the following program
areas: community service, substance abuse
prevention, anti-gang involvement, motivation,
decisionmaking, and visits to correctional
centers/facilities. Life performance measures
include communication skills, relationship skills,
employment readiness skills, independent living
skills, and social skills. Counseling performance
measures include group counseling hours, individual
counseling hours, conflict management, client-
parent counseling, and substance abuse counseling.
Recreation performance is based on recreation
activities hours; painting, ceramics, and drawing;
and sports. Aftercare performance is measured by
the number of contact hours after release from the
program.

Implementation Problems and Successes

The primary implementation problem was not
receiving enough referrals from the Department of
Human Services and Oklahoma County Juvenile
Services. As time passed, CARE became better known
and referrals increased. CARE also advertised to
improve program recognition and sought out clients
by going directly into the community. Another
problem CARE experienced was a lack of parental
involvement. CARE staff began going directly into
homes to conduct counseling with the parents who
failed to keep counseling appointments.
Transportation was difficult for some clients, so
CARE began offering free bus passes to parents or
clients needing transportation to counseling
sessions.

Successes and Accomplishments

Although the CARE Program has been operational for
only 26 months, approximately 175 delinquent youth
and their families have received program services.
In many ways, the impact of the program on the
community may be just as important as the number of
youth who have received services. In its short
existence the CARE Program has become well known
throughout the community. On a daily basis
individuals come into or call the center and ask
the staff, "What can I do to help solve the
problems affecting our youth?" 

Prospects for Replication

The CARE Program could be easily replicated if a
coalition is formed among law enforcement agencies,
county and State social service agencies, schools,
and the communities where the youth live. Once the
coalition is formed, a strong commitment to work
together must exist among the agencies.

Contact Information

Kevin McPherson, Executive Director
C.A.R.E. for Change, Inc.
24 West Park Place
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
405-232-2267
405-232-2271 fax

------------------------------

Pennsylvania

Public Nuisance Task Force

Statement of the Problem

Nuisance properties are at the core of crime in
Philadelphia's inner city. The following statement
from a community member illustrates the extent of
the problem in Philadelphia:

I attribute the rise in crime in our neighborhood
to the presence of this house and the activities
that emanate from it. Drugs lead to crime, and this
is exactly what's been happening lately in our
community. If this activity is allowed to continue,
it will lead to further victimization of our
community by drug-addicted predators who will scare
people into leaving the neighborhood and allow it
to deteriorate further.

Attacking nuisance properties gets at the root
cause of criminal behavior that so often destroys a
community. The Philadelphia Public Nuisance Task
Force focuses on all types of public nuisances,
from the nuisance properties themselves to the
illegal activities associated with the properties
including drug dealing, violence, underage
drinking, public intoxication, public sexual
activity, and loud noises.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the Public Nuisance Task Force is to
improve the quality of life in Philadelphia by
helping citizens and government work together to
eliminate drug and alcohol nuisances in the
community.

The objectives to meet this goal are to:

o Help community organizations improve their
quality of life through a public-private
partnership.

o Streamline, coordinate, and integrate existing
law enforcement and private resources.

o Work to improve quality of life through community
empowerment. 

o Sustain improvements in quality of life through
long-range community organization and development.
  
Program Components

A drug nuisance is any property such as a house,
apartment, or business in which illegal drugs are
sold, used, or stored and where use of the premises
disturbs the community. A liquor nuisance is any
establishment providing alcohol in violation of the
liquor code including (1) to minors, (2) to persons
engaged in criminal conduct, (3) after hours, and
(4) where patrons engage in disruptive or illegal
behavior that disturbs the surrounding community.

Two key functions of the Public Nuisance Task Force
are empowering community groups to use the legal
system against nuisance properties and streamlining
the role of the government.

The task force engages and mobilizes citizens by
making them the primary actors. They are the prime
resource to achieve the results. The program is
driven by grassroots complaints. Community
mobilization requires the creation of community
leadership and the formation of a community group
that includes citizens and community organizations.
Community meetings are organized by a community
liaison, and affidavits, filled out by community
members, are collected. The affidavits are critical
because they give the community a sense of
participation. Each community group is afforded pro
bono counsel through the Philadelphia Bar 
Association. Citizens are responsible for sending
complaint letters to property owners. If action is
not taken, neighbors join the District Attorney's
Office as a party in filing a civil complaint
against the property owners.

The Public Nuisance Task Force consists of the
following agencies: the District Attorney's Office,
the Managing Director's Office, the Police
Department, the Department of Licenses and
Inspections, the Bureau of Liquor Control
Enforcement, the Law Division, the Health
Department, the Office of Housing and Community
Development, Public Housing Authority Narcotics
Enforcement, and the Redevelopment Authority.

While the District Attorney's Office is the primary
recipient of community complaints regarding
nuisance properties, each participating agency also
refers complaints to the task force for action. The
staff of the District Attorney's Office does a
complete background investigation of each
complaint, including collecting sworn affidavits
from community members, identifying the owner of
the property, and investigating prior criminal
activity at the alleged nuisance location.

Based on the initial background investigation, the
staff of the District Attorney's Office decides
whether a unilateral action such as forfeiture is
possible. If so, such action commences as soon as
possible. If unilateral action is not possible, the
task force determines the priority level of the
case by looking at the following factors:

o Level of community involvement.

o Evidence of nuisance activity.

o Ability to sustain relief.

o Existence of a long-range plan. 

o Status of ownership.
  
The top 16 cases in which the District Attorney's
Office cannot take unilateral action move on to the
task force for further investigation and collective
enforcement action using the strengths of each
agency to assist in the investigation. As the task
force resolves these cases, it adds new cases to
its active list. The staff of the District
Attorney's Office maintains an aggressive community
outreach campaign. The purpose of this campaign is
to ensure that neighborhoods understand and
participate in the task force's efforts to
eliminate public nuisances.

The task force agencies work together in the most
efficient way to bring expertise from all areas to
a case. The District Attorney's Office performs
forfeiture and nuisance actions; the Police
Department conducts undercover investigations and
surveillance on problem properties; and the
Licensing and Inspection, Health, and Law
departments provide the administrative remedies
needed to take action, such as sealing properties. 

Results and Impact

Performance Measures 

The success of the Public Nuisance Task Force can
be measured quantitatively and qualitatively. Some
quantitative measures include number of community
meetings held, number of citizens mobilized, number
of citizens providing affidavits, number of
properties forfeited, number of properties sealed
without forfeiture, number of drug storefronts
(drug operations fronting as small businesses)
closed, number of voluntary abatements, number of
property changes, and total number of nuisances
abated through task force action. Qualitatively,
the task force measures the level of community
support, neighborhood spirit, impact of community
efforts, reduction of fear of crime, and level of
safety felt by community members.

Implementation Problems and Successes

One challenge faced at implementation was
recruiting task force members. At first the task
force was uncertain about how high to go in an
organization to recruit participants. Later the
task force discovered that recruiting at the
operational level was more efficient than aiming
for the chief or director of participating
agencies.

Another challenge was mobilizing the community.
Here the task force was faced with two important
issues. The first was dealing with community member
fears. By organizing the community into groups and
having them be an active part in the process, the
fear factor was reduced significantly. The second
issue was helping the community understand that
without their participation, the government could
not act on nuisances effectively. Many citizens
believed that it was the government's duty to clean
up their neighborhoods because their tax dollars
were paying for it. After seeing the results of the
collaborative effort between the government and the
community, these perceptions began to change.

Successes and Accomplishments

Since its inception, the task force has helped
communities to eliminate 98 active public 
nuisances. The breakdown of this progress includes
19 properties forfeited, 24 properties sealed
without forfeiture, 37 nuisance drug storefronts
closed, and 19 other nuisances abated. The task
force currently has approximately 175 cases under
investigation and 16 cases subject to priority
action by the task force.

The task force held 15 formal meetings during the
first year. These meetings resulted in improved
communication, coordination, and integration among
the participating agencies. Specifically, the task
force meetings produced the following cooperative
efforts:

o The Police Department and the District Attorney's
Office coordinated a presentation to the entire
Police Department command regarding the nature of
the task force's work and the Police Department's
requested participation.

o The District Attorney's Office, the Police
Department, and the Department of Licenses and
Inspections coordinated a special program to close
nuisance drug storefronts.

o The Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement has
coordinated with the Department of Licenses and
Inspections and the Police Department on the
investigation of nuisance liquor establishments.

o The task force joined the steering committee of
the Philadelphia Plan, a public-private partnership
using tax credits to rebuild challenged communities
in cooperation with local Community Development
Councils (CDCs) and private corporations, and
recruited the Philadelphia Bar Association to
provide pro bono counsel to the CDCs participating
in the Philadelphia Plan.

o The task force assisted Urban Genesis, a
nonprofit organization, in obtaining a small grant
that provides funds for community liaison work in
the areas targeted by the Philadelphia Plan.

o Citywide cooperation between the Police
Department and Department of Licenses and
Inspections was facilitated by the task force, and
these agencies now cooperate in the sealing of
active nuisance properties.

o The Health Department has provided special
training and technical advice to the Department of
Licenses and Inspections with respect to handling
infectious waste on nuisance properties. 

o Through the Managing Director's Office, the
District Attorney's Office has worked with the
city's Community Education Program to expand
community outreach and education efforts. To date
the District Attorney's Office has participated in
eight joint training programs for citizens.
  
The task force has also continued to work
aggressively to assist citizens in mobilizing to
improve the quality of life in Philadelphia
neighborhoods. During 1995, 249 community meetings
were held, 1,128 citizens provided affidavits, and
more than 500 citizens and police officers
expressed their willingness to testify in court
proceedings. Staff in the District Attorney's
Office have undertaken community outreach efforts
with the South Lehigh Action Council, Community
United Neighbors Against Drugs, the Aubury
Townwatch, Frankford Group Ministries, the South
Philadelphia Rainbow Committee, the Police
Interracial Task Force, and the Fitzwater Block
Association. In many cases, the task force's effort
to mobilize the community has independently
resulted in nuisance abatement.

Prospects for Replication

The prospects for replicating the program are good.
It is important to consider the following factors:

o The community liaison role is key to mobilizing
the community and educating the public.

o Team building is essential in assembling the task
force.

o A data management system is needed to carefully
investigate and track cases.
   
Contact Information 

David Castro
Director, Weed and Seed Programs
Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
P.O. Box 1167
Harrisburg, PA 17108-1167
717-787-8077, ext. 3088
717-783-7713 fax

------------------------------

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico National Guard Public Housing
Intervention Project

Statement of the Problem

Most crimes in Puerto Rico are known to be directly
related to the traffic, manufacture, sale, and use
of illegal drugs. The main access roads, sidewalks,
and streets in public housing projects have become
distribution points for illegal drugs.

The drug dealers selected the projects for their
activities because of the great number of
apartments and narrow streets and the low to
moderate incomes of the residents. The Governor of
Puerto Rico called the National Guard to State
active duty to give protection, support, and a
perimeter of defense to the State police while
arresting drug dealers and denying their return. In
the meantime the government built permanent access
control features such as fences and gates. Three
typical public housing projects were among those
targeted.

Las Gardenias public housing project comprises 8
buildings with 164 apartments and 700 residents.
The increase in illegal drugs was a threat to law-
abiding residents, and the State police were not
successful in controlling the problem. The
community asked for an access control system to
minimize crime and increase safety.

Villas de Mab housing project comprises 18
buildings with 124 apartments and 358 residents.
Like other projects in Puerto Rico, it suffered
from the presence of illegal drugs, delinquency,
alcoholism, family conflicts, neighborhood
problems, and unemployment.

Jardines de Guaynabo housing project comprises 10
buildings with 80 apartments and 331 residents. The
main problem in this community was related to drug
trafficking. The efforts of several government
agencies had resulted in a waste of resources and
time, since the base of the problem--drug selling
and use--was not treated.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the program is to end drug-related
activities in public housing projects. Objectives
include taking over the projects, establishing
access controls, coordinating directly with other
government agencies, and reinstating the public
housing projects to the board of residents.

Public housing project takeover, coordinated with
the State police, FBI, and other security and
service agencies, is based on intelligence gathered
by the Puerto Rico Police Department, which selects
agencies that can provide information on potential
danger areas, persons, or groups. Access controls
established in coordination with State police and
other government agencies address efforts of State
agencies and civilian enterprises to provide
services to the public housing projects, including
gas services, food deliveries, funeral services,
and garbage collection, previously denied access by
the tight control exerted by drug dealers.

Once permanent access control measures are
operating at each public housing project, National
Guard personnel are withdrawn. The Governor's
Quality of Life Committee's job is a long-term
endeavor to ensure that the drug dealers do not
regain control of the projects.

Program Components

The program is divided into three phases. Phase I
is executed at a time and date selected by the
State police. Normally this phase is executed a few
hours before dawn by military police units. Troops
assemble and receive a detailed mission briefing by
State police and National Guard officers. The
police and National Guard troops then cover the
objective area by ground and air. The National
Guard's role in the operation is primarily to
establish perimeter security, while the police
detain and search persons gathered at the drug-
selling points. Simultaneously, police K-9 teams
move in to execute search and arrest warrants.

Joint police/National Guard teams establish
temporary pedestrian and vehicular access control
measures to prevent the use of the area as a drive-
in market for drug transactions. During this phase
of the operation, the police use one of the empty
apartments as a command post. The entire phase
lasts only a few hours.

Phase II occurs once the objective is secured and
all seizures and arrests are completed. Fresh
National Guard troops and police officers are
brought in. Phase III begins on the same day as
police occupation of the public housing project,
with representatives from the Governor's Quality of
Life Committee, comprising 16 government agencies,
meeting with the tenants at the residential
community center. The purpose of this meeting is to
identify the most urgent needs of the community and
to develop a master plan to address those needs.
Depending on the nature of the needs, a lead agency
is selected. During weekly followup meetings, the
directors of the agencies brief the Governor on
their progress.

After permanent access control measures are
installed at the public housing project, the
National Guard force is withdrawn. The State
government is working with the Federal Government
to create a special police force that would
eventually replace the State police at each
project. The main concern of the Governor's Quality
of Life Committee is to restore community
confidence in local law enforcement agencies.

Even after the National Guard is withdrawn, it
plays a role in the community. Sports clinics, drug
and alcohol reduction program orientations, youth
conservation programs, and summer camps are some of
the ongoing activities offered by the Puerto Rico
National Guard.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

Once the permanent access control measures such as
electric or manual gates, guardhouses, fences, or
illumination are installed, the control of the
project is returned to the community with the
assistance of a specially trained State police
force. The Governor's Quality of Life Committee
endeavors both to ensure that drug dealers do not
regain control of the projects and to restore the
residents' confidence in the constitutional 
government.

Implementation Problems and Successes

Initially the tenants were hostile to the presence
of the law enforcement agencies, but after a few
changes were made in the Residents' Committee, the
residents' attitudes began to improve, and they
became more receptive and cooperative. Residents
began identifying common criminals that were
establishing operations in the complexes.

Successes and Accomplishments

As the Governor's Quality of Life Committee and the
modernization program began to take effect, the
tenants' perception of the government agencies
working in their communities began to change. The
interaction between the State law enforcement
agencies and the communities has improved.

The establishment of 35 neighborhood committees has
been a success. They are providing services to
their communities and serving as a liaison between
State agencies and the tenants. Twelve of the 35
neighborhood committees are scheduled to begin the
administration of their own public housing
projects.

The State police are involved in an anti-crime
campaign, patrolling in the projects' surrounding
sectors and other areas with the cooperation of the
National Guard military police. The efforts of the
State police and the National Guard have also been
highly acclaimed by local and national news media.
Type 1 offenses have dropped substantially in
comparison with the same period in 1994.

National Guard participation in counterdrug
missions enhances military readiness. The State
mission allows the National Guard to play a
prominent role in the country's counterdrug
program. The constitution permits the National
Guard to act in the unique role of citizen-soldiers
to support law enforcement agencies in a way other
agencies cannot.

Prospects for Replication

The drug problem is considered by many to be the
greatest domestic danger to national security
confronting Puerto Rico. The National Guard
provides counterdrug support to Federal, State, and
local law enforcement agencies. Consequently, the
National Guard needs long-term funding with a
stable budget to sustain the momentum of the
mission. The counterdrug efforts are beginning to
show results. As a followup to those efforts, the
National Guard's focus is turning to reducing the
demand for drugs.

Contact Information

Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Brillon
Puerto Rico National Guard
P.O. Box 3786
San Juan, PR 00904-3786
787-722-0497
787-723-6360 fax

------------------------------

Rhode Island

The Positive Role Model Program

Statement of the Problem

Newport, Rhode Island, is a community well known as
a tourist resort. This community of nearly 30,000
residents is that and more. However, within the 5.5
square miles of Newport, another city coexists.
Newport has the second largest number of low-income
housing units in the State of Rhode Island
(approximately 20 percent of Newport's population
lives in public housing), a per capita crime rate
second only to the capital city of Providence, a
significant illegal drug problem ranging from
international smuggling to street corner dealing,
the sixth highest high school dropout rate in the
State, and a sizable minority population, many of
whom reside in the low-income housing projects.

One of the chronic neighborhood problems for police
and residents involved the State of Rhode Island
Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF)
group homes. These group homes are located in
middle-class neighborhoods and house young men and
women aged 15 through 18 who are delinquent.
Alcohol, drug abuse, crime, and behavioral problems
are common factors with these youth. Child and
Family Services (C&FS) of Newport County, a private
human service agency, was contracted by the State
to run the homes. The behavior of the youth enraged
neighborhood residents, represented a significant
workload for the Uniform Patrol Division, and
frustrated the efforts of C&FS counselors. The
neighborhood residents grew increasingly hostile
toward the residents of the home, and the home
became a staging point for criminal activity in the
area.

An evaluation of community concerns showed that in
addition to the group homes, there was a negative
image of Salve Regina University's (SRU) off-campus
student population. The community residents
perceived SRU students as a nuisance in the
community due to loud parties, newspaper articles
about student arrests, and disorderly conduct of
university students. Noise was a major concern of
the community residents and was listed as the
number one problem facing the neighborhoods.

The neighborhood police officers and the networking
officer, who coordinated police efforts with
schools, human services agencies, and other public
and private institutions, assessed the problem with
the group homes. Using the community policing
philosophy and looking past the symptomatic issues
for the root causation, the Positive Role Model
Program was developed.

Goals and Objectives

The Positive Role Model Program was designed to
counteract the lack of self-esteem, poor value
systems, and absence of appropriate role models in
the lives of young people. These issues had been
identified by police officers as the youth's root
problems. Officers believed if appropriate role
models were provided to the residents in the homes,
significant improvement would occur in the behavior
of the youth. The various crimes, disorderliness,
neighborhood disruptions, and failed rehabilitation
were not the real issues but were symptomatic of
deeper, unattended problems. Consequently, the
behavior of the youth had never changed because the
core issues had never been addressed. To institute
the Positive Role Model Program, proper role models
had to be identified, trained, managed, and
supervised.

One of the objectives of the community policing
office was to enhance the image of SRU as a
resource rather than a burden to the community.
Other program objectives are to have university
students provide a special friendship to the group
home youths; expose the youth to a university
environment; provide positive role models; give a
view of the future that provides an incentive to
stay in school; offer youth a sense of community
spirit with an awareness of the world beyond high
school; provide youth with fun activities; and
support academics by demonstrating a better
attitude toward school.

The principal aim of the program in providing a
positive role model for each youth in the
Department of Children, Youth and Family Services
group home program is the development of
appropriate coping mechanisms, improved self-
esteem, the setting of individual goals, and
successful completion of the group home program,
which in many cases means graduating from high
school and obtaining gainful employment or further
education.

Program Components

The program was initiated when police officers on
the street approached staff at comparable levels at
SRU and the social service agencies. The female
group home was designated as a pilot project. DCYF
and C&FS representatives responsible for the care
and counseling of the young women and SRU
administrative personnel were brought together by
the networking police officer. Female students from
SRU, preferably with sociology, education, criminal
justice, or psychology majors, were selected as
role models. The students were assessed for
suitability through criminal background checks, an
oral board interview with representatives from SRU
and C&FS staff and the networking officer, and
their academic record. Selected students were
trained for their roles as mentors by C&FS
counselors and were provided a set of guidelines
and procedures.

SRU students were paired with group home youth who
were committed to the homes because of delinquency,
substance abuse, or abusive home situations. The
students were to develop relationships with their
assigned youths. Social activities, tutoring,
exposure to the SRU environment, and counseling
sessions were designed to facilitate the positive
role model's responsibility for each youth, improve
the self-esteem of the group home residents, assist
in establishing individual goals, and develop
mechanisms to handle peer pressure and overcome
negative behaviors.

One of the most crucial components of the Positive
Role Model Program is the continuous oversight
provided by SRU administrative staff, C&FS staff,
and the networking officer. An SRU student was
designated as a program coordinator and is
responsible for scheduling monthly meetings and
proposed activities, coordinating efforts among
agencies, identifying problem areas, keeping
records including the budget, and acting as a
direct liaison between participating agencies and
the role models. In 1993-94, the position of
assistant coordinator was formulated. This position
assists the coordinator in monthly meetings and
other functions.

All administrative records of the program are
maintained by the networking officer. All records
of the group home youth are maintained by C&FS and
DCYF. Weekly meetings are held with all the agency
personnel involved. Each role model and
corresponding group home youth is evaluated for
compatibility, degree of improvement for the youth,
development of short- and long-term goals, and
other relevant issues. The college students keep a
log of everything they do with the program youth.
If there is a problem between the youth and mentor,
staff members shift pairings as necessary.

Group and individual role model and youth
activities are planned and coordinated by the
students, the group home youth, and the networking
officer and C&FS counselor. Social activities such
as bowling, movies, and museum, aquarium, and
sports field trips are balanced with academic and
career activities. Higher education and trade
school opportunities are emphasized, along with
exposure to various career options through guest
speakers from the business community. Self-worth,
self-discipline, establishment of personal
boundaries, resistance to peer pressure, and other
self-improvement attributes are constantly
emphasized by the role models through example and
discussion. Neighborhood cleanups and improvement
projects have been instituted to improve relations
with the neighbors and expose the youth and
residents to each other.

The mentor relationship ends when the youth are
removed from the group homes, either successfully
or unsuccessfully. This is understood by both the
youth and the mentors from the start of the
program. Although the formal mentor relationship
ends when the children are removed from the group
homes, in many cases an informal mentor
relationship continues.

Another facet of the Positive Role Model Program is
the Community Alliance for Youth Relief (C.A.Y.R.)-
T.L.C. for Newport Kids, incorporated under the
auspices of the Positive Role Model Program in July
1994. The T.L.C. program was developed by a teacher
in the Newport Public School Department to provide
a program for disadvantaged children between the
ages of 7 and 12. This program targets high-risk
children in the Newport school system who have
little or no structure or supervision during the
summer months. To assist these children, a new
collaboration was formed comprising educators, SRU
staff, officers from the Newport Police Department,
high school students from the Newport school
system, and members of community organizations to
provide enriching educational, cultural, and
athletic activities. The objectives are to expose
these children to a wider range of positive options
and expand their levels of life experience.

Currently, application of the Positive Role Model
Program throughout the city is being developed
through an alliance with the Newport School
Department, the school psychologists and
counselors, and the networking officer. School
personnel will be able to evaluate problem youth
and recommend their placement in the program. By
working through the schools' psychologists and
counselors, who have contact with almost all of
Newport's problem youth, the greatest number of
youth in need will be identified and placed in the
program. In addition, program administrators are
investigating the possibility of making it
mandatory for children in family court to become
participants in the Positive Role Model Program and
for their parents to attend parenting skills
seminars conducted by DCYF.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

From the police perspective, success in the program
would result in a reduction of calls for service at
group homes, fewer crimes, less neighborhood
animosity and disruption, and improved
relationships between police and group home youth.

The Positive Role Model Program is continually
monitored and evaluated to ensure that program
goals and objectives are achieved. Evaluations of
role models and youth are viewed for control and
enhancement of program objectives but are not
necessarily reflected in the statistical data. The
statistical data reflect all information for
analysis on graduation rates, ethnic backgrounds,
pregnancies, entry into college or other higher
learning institutions, and the success rate of the
program. Success rates count all youth that
participated in the program against youth that left
or were dismissed from the program due to
behavioral or other problems.

Implementation Problems and Successes

Initially, the program was plagued by preconceived
ideas, turf issues, and ego problems, mainly at
administrative levels, among the social service
agencies, human service providers, and police
officers involved with the program.

The police department encountered problems
obtaining statistics on the youth from the social
service agencies involved with the program. Even
though the police department confined their
questions to numbers and not names or other
personal information, the agencies cited
confidentiality in their inability to provide data.

Another problem encountered by the police
department was defining and identifying success.
Success can be the obtainment of a General
Equivalency Diploma (GED), graduation from high
school, or leaving the group home and successfully
transitioning into the community. In addition, due
to confidentiality issues, the police officers and
the role models are unable to follow up with the
program youth unless they become reinvolved with
the criminal justice system or initiate the contact
themselves.

Due to the expansion of the program beyond the
group homes, problems have occurred. Objections
were raised by C&FS in continuing to name the
expansion part of the program the Positive Role
Model Program. This was based on the fact that C&FS
was not a part of the expansion project. SRU agreed
with C&FS on this matter, but the police department
maintains that C&FS can and should be involved with
this new segment of the program without deviating
from its original name.

Successes and Accomplishments

Following implementation of the pilot program with
the female group home, the number of calls for
service at the home dropped from more than 200 in
1991 to 17 in 1992. Those calls were predominantly
for runaway or missing youth and status offenses,
as opposed to the previous year's felonies and
misdemeanors.

Group home youth, who had been marginal performers
academically, rose to A-and B-level students and
began to plan for futures involving education and
careers. In the first year of the Positive Role
Model Program, 100 percent of the youth eligible
for high school graduation graduated, and 57
percent of them went on to college. The graduation
rate for eligible youth has remained relatively
consistent at 92 percent since 1991, with 57
percent entering college. SRU agreed to fund a
scholarship program for youth in the Positive Role
Model Program who met the same grade criteria as
other entry-level students to the university. Those
participants not entering college have gone on to
trade school or employment.

Pregnancies have dropped in the female group homes
by 66 percent, and calls for service have not risen
above 20 at the original group home and have
diminished appreciably at all other homes. There
were no dropouts from the program or the DCYF group
home for failure to abide by group home rules. The
group home's neighbors, who previously had been
hostile towards the youth, held a summer cookout
for the group home's youth in 1992.

In 1992 a representative of the Newport Police
Department met with the White House Domestic Policy
staff. Discussion related to the Positive Role
Model Program and its application in the Americorps
program.

In 1993, the Positive Role Model Program was
recognized by the National Center for Community
Policing at Michigan State University and
highlighted in several published articles in
numerous periodicals and law enforcement journals.
The program was also highlighted in a book entitled
From the Hip--Visions and Voices of Young People in
Community Service, published in December 1993. The
Positive Role Model Program is being studied by the
White House as a possible model for President
Clinton's Community Initiative Service Program. In
addition, the program was featured in Victory over
Violence, a national program that publicizes
programs that have had an impact on youth in
America.

Prospects for Replication

Due to the positive results of the pilot program,
the Positive Role Model Program was expanded to all
group homes. Additionally, the program was
instituted outside the umbrella of DCYF and
implemented in the city's low-income public housing
projects. Both male and female youth are now paired
with students from the university.

Contact Information

Steven Weaver
Chief of Police
Newport Police Department
120 Broadway
Newport, RI 02840
401-847-1302
401-847-1306
401-849-0214 fax

------------------------------

South Carolina

Police and Community Together Program

Statement of the Problem

Despite a large number of arrests for narcotics
violations, the drug problem still exists in Aiken,
South Carolina. The problem increased dramatically
in public and low-income housing complexes, and
neighborhoods were in a near state of siege. The
Aiken Department of Public Safety made every effort
to provide for the safety and protection of the
residents of these communities. However, the growth
of the city had a significant impact on how these
areas were policed. Because of the city's large
area and the number of calls, officers were
confined to their patrol vehicles. This resulted in
calls being handled by the "single incident"
protocol. This meant that an officer would be
dispatched to a call, take the report, and then
return to service for the next call, which would
likely be in another section of the city.

This method did not allow the residents to become
acquainted with the officer, and the officers,
having minimal contact with the residents, had
limited knowledge of their problems. Many of the
more chronic problems officers observed were not
easily solved using the short-duration, single-
incident approach. When recurring problems
persisted, special units or squads would work the
areas for a longer time. However, the officers'
duration of stay in the area was usually minimal,
and again they remained strangers to the residents.
These squads also tended to confirm the residents'
concerns that crime was escalating, raising their
fears and insecurities. The department felt that
traditional methods of policing were not producing
satisfactory results. Officers had lost touch with
the residents, lines of communication were weak,
and officers had not gained residents' trust.
Despite department efforts, drug trafficking,
assaults, driveby shootings, and vandalism
persisted. The department pursued alternative
methods to address the problems and developed the
Police and Community Together (PACT) program.

Goals and Objectives

The Aiken Department of Public Safety did not want
to interject preconceived opinions into the program
or ignore the feelings of the residents being
served. To ensure this, surveys and one-on-one
interviews gained needed input to develop the
following goals:

o Reduce drug trafficking and violent crime.

o Develop programs aimed at building stronger
community relations between the police department
and the residents.

o Establish foot and bicycle patrols in the
communities to provide the residents with a greater
police presence.

o Establish a foot and bicycle patrol in the
central business district to control crime,
organize merchants, and build confidence in the
police department through daily contact.

o Establish a philosophy of community policing
throughout the entire department.
   
The objectives designed to meet these goals were:

o Develop patrolling methods and effective programs
that would eliminate drug traffickers and violent
crime in the communities.

o Discover community concerns and develop programs
that would deliver solutions.

o Introduce foot and bicycle patrol teams to
provide greater police presence and easy
approachability.

o Establish programs in the central business
district, uniting merchants and giving them tools
to battle rings of forgers, shoplifters, and con
artists.

o Establish a citizens' leadership council for the
department to keep in contact with the communities'
needs and concerns.

o Adopt a community policing philosophy for the
department with the establishment of a transition
team and a focus on training in areas such as
communication skills, cultural diversity, and
problem solving.
  
Program Components

In July 1993, the Aiken Department of Public Safety
was awarded a grant by the Bureau of Justice
Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, through the
South Carolina Department of Public Safety. This
grant allowed the department to initiate its PACT
program. Four officers were selected and placed
into teams of two, with a third team added the
following year. These officers were placed in
selected neighborhoods and given defined zones to
patrol. They established offices in their areas and
began building rapport with the residents. They
were made the "police chiefs" of their zones and
empowered to begin programs and meet the needs of
the people they served. The officers established
patrol techniques that involved foot and bicycle
patrols, and they began organizing the residents to
help abolish drug trafficking and violent crime in
the neighborhoods. The following programs were
implemented.

IMPACT (Inspiring Middle School Students Through
Police and Community Together). The IMPACT program
is a coordinated effort among Schofield Middle
School, the PACT team, the Growing Into Life Task
Force, Westinghouse Savannah River Site, and many
volunteers. IMPACT helps at-risk middle school
students at Schofield Middle School. Twenty at-risk
students are selected by the principal to
participate. Students and their parents sign
contracts agreeing to participate in specific
activities during the year. They also agree to have
PACT officers visit the students in their homes to
check on homework and other school issues. The
students must attend the afterschool Homework Help
Center twice a week and participate in biweekly
events arranged by the PACT Team. Upon successful
completion of these agreements and good conduct
reports from the school, the IMPACT students are
eligible for a summer program that involves tennis
and swimming lessons, cardiopulmonary
resuscitation, a babysitting course, personal
hygiene, sexuality education, community service,
and recreational events. The students also
participate in a team-building Project
Challenge/Ropes Course event with their parents 
and a 10-week afterschool self-esteem building 
and personal ability assessment program.

MOMS and COPS (Managing Our Maternity Services With
Community Oriented Policing Systems). The PACT
teams are trained by Health Department nurses on
how to communicate with pregnant women about
prenatal care. The officers carry contact cards
that give the name and telephone number of the
nurse at the Health Department who coordinates the
program. The officers help arrange transportation
to the Health Department and locate women who have
moved or left the care program. Police offices in
the neighborhoods are used for "Clinics in the
Community," where Health Department nurses see
patients weekly.

Merchant Crime Fax. This is an organized method to
deter and apprehend forgers, shoplifting rings, and
con artists. Police officers fax crime information
and fill-in-the-blank forms to merchants and banks
who disseminate the information to others. Fill-in-
the-blank forms allow important information to be
gathered expeditiously. Merchants can also initiate
the fax to the police department or other
merchants.

Trespassing Authorization Forms. The Trespassing
Authorization Form was developed to allow officers
to eliminate trespassing in the neighborhoods. The
form is signed by the resident giving permission to
the officer to ask trespassers to leave the
resident's private property. Once residents sign
the forms, they are also agreeing to prosecute and
cooperate with the neighborhood efforts organized
by PACT. A trespasser is put on trespass notice and
ticketed. At this time the officer gathers
information about the individual and may take a
picture. The second time the trespasser is caught,
the officer can take him or her to jail. The
development of this form has kept the neighborhoods
free from trespassers.

TUF-TALK (Teens Under Fire). TUF-TALK addresses alcohol-
and drug-related violence, in a cooperative effort
with the schools, Aiken Hospital, and the PACT
team. At-risk teens are taken to the hospital
morgue and shown graphic slides dealing with
alcohol and drug overdoses, alcohol-related
accidents, and shooting victims. The teens attend
presentations by emergency room doctors and a
former drug addict.

Community Programs. A wide range of community
events are organized by PACT officers. They have
held community block parties, cemetery cleanups,
neighborhood cleanups, field trips for youth, and a
Thanksgiving dinner for senior citizens. Americorps
has also aided the program by sending professionals
to help organize youth to clean up parks and
schools in the communities. Youth who volunteered
to work on this program were rewarded with a trip
to a coastal island to learn about ecology.

Smoke Detector Program. PACT officers visit homes
in their areas and perform fire inspections. If the
homes do not have smoke detectors, officers install
them at no cost to the residents. Detectors and
batteries are provided by local civic groups.

Police and Community Youth League (PACYL). This is
a program that registers youth and gives them
identification cards. This information is entered
into the police department computer. If there are
no discipline problems or arrests, the participants
use their identification cards for discounts at
local stores. They are also allowed to attend late
night basketball and other recreational activities.
This is a cooperative program between the PACT
Team, the Housing Authority, and local churches.

Patrol Techniques. Officers rely heavily on bicycle
and foot patrols in the targeted areas. The bicycle
is an invaluable tool to the program because it
makes the officers approachable and allows them to
know every detail of their zones. These patrol
techniques have promoted communication and rapport
between the officers and the residents of the
communities. They have also moved the drug dealers
out, because they cannot hear or see the bike or
foot patrols approaching.

Bicycle Programs. Due to the PACT program's heavy
involvement with bicycles, safety programs are
conducted in neighborhoods, shopping malls, and
supermarket parking lots. The SALT (Seniors and Law
Enforcement Together) team is also involved in a
bike registration program that prevents theft and
allows for speedy return of recovered bikes. PACT
also sponsors a bike helmet program that provides
free helmets to children who perform 3 hours of
community service. Local merchants donate the
helmets.

Leadership Council. A Leadership Council was
developed by local residents and community leaders.
This council aids the department with suggestions
and programs aimed at meeting community needs. The
council received training from consultants on how
to form and maintain the organization. They meet
monthly to develop programs that address community
problems. For example, the council has aided in
bringing public transportation to low-income areas,
sponsored programs to reduce domestic violence,
initiated a program called Stone Soup that targets
revitalization of communities by the residents, and
began the Junior Leadership Aiken Program that
allows middle school and high school students to
gain leadership traits, shadow merchants, and
develop a project for the betterment of the whole
community.

Departmentwide Community Policing. The entire
police department completes 2 weeks of community
policing training. Included in the training are
courses on interpersonal skills, communications,
cultural diversity, and community policing
techniques. A transition team is organized to
examine issues within the department and recommend
changes. Many cross-training sessions are held
among the Department of Social Services, the
Department of Youth Services, the Drug and Alcohol
Department, and others.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The program's effectiveness is measured using
several methods. Surveys were distributed in the
designated areas at the beginning of the program
and followed up at 1-year intervals. Surveys
demonstrated resident satisfaction and problem
areas. PACT officers conduct numerous one-on-one
informal interviews to acquire feedback. Officers
keep monthly statistics on the number of hours they
patrol on foot and bicycle, the number of hours
they spend in the schools, the number of citizen
and business contacts, and the number of arrests.
The police department monitors and documents call
and arrest data, the number of residents who
participate in the programs, and the number and
types of events hosted each month.

Implementation Problems and Successes

The largest implementation problem was lack of
funding to initiate more teams in other
neighborhoods. The communities that received teams
welcomed them enthusiastically. Within months the
demand for these officers was overwhelming. The
officers develop skills in nontraditional areas
such as time management, priority setting, and
resource utilization. Complete support for this
program from the chief of police, city manager,
mayor, and City Council promoted smooth
implementation.

Successes and Accomplishments

The program has had many successes and
accomplishments. As the goals of the program are
reviewed, it is evident that it has surpassed
initial expectations. Statistics show a 62-percent
drop in drug arrests, a decrease in domestic
violence calls, and the virtual disappearance of
vandalism and driveby shootings. Officers' patrol
techniques and the cooperation of residents have
completely changed the face of the neighborhoods. A
feeling of safety and security has returned. Drug
dealers have been driven from the area, and
residents can enjoy their neighborhoods. The many
programs and events have helped the officers
establish a rapport and trust with the citizens.
Lines of communication have been opened, and a
sense of ownership has developed among the
residents and the officers.

The officers have received recognition and awards
from residents, schools, and civic groups. The City
of Aiken received the coveted International
Healthier Communities Award. Due to these programs,
the infant mortality rate dropped from 7.2 percent
per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 6.9 percent in
1994. The rate has dropped 40 percent since 1989.

The PACT program is recognized in the State of
South Carolina as the leader in community policing.
The program now trains officers throughout the
State. The police mountain bike program is also
widely recognized, and Aiken officers conduct
police mountain bike schools (basic and advanced)
for officers all over the region.

An active, viable leadership council and transition
team has been established, and the entire
department has been trained in community policing.
The impact of these programs has changed the
department, the community, and portions of the
State.

Prospects for Replication

The PACT program has been implemented in many
cities. Training, demonstrations, and presentations
are provided on request. On-the-job training is
also provided for other departments, and police
mountain bike certification school is conducted
four times a year.

The program's successful implementation hinges on
the officers' ability to relate to the residents
and to develop new skills. It is important to
carefully evaluate the officers who volunteer for
the program to provide the best fit with each
patrol area. The selected officers must have the
support of the department in experimenting with
innovations in their assigned neighborhoods. This
empowerment to be "police chiefs" in their zones is
critical for their credibility and ultimate
success.

Contact Information

Thomas M. Galardi
Captain
Aiken Department of Public Safety
251 Laurens Street
P.O. Box 1177
Aiken, SC 29802
803-642-7620
803-642-7681 fax

------------------------------

Texas

Community Justice in Austin

Statement of the Problem

There is a rapidly developing consensus about crime
that punishment by itself does little to change
behavior. Typically, persons from high-risk areas
who commit crimes are sent to State prison units in
isolated rural areas where they become part of a
community of criminals with a support system that
reinforces their criminal behavior. Once released,
they return to the community as tougher, angrier,
more skilled criminals. They often commit other
crimes, are caught, and are sent through the system
again. As a strategy for reducing and controlling
crime, punishment alone is senseless, dangerous,
and expensive, and it works for nobody except those
who make a living from the prison industry.

Realistically, the only way to reduce crime is to
strengthen the community. This can be done only by
reweaving the fabric of community. That fabric
consists of family, extended family, neighborhood,
school, church, and workplace, a matrix of threads
carefully woven over the years that gives meaning
to life. It is that web of relationships--the
ethics infrastructure--not the law, that regulates
behavior. 

Crime and other social dysfunctions necessitate
intervention by the community acting through its
government. Increasingly, however, government is
disjointed from itself and from community. People
feel more and more isolated from each other and
from their government. As a result, they take less
and less ownership of either social problems or
solutions, even though the effects of the problems
are gradually destroying their own quality of life.
Proposed solutions mostly involve doing more of
what has been done in the past, which does not
work. Community justice is an effort to use the
opportunities for intervention provided by crime
and related social dysfunctions as tools to begin
the process of rebuilding the social capital upon
which the community is based.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of community justice is to reweave the
fabric of community by forging a partnership among
local governmental entities, the private sector,
and community groups which facilitates the
performance by private citizens of the functions
that were once performed by the extended family,
neighborhood, church, and school.

The objectives are to:

o Develop and maintain collaborative and
cooperative relationships among entities of the
government.

o Establish partnerships among government entities
and private enterprise.

o Create opportunities for citizen interaction and
involvement with each other, private enterprise,
and government entities to address issues of crime
and related social dysfunction.
   
Program Components

Community justice consists of a matrix of programs
designed to increase cooperation, coordination, and
collaboration among citizens; city, county, and
State government; and private enterprise. The focus
of the programs at the most personal level is the
development of the kind of caring relationships
among individuals that form the basis of community.
Such relationships were once an integral part of
the community, but as the community's fabric has
frayed, the personal sharing of lives has
diminished, and the resulting erosion of the
quality of public life has been profound. The
solution is to replenish the social capital.

Much of government's involvement in this process is
through the Community Justice Council, comprising
10 elected officials including prosecutors,
legislators, city council and school board members,
and judges, who formulate the community justice
plan for Austin and Travis County. The council is
advised in this effort by the Community Justice
Task Force, which consists of 15 appointed
officials, among whom are the Chief of the Austin
Police Department, the Superintendent of the Austin
Independent School District, and the Directors of
the Juvenile and Adult Probation Departments.
Connecting these agencies and entities to the
community is the Neighborhood Protection Action
Committee, which consists of 25 citizen activists
chosen from the neighborhoods. Program components
are described below.

The Community Justice Council of Travis County. The
mission of the Community Justice Council is to
empower neighborhoods and individual citizens to
create and maintain a safe community which
cherishes individual freedom. The mission of the
Travis County community justice planning process is
to increase public safety and reduce crime through
coordinated systems of law enforcement, victim
services, programs, and incarceration for both
juveniles and adults in full partnership with the
community. This active partnership is attained
through working groups and committees that
represent an integration of elected and appointed
criminal justice officials, service delivery
professionals, and private citizens working
together to propose and develop new programs and
initiatives and/or recommend changes to improve
existing systems. Utilizing trained facilitators,
these working groups and committees are generally
formed around a specific issue and are charged with
reporting back to the Community Justice Council
with proposals for change and action plans for
implementation.

Community Justice Pilot Program. Most governmental
entities in Austin and Travis County seek to reach
out to the community, and many of those efforts
have sprung from the Community Justice Council
planning process. The Community Justice Pilot
Program is the cornerstone of the council's efforts
to comprehensively address the risk-taking
behaviors of low-level drug and property offenders.
Its focus is a community corrections facility
located adjacent to a high-risk area. The center
was made possible by improving and increasing the
collaborative efforts among individual citizens,
private enterprise, the community, and government
to reach high-risk families, youth, offenders, and
ex-offenders. This pilot project will house
offenders convicted of fourth-degree crimes. It
will be an attempt to separate first-time offenders
and those who commit nonviolent property and drug
offenses from those who commit more serious crimes.
Rehabilitation services will be a key element of
the project.

Appropriate Punishment Team (APT). APT is an
interagency program designed to provide quick and
suitable punishment recommendations for accused
felons incarcerated in the Travis County Jail. The
primary goals of the APT program are reduction of
future criminal behavior through the recommendation
of appropriate sentences and reduction in the
length of jail time between an offender's arrest
and case disposition.

The Appropriate Punishment Team is composed of a
sheriff's office jail counselor, a pretrial
services court officer, a community supervision and
corrections officer, a secretary, a paralegal, a
victim/witness counselor, an assistant district
attorney, and a deputy district clerk. Each member
performs a unique function within the team,
collecting and sharing valuable information about
the defendant. The members also bring to the table
their individual experience and knowledge within
their field of expertise. Utilizing this
information and insight, a recommendation on
punishment is formulated for each defendant with
consideration given to public safety, criminal
history, and individualized needs.

Drug Abuse/Dependency Program. This is a new drug
court that treats the offender as an addict rather
than as a criminal and strives to reduce drug-law
violations by reducing addiction. The judge takes
an active, leadership role in treatment. An array
of therapeutic approaches and supportive resources,
such as education and job training, are provided to
make the program responsive to a broad range of
levels and types of drug addiction. Frequent
urinalysis is used to promote the client's self-
responsibility. The promise of having the charge
dismissed when treatment is successfully completed
provides a strong incentive for the client to stick
with the program and make the kinds of behavioral
changes that lead to a life free of drug addiction
and crime. This is a collaborative effort involving
participants representing law enforcement, the
courts, and community service providers.

Juvenile Agency Coordinating Committee (JACC). JACC
is a standing committee of the Community Justice
Council established to ensure that  juvenile
justice policies in the Austin/Travis County area
are coordinated and that intervention strategies
are developed, implemented, and monitored as a
systemwide collaboration. JACC promotes community-
based juvenile programs and consists of both elected 
and appointed representatives of city, county, and
State governmental offices, including the school
board and the juvenile court. JACC's primary
purpose is to provide consistent policy oversight
and coordinate the operations of the agencies
involved in the juvenile justice system.

Neighborhood Conference Committees. This project
brings the juvenile justice system and neighborhood
community members together to resolve problems for
certain nonviolent juvenile offenders. Travis
County Juvenile Court focuses the vast majority of
its resources on repeat and serious felony
offenders. This results in a lack of timely and
meaningful sanctions for minor offenders which, in
turn, contributes to the rising number of repeat
offenders. Neighborhood Conference Committees are
an innovative alternative to the formal juvenile
justice system that sends certain children back to
their own neighborhoods for resolution of problem
behavior.

The committee process involves intervention,
contract, and followup. In this process the
juvenile and his or her parents meet with a panel
of community members to discuss problem behavior
and enter into a contract that outlines a plan for
the juvenile to improve his or her conduct. The
juvenile is then monitored by a committee member
for completion of contract requirements. Depending
on compliance, the case can be closed or referred
to juvenile court.

Appropriate Corrections Teams (ACT). Appropriate
Corrections Teams are made up of a prosecutor,
police officer, juvenile probation officer, and
citizen volunteer who collaborate and devise
corrections plans for first-time juvenile
offenders. This program is designed to maximize the
probability of rehabilitation at the time of the
first offense. The goal of the team is to make
comprehensive recommendations for case disposition,
including punishment, treatment, or a combination
of the two. The concept seeks to make more
consistent, appropriate use of the resources
available to juveniles and to deter the juvenile
from reentering the system at a later date. This
program seeks to involve the community and provides
greater emphasis on the rights of victims and
public safety. The sharing of this decisionmaking
brings together the diverse philosophies of police
officers, juvenile probation officers, prosecutors,
and citizens.

Travis County Child Protection Team. The community
and the agencies that deal with child abuse are
strongly committed to a collaborative approach to
the problem in order to avoid the revictimization
of children by the system and to better meet their
respective mandates. To improve the system for
dealing with child abuse, the community and the
agencies that deal with abused and neglected
children established the Child Protection Team
(CPT) in 1991. Because of this collaboration,
children are now better served by the system. The
mission of the Travis County Child Protection Team 
is to more effectively protect the children of this 
community by consolidating the community and the
investigative, legal, and social services provided
by the Travis County District Attorney's Office,
Travis County Sheriff's Office, Austin Police
Department, their respective Victim Services
Divisions, the Travis County Children's Advocacy
Center, and the Texas Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services (Child Protective Services).

Travis County Children's Advocacy Center. The
mission of the Children's Advocacy Center is to
provide a place where members of the community can
show their commitment to children through community
involvement in the intervention, coordination, and
delivery of services to children. As a nonprofit,
facility-based community organization governed by
an independent Board of Directors, the Center
provides a voice for the community in its efforts
to protect children. Through collaboration with
Child Protection Team members, the Center seeks to
prevent the revictimization of the child by
minimizing the trauma surrounding the interview and
reducing the number of times a child must be
interviewed. Advocacy Center counselors conduct
forensic interviews of child victims or witnesses.
The Center also provides counseling and support
services, information and referral services to
families, volunteer services, community education,
and advocacy for children. The Center provides a
place where medical exams, treatment, and referrals
for followup care are provided to victims.
Responsibilities also include facilitating joint
investigations and interviews among member
agencies, coordinating multidisciplinary case
staffings, assisting with multidisciplinary
training, and providing case review, case followup,
and case tracking. The Center also provides a court
school program to assist parents and children who
are involved in the court system.

Travis County Child Death Review Team. The Travis
County Child Death Review Team is a multidisciplinary 
panel of professionals, including police officers, 
prosecutors, social workers, and medical personnel, 
who come together to review all deaths of children 
under age 18 occurring in Travis County. Its purpose 
is to improve communication among all professionals 
who may be involved or have an interest in how 
children are dying in the community in  order to 
improve investigations and child protection and 
prosecution, and  help identify preventable child 
deaths so that appropriate measures can be taken 
within the community.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The expected result of these efforts is an increase
in the level of public safety as a result of the
rebuilding of social capital. Each program
component tracks unique measures to monitor
performance against its own stated goals and
objectives. The most commonly used measure among
components is a reduction in the level of
recidivism, which is subject to diverse and often
conflicting interpretations. The Community Justice
Council is working to define more global
performance measures that will allow it to judge
the balance, comprehensiveness, and efficacy of the
community justice model. For example, the
involvement of more citizens in matters of local
concern increases the connections among people,
which raises the public's perception of safety,
which in turn makes safer neighborhoods.
Comprehensive community justice does not lend
itself to the traditional measures of success used
in the criminal justice arena.

Implementation Problems and Successes

The implementation of community justice has
presented the Community Justice Council with unique
issues. Clearly, resources are an issue with any
new initiative, as they are with any traditional
response to crime. However, the council has sought
to leverage the resources of the community through
in-kind contributions and volunteer time.

A second issue has been the buy-in to the process
of all key stakeholders. Most are elected officials
with their own but overlapping constituencies.
While all key stakeholders are on board with the
process, the council continues to seek ways to
balance the accountability of elected officials and
funding responsibilities among jurisdictions such
as the school district, the city, the county, and
the State.

Successes and Accomplishments

The result of the council's efforts is a growing
inclusion of community into a collaborative
criminal justice process. These efforts have paid
off for the community with the following
accomplishments:

o Decline of 19 percent in the overall crime rate
in Austin and Travis County from 1993 to 1994.

o Development of an infrastructure for citizen
participation in criminal justice processes,
including a training course on criminal justice
issues for lay citizens.

o Sponsorship of a series of community forums to
hear citizens' concerns about neighborhood crime,
which spawned the development and implementation of
a neighborhood cleanup program utilizing adult and
juvenile probationers in partnership with community
groups.

o Development and implementation of a drug
diversion court for Travis County, called the SHORT
program.

o Development and implementation of a process for
more efficient case management of offenders with
mental impairments.

o Development and implementation of a request for
proposal and review process for requests submitted
for funding of community corrections programs
through the local community justice plan.

o Cosponsorship, with the local Public Broadcasting
System affiliate, of a yearlong television series
on the community's response to juvenile crime.

o Participation in the Austin/Travis County
Community Task Group on Curfew Options, a
grassroots project aimed at developing
neighborhood-based prevention and sanctioning
options for curfew violators.

o Development of recommendations for improvements
in the local juvenile justice system.

o Ongoing development and implementation of
correctional systems, law enforcement, and judicial
components to the city's graffiti abatement
program.

o Responding on a continuous basis to local, State,
and national requests for provision of technical
assistance and training on collaborative community
organization and mobilization models in community
justice.

o Leading the effort to amend legislation mandating
the addition of a victims' rights advocate to
community justice task forces across the State.

o Attaining State designation of Travis County as
the site for a community justice pilot program,
utilizing the new State jail facility as the
cornerstone of the pilot.   
The Community Justice Council serves as a model for
other counties in Texas. No other council is as
active or inclusive as that in Travis County. The
council continually has an average of about 26
community-based groups working on various issues.
The council is pioneering the collaboration between
juvenile and adult systems to more effectively deal
with rising juvenile crime.

Prospects for Replication

Other communities are interested in replicating the
Community Justice Council structure. Such
replication requires the buy-in of key stakeholders
coupled with an investment of resources at the
front end. Despite these challenges, the council
has achieved an initial level of collaboration and
cooperation among government, private enterprise,
and community primarily within existing resources.

Contact Information

Ronald Earle
District Attorney
Travis County District Attorney's Office
P.O. Box 1748
Austin, TX 78756
512-473-9400
512-473-9695 fax

------------------------------

Texas

Mayor's Anti-Gang Office and the Gang Task Force

Statement of the Problem

Although criminal street gangs have existed for
generations, their popularity among youth has
contributed to the current increase in America's
juvenile crime rate. Gang activity is having a
significant impact on crime trends in Houston. In
1994, 3,800 gang-related crimes were reported in
Houston, including 34 homicides. Approximately 33.1
percent of Houston's identified gang population are
juveniles, and at least 15 percent are females.
However, Houston's youth gangs remain loosely knit,
without the structure seen in well-entrenched
organized crime groups. Additionally, they have not
yet achieved economic security.

A concerted effort by Houston leaders to address
youth crime issues through traditional methods
began in 1992, when Houston Mayor Bob Lanier
increased the number of police officers on the
street by 655. In 1993, the City Council also
funded Recreation Plus, a recreational afterhours
program in 33 city parks serving youth until 10
p.m.

As a proactive measure to complement traditional
law enforcement, the Mayor established the Anti-
Gang Office and the Houston Police Department Gang
Task Force in 1994. Together they provide a
balanced approach, combining prevention and
suppression tactics which complement traditional
police and parks programs and focus exclusively on
reduction of youth gang growth and development.

Goals and Objectives

The primary goals of Houston's Anti-Gang Plan are
to (1) reduce crimes committed by and against
juveniles, (2) deter youth gang recruitment by
offering real social and economic alternatives, and
(3) stymie the development of local youth gangs
into sophisticated criminal enterprises.

To achieve these goals, the program has the
following objectives:

o Develop a 60-officer Gang Task Force that
provides high-profile police presence in
neighborhoods reporting significant gang activity.

o Target groups committing high-volume or violent
crime. 

o Collaborate with the Harris County District
Attorney's Office to prosecute offenders under the
Texas Organized Crime Statute.

o Mobilize impacted communities to offer social and
economic alternatives such as jobs, counseling, and
activities to area teenagers.

o Support local service providers offering youth
services through supplemental grants and media
attention. 

o Educate juveniles and parents about where they
can get help.

o Implement citywide programs on related issues
such as graffiti, public school intervention, and
enhanced curfews.
  
Program Components

The Anti-Gang Program is an executive branch
initiative designed for maximum efficiency in
targeting criminal street gangs. The Mayor's Anti-
Gang Office designs, coordinates, and implements
the following public/private anti-gang programs,
each of which is designed to complement the
traditional role of law enforcement in addressing
youth gang activity and to target a different
aspect of the youth gang problem.

The Practical City-Wide Anti-Graffiti Program.
Experts agree that a comprehensive anti-graffiti
program is one of the keys to reducing gang
recruitment and violence among rival gangs.
Unabated graffiti contribute to the deterioration
of neighborhoods and ultimately affect property
values. They are psychologically debilitating to
children who feel they cannot escape the power of
the gang. Removal of graffiti is an important
statement by a community. It shows that community
members are empowered as a group to resist the
negative impact of territorial gangs. A citywide
graffiti removal system has been established to
clean up graffiti quickly and cost effectively.

Once reported, graffiti are removed from city parks
and streets within 72 hours. The costs of cleanup
on city-owned public property have been reduced and
labor streamlined through the use of probationer
labor. Harris County judges routinely assign
juvenile and adult probationers convicted of gang-
related crimes to graffiti cleanup crews monitored
by the probation departments. A city-county
contract guarantees more than 200,000 probation
labor hours toward graffiti cleanup over the next 
2 years. 

To combat the problem on private property, the
Mayor's Anti-Gang Office developed Houston's Visual
Blight Ordinance. The ordinance requires property
owners to remove graffiti within 30 days. To help
the public comply with the ordinance, local paint
manufacturers subsidize a paint bank, offering
unlimited free recycled paint to the general
public. Members of the Houston Paint and Coatings
Association also offer half-price discounts to
graffiti victims who wish to purchase retail paint
and supplies.

The School-Based Intervention Plan. The Gang
Education Awareness Resistance (GEAR) program was
implemented for all Houston Independent School
District (HISD) school administrators in early
1995. A triagency, 10-hour gang training
curriculum, designed by the Mayor's Anti-Gang
Office, the Houston Police Department Gang Task
Force, and the school district, has been provided
to administrators from 244 HISD schools. The
initial training focused on gang identification,
related behavior, and resource referral services.

The school district implemented a policy requiring
the trained campus gang experts to intervene with
identified gang members by arranging a
parent/student conference. The conference is geared
toward referral of students and parents to the area
service providers that offer counseling and support
services. It is a simple student intervention plan
that provides an educated and consistent response
from Houston's largest school district, which
currently serves 200,000 children.

The Youth Service Providers/Neighborhood Based
Crime Prevention Program. The Mayor's Anti-Gang
Office assessed the services and activities
available for Houston's juveniles. An early review
revealed that most educators and police officers
knew of few, if any, supplemental social services
available to the people they served. In response,
7,500 youth service provider directories were
published and distributed to schools, police
departments, and civic associations directing
parents and youth to 190 identified Houston area
providers. In 1994, the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office
distributed $150,000 of Community Development Block
Grant funds to 21 of those youth programs in an
effort to financially supplement successful
neighborhood afterschool mentoring, employment, and
tutorial services. The youth service providers meet
quarterly with members of the Mayor's Anti-Gang
Office and the Houston Police Department Gang Task
Force to promote cooperation in dealing with
juveniles floating between service providers and
the criminal justice system. Through these
meetings, neighborhood service providers and police
work together to deal with troubled youth.

The User Friendly Curfew Program. Curfew is a
valuable tool that has contributed to Houston's
reduction in the juvenile victimization and crime
rate. Houston has implemented a weekday, daytime
curfew from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and an evening
curfew from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. However, statistics
illustrate that the daytime curfew is more heavily
utilized than the evening curfew. Enforcement at
night is more difficult because of fewer juvenile
dropoff centers. To increase the use of nighttime
curfew, the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office emulated the
Phoenix program and began using a public park as a
regional curfew processing center. Juvenile
offenders are now processed more quickly, allowing
for increased street sweeps by police. Municipal
Courts established partnerships with the police and
the Parks Department by providing community service
assignments for parents and juveniles in lieu of
fining the offenders.

The Youth Council and Media Relations Program. The
Mayor's Anti-Gang Office established a Youth
Council to solicit input on anti-gang programs and
policies. Seventeen high school students with
diverse backgrounds meet weekly with the Mayor's
Anti-Gang Office staff to discuss city strategies
and ensure the participation of youth in addressing
juvenile programs. As a result of the meetings, the
Youth Council expressed concerns over negative
media attention on youth crime. This prompted the
Mayor's Anti-Gang Office to provide area media with
positive information about the prevention programs
available featuring teens who have achieved success
despite adversity. The idea was to promote optimism
among young people, countering the impression that
they have no future.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The Mayor's Anti-Gang Task Force uses the following
performance indicators to measure the success of
the program:

o Juvenile crime statistics. 

o Criminal street gang crime statistics.

o Number of children served by local youth service
providers. 

o Number of educators trained in the GEAR gang
intervention program. 

o Number of civilians receiving basic gang
awareness training.

o Number of graffiti sites cleaned on public and
private property. 

o Number of gallons of free paint provided. 

o Positive amount of media coverage.

o Overall community attitude and awareness of
safety, youth crime, and criminal activity.
   
Implementation Problems and Successes

Bringing together agencies that have not
collaborated before, either in practice or theory,
can raise difficulties in implementing new
programs. Police, educators, and grassroots
neighborhood organizations have little experience
working together despite their similar goals.
Because the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office designs the
programs for use by outside agencies, the success
of a specific program is dependent upon the
collective investment of the participating
agencies.

Although collaboration raised some difficulties
during implementation, Houston has seen great
improvement in both traditional and contemporary
approaches to its gang problem through the
cooperation of many different government and
private sector collaborations. Overall, agencies
feel positively about the programs already in
place. They had a feeling of accomplishment and a
sense that they were doing something in an
organized and unified manner about the juvenile
crime problem.

Successes and Accomplishments

Besides the implementation of the Gang Task Force
and the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office, Mayor Bob Lanier
dedicated many city resources toward putting
additional police officers on the beat and
improving city parks and recreation programs. No
single program can be credited, but due to a
combination of efforts, Houston's crime rate has
declined steadily since 1992. Moreover, the
juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes has
declined, and in 1994, the juvenile victimization
rate began to drop.

Due to success of the Visual Blight Ordinance, a
noticeable difference can be seen on the streets of
the city. There are fewer graffiti. Thousands of
vandalized sites have been painted over by
probation labor crews and volunteers. More than
2,000 gallons of recycled paint currently stock the
paint bank, and nearly 1,000 gallons have been
distributed free of charge to citizens and city
departments utilizing the paint for graffiti
coverup.

A total of $150,000 of Community Development Block
Grant funds have been distributed to 21 local youth
service providers serving approximately 1,000
children. The news media frequently report on their
successful efforts to direct young people away from
trouble and toward success.

More than 15,000 civilians, police officers,
probation officers, and teachers received free gang
awareness training by the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office
in 1994 and 1995.

Most important, the media and the public have an
increased awareness of gang activity and related
issues like graffiti and neighborhood development
and renewed optimism about contributing to the
solution.

Prospects for Replication

Replication of the Houston Anti-Gang Program is
possible, but it is imperative that the program be
an executive branch initiative. It is unlikely that
this program could succeed within a police
department alone. Collaboration and cooperation
between the highest ranking officials of all
agencies is critical in implementing program
components. Utilization of the media is strongly
recommended to highlight and advertise the
program's efforts and achievements.

Contact Information

Kimbra Ogg
Anti-Gang Director
Mayor's Anti-Gang Office
City of Houston
P.O. Box 1562
Houston, TX 77251
713-247-1579
713-247-1340 fax

------------------------------

Washington

Seattle Indian Center Youth Program

Statement of the Problem

American Indian/Alaska Native students are among
the most disadvantaged in the Seattle School
District. In the 1993-94 school year, 24.5 percent
of all dropouts were American Indian/Alaska Native,
compared to 15.1 percent overall. In terms of
expulsions, American Indian/Alaska Native students
finished second behind African-American students
while few Caucasian students were expelled. This
disproportional representation also exists in free
lunch and special education programs. Approximately
47 percent of all American Indian/Alaska  Native
students received free or reduced-price meals
compared to the district average of 39.9 percent.
Districtwide, 10 percent of all students received
special education, but 14.3 percent of all American
Indian/Alaska Native students were enrolled in
special education. The picture of the American
Indian/Alaska Native student in the local public
school system is bleak. 

While there is special emphasis on recruiting
American Indian/Alaska Native students, the Seattle
Indian Center (SIC) Youth Program serves all people
in need. The following data portray a community in
crisis: One in six 10th graders drink daily or
binge drink regularly; half of teen offenders
commit their crimes while high, drunk, or both;
more than 80,000 children in Washington State have
substance abuse problems; more than 7 percent of
Seattle schools' 11th graders own weapons; and
gang-related crimes reported to police grew from 89
in 1989 to more than 400 in 1993.

Since the inception of SIC, students have been
entering its educational programs at increasingly
younger ages. In the past the average school
dropout age was 16. More recently, dropouts have
begun entering SIC programs as early as 12 and 13
years. Younger students are entering the program
with more significant life problems including
substance abuse, history of sexual abuse, gang and
other juvenile criminal activity, street life
attachment, and homelessness. These younger
students are devoid of the innocence of youth and
are more gang oriented and violence prone. In
addition, the younger students lack the know-how
and skills to tap into available community
resources to help resolve their life problems.
These observations, in addition to the accrual of
school problems encountered by a growing number of
Seattle's street youth, prompted SIC to develop the
Seattle Indian Center Youth Program.

Goals and Objectives

The primary goal of the Seattle Indian Center Youth
Program is to provide high school reentry and human
services to at-risk youth in the Seattle area over
a 2-year period. The objectives to meet this goal
are to provide case management, high school reentry
classes, violence prevention/intervention, and
latchkey and supportive services to a minimum of
100 at-risk youth over a 2-year period.

Program Components

The program offers an array of academic and
supportive services to help middle and high school
dropouts successfully reenter school. Youth who
have dropped out of school are heavily recruited
from shelters, community service providers,
powwows, or by word of mouth.

The high school reentry program features
mathematics, language arts, American Indian/Alaska
Native literature, U.S. and world history, and Life
Quest. Courses in food preparation and nutrition,
teen AIDS education, and health awareness round out
the curriculum designed to help dropouts rejoin
their peers in high school. The learning activities
emphasize basic skills, self-esteem, life coping
skills, and academic coursework.

Students are interviewed, assessed at intake, and
given individual assignments to bring them up to
the academic level they need to reenter school.
Self-paced instruction in a classroom setting
allows students to be internally motivated and work
at their own level. Teachers are available to
provide assistance and guidance when needed. Core
values including punctuality and respect for others
are enforced to give students a sense of
responsibility. Meetings to review students'
progress are held weekly, and daily attendance is
tracked by an administrative assistant. Students
with perfect attendance are rewarded, while those
with numerous unapproved absences are reviewed by
the executive board and advised that if they do not
attend class they will be expelled. Positive
completion is rewarded with a certificate presented
to the Seattle School Board indicating the
student's eligibility for reentry.

The SIC Youth Program is also a model human service
agency offering an array of services in one
location. These services include employment and
training, family services, teen parent programs,
domestic violence counseling, latchkey programs,
transportation, emergency housing, a food bank,
homeless services, hot meal programs, mail service,
alcoholism services, and counseling. In addition,
the SIC wraparound case management system helps
individuals and families access supportive services
through offsite linkages, including programs
offered by the City of Seattle, State of
Washington, Department of Social and Health
Services, and community-based organizations.

Results and Impact

Performance Measures

The SIC Youth Program expects to exceed its planned
objective of 80-percent positive completion. This
is defined as a minimum of 40 students annually
reentering high school or other training programs.
Additional performance measures include attendance,
increased economic self-sufficiency, increase in
students' basic level of understanding of
coursework, decreased risk factors relating to
dropout statistics, increased knowledge and use of
community resources, and reduction in number of
arrests.

Implementation Problems and Successes

One of the biggest implementation problems was
structuring the program in such a way as to
encourage students to be punctual while encouraging
them to develop an internalized locus of self-
monitoring. Punctual attendance is strongly
mandated by the executive director. Prompt
attendance and quick completion of assigned tasks
are two important survival skills useful in both
academic and work environments. 

Successes and Accomplishments

More than 80 percent of the student population
return to a public school and earn their high
school diploma or General Equivalency Diploma
(GED). Students complete the minimum standards of
coursework. They raise their level of competency to
the necessary standard of readmittance into the
public school environment. Students often raise
their basic level of understanding when they leave
SIC. This increase in basic levels of understanding
in required core coursework decreases a significant
risk factor for dropping out.

A significant number of the students who
successfully complete the program go on to a 2-year
college. One single mother successfully completed
the program and earned a scholarship to a local 2-
year college. The students who complete the SIC
Youth Program also reduce their amount of gang-
related activity. They demonstrate more prosocial
management techniques in conflict resolution. They
show more attachment to community, family, and
school and demonstrate more resiliency to stress
factors in their lives. They show an improved
attitude about school that translates to an
improved attitude about their place in society.

SIC served 132 American Indian youth in the first
year of the funding cycle, exceeding the goal of
serving 100. Quality instruction was provided in a
cost-effective manner. SIC has given each student
an opportunity to develop a more positive coping
style, one that reduces the impact of the risk
factors on students' academic progress. SIC offers
mathematics instruction that integrates general
problem-solving skills with important numerical
skills. The success of the program comes from
raising students' proficiencies in at least two
academic areas including English, mathematics,
social studies, and science; students'
proficiencies are often raised in several areas. A
student's ability to maintain a record of punctual
attendance and attention to task demonstrates SIC's
ability to enhance survival skills and increase
economic self-sufficiency for a hard-to-reach
student population.

Prospects for Replication

The SIC Youth Program can be replicated in urban,
rural, reservation, and island communities since
the program design addresses multiple needs through
a culturally appropriate service delivery approach.
This approach calls for agencies like SIC to step
in and become part of a youth's extended family.
While this approach is rooted in American
Indian/Alaska Native tradition, it is effective in
other environments as well.

Replication requires that a community have several
institutions such as churches, schools, families,
government programs, and community-based
organizations from which to draw volunteers,
mentors, friends, and teachers. In developing the
SIC Youth Program, SIC obtained input from members
of each of these community institutions.

Only through using and strengthening existing
community networks and resources will community-
based agencies reduce youth violence. The SIC Youth
Program shows that a holistic case management
approach is effective and should be a part of any
plan to replicate the program.

Contact Information

Camille Monzon, M.P.A.
Executive Director
Seattle Indian Center
611 12th Avenue South
Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98144
206-329-8700
206-328-5983 fax

Elizabeth Archambault
Administrative Assistant
Seattle Indian Center
611 12th Avenue South
Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98144
206-329-8700
206-328-5983 fax

------------------------------

Wisconsin

Menominee Law Enforcement Community Organization
Project

Statement of the Problem

The Menominee Indian Reservation is located on 360
square miles, 45 miles northwest of Green Bay,
Wisconsin. A people holding strongly to their
Indian cultural traditions and heritage, the
reservation residents are wary of those who would
attempt to assimilate them into the Anglo culture,
stripping them of their Indian status. The
Menominee Tribal Police Department is committed to
maintaining a close relationship with the residents
of the Menominee Indian Reservation and strives to
meet their needs. However, changes in the status of
the community, from a reservation to a reservation
that is also a Wisconsin county, have caused
jurisdictional problems for law enforcement because
Federal, State, county, and tribal agencies all
have authority in the area. This factor, among
others, has created distrust between community
members and the Tribal Police Department. This
distrust intensifies the reservation's crime
problems, which include drugs, violence, and a host
of general criminal activities, and makes
department intervention more difficult. In
addition, a lack of reservation activities and
programs leaves few recreational outlets for
residents that do not involve crime or abusive
behavior.

In recognition of these problems, the Menominee
Tribal Police Department developed the Law
Enforcement Community Organization (LECO) Project,
under the direction of a law enforcement community
organizer, to establish the positive relationship
between the community and the department necessary
to combat the reservation's crime problem
effectively.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the Menominee LECO Project is to create
a safe haven from crime, violence, and illicit
drugs on the Menominee Indian Reservation. The key
element is for the Menominee Tribal Police
Department to develop partnerships with community
agencies and residents of the reservation in order
to recruit active participants in the effort to
reduce crime. With the necessary tools and
knowledge, this union can reduce crime and improve
the quality of life for residents of the
reservation. The following objectives were designed
to meet the project's goal:

o Hire a law enforcement community organizer to
coordinate and implement the project and act as a
public relations officer, building and maintaining
partnerships with residents and improving the image
of the police department.

o Establish a multisector task force to develop
short-term, intermediate, and long-term strategies
for innovative crime prevention.

o Form alliances between the LECO project and
community committees to explore problem areas and
develop solutions in an effort to reduce crime
rates.

o Enhance the ability of community committees'
planning teams to develop and carry out culturally
sensitive community crime prevention programs that
conform to the communities' needs and priorities.

o Upgrade the department with quality communication
skills to build trusting and positive relationships
between the police force and residents.

o Have the police department develop a component
emphasizing volunteerism to help mobilize residents
and instill pride throughout the community.

o Develop youth councils in order to use positive
peer pressure to decrease drug use among youth.

o Reduce drug sales near school and Housing
Authority subdivisions by identifying and
prioritizing target drug areas.
  
Program Components

The primary component of the Menominee LECO Project
is the organizer position. The person in this
position is responsible for breaking down the
barrier between the residents of the reservation
and the Tribal Police Department while
strengthening both entities. A key factor in the
success of this position has been the recruitment
of a reservation resident as the LECO organizer.
The current organizer, in addition to being
familiar to the community, is a resident of the
reservation and is versed in tribal culture. These
factors helped to reduce initial skepticism
concerning the project and also provided the
organizer with more leverage in working through and
reducing strong resistance to the project.
Familiarity also saved time that otherwise would
have been spent becoming acquainted with the people
and their community and gaining initial trust and
support for the project.

The second component of the program is public
relations. Although public relations can have many
connotations, for the LECO project it refers to
networking and resourcing. Simply stated, the
organizer responds to requests for a host of
community services, including attending meetings,
leading training sessions, and being a contact
person for information about the Menominee Tribe
and reservation. By offering his or her services to
the community on behalf of the Tribal Police
Department, the organizer clears two hurdles
necessary to reduce crime and create a safe haven.
First, the organizer actively provides knowledge,
resources, and referrals the community needs,
helping the community gain a sense of self-worth
and pride. Second, since the organizer works under
the auspices of the police department, the
community has a voice representing it to the police
department and also begins to view the department
in a more helpful and positive light. Together,
these two elements make both the community and the
department stronger. This results in people who are
ready and able to create a safe and productive
community. In addition, individuals and communities
off the reservation utilize the LECO project
services, thus expanding its positive impact. 

A third component of the project entails the
programs that the organizer coordinates in addition
to general networking and resourcing. Thus far,
such programs have been varied in content and
format. (Examples of programs can be found in
"Successes and Accomplishments" below.) However,
policies and procedures have been drawn up that
will provide a greater focus for future LECO
project programs. It is hoped that in the future
such programs will assume one or more of the
following forms:

o Public Information--designed to publicize
department objectives, problems, and
accomplishments through the media, brochures,
speaking engagements, news releases, press
conferences, and newsletters.

o Community Relations--designed to enhance the
relationship between the residents of the
reservation and the department by contributing
personnel or physical resources to various
community events or activities.

o Crime Awareness--designed to provide individuals
and citizen groups with information on making their
families, homes, and businesses more secure and to
work to establish neighborhood watch programs.
  
Results and Impact

Performance Measures

During the first year of operation, the Menominee
Law Enforcement Community Organization Project
based the success or failure of its performance
primarily on (1) the perceived and shared attitudes
and reactions of reservation residents and the
police department and (2) the level of resistance
to or participation in the program and its
activities. However, within the next year the LECO
project hopes to implement the following official
performance measures.

Community Relations Reports. On a monthly basis,
the organizer will prepare for submission to the
Chief of Police a report which will include (1) a
description of current concerns voiced by the
residents of the reservation, (2) a description of
potential problems that have bearing on law 
enforcement activities on the reservation, and (3)
a statement of recommended actions that addresses
previously identified concerns and problems. In
addition, the organizer will be responsible for
preparing a semiannual evaluation of all community
relations programs to ensure that the programs are
effectively addressing community concerns.

Annual Citizen Survey. An annual survey of citizen
attitudes and opinions will be conducted by the
organizer with the cooperation of the police
department's administrative personnel. It will
evaluate citizens' opinions related to (1) overall
department performance, (2) overall competence of
department personnel, (3) officers' attitudes and
behavior toward citizens, (4) concern over safety
and security within the department's service area
as a whole, (5) concern over safety and security
within the sector of the department's service area
where the respondent works and lives, and (6)
recommendations and suggestions for improvements.
Administrative personnel will have input in
determining the methods and instruments used to
conduct the surveys, and the results will be
compiled by the organizer, who will communicate the
findings to the chief of police as part of the
Community Relations Report.

Community Input. While performing community
relations, the organizer will be mindful of
community concerns relating to department policy
and procedure; solicit input from concerned
citizens regarding possible policy/procedure
alternatives; collect citizen comments from
officers; and maintain records of citizen
complaints.

Implementation Problems and Successes

The implementation problems faced by the Menominee
Law Enforcement Community Organization Project were
twofold: those that are inherent to any program's
inception and those related to the negative
relationship between the two major parties
involved.

First, the organizer and the police department had
difficulty establishing goals and objectives for
the program's first year. Even though goals and
objectives were written in the program description,
a plan of action had to be developed. This was the
first and only program of its kind in Indian
Country, and so all involved wanted to make sure it
met with success. Through program implementation,
it was realized that although goals and objectives
were crucial, the program had to retain a measure
of flexibility to account for the needs and
expectations of the community it was attempting to
serve. A year of operation provided specific
program components and activities to center the
program around in the coming year, including
programs concerning public information, community
relations, and crime awareness.

Second, the Menominee Law Enforcement Community
Organization Project has a staff of one and a small
budget. The organizer often had difficulty making
commitments, especially since without an
administrative assistant he had to spend a
substantial amount of time in the office taking
care of paperwork and general secretarial duties.
In addition, much of the assistance he required was
in areas in which police department staff had
little or no experience, such as working with the
media, setting up seminars, and completing other
duties concerning public relations. Office space
was also a major problem. The LECO project's
workload continues to grow, and with the community
relations aspect of the job and routine work, a
private office is essential. In addition, a vehicle
would be beneficial, as the coordinator must travel
throughout the community and State. Unfortunately,
funding and actual space have kept these problems
from being resolved. 

Third, the program met resistance from some
community members. One of the main challenges was
the community's skepticism because of the program's
and organizer's relation to the police department.
The concern was that there would be little or no
followup, which had happened with similar programs
in the past. Many citizens felt that the connection
with the Tribal Police Department meant that the
organizer was involved with many of the negative
aspects of the department and that the information
they shared, either at community meetings or one on
one, would be given to the chief of police and
members of the police department staff. Although
resistance still exists, the coordinator quelled
most of the fears and concerns by (1) informing the
community of the exact nature of the LECO organizer
position; (2) maintaining rapport and keeping
communication lines open for everyone (the helpful
and the resistant) through the use of listening
skills, music, and humor; (3) ensuring and
delivering program followup; (4) keeping residents
informed as to project happenings and progress
through meetings, letters, one-on-one discussions,
and articles in the tribal newspaper; and (5)
letting the residents know that they, their
opinions, and their views were valued. The fact
that the organizer was a member of the reservation
was crucial to his success in gaining reservation
support for the project.

Finally, the organizer did not have substantial
experience working with young children. Since
speaking at the junior/senior high schools and the
Menominee Tribal School, working with students in
the upper and lower classes, and assisting with the
Youth at Risk Task Force are part of the position's
responsibilities, the organizer is learning to
relate to and communicate with young children
primarily through practice. Until the point is
reached at which he is comfortable with such
situations, he is focusing on gaining knowledge of
referral sources where he and they can receive
additional assistance.

Successes and Accomplishments

The success of the Menominee Law Enforcement
Community Organization Project has been felt both
on the reservation and in the police department, as
well as in agencies and jurisdictions with no
relation to the community. At the start, the
organizer designed a logo depicting the people, the
reservation, and the joint effort of the Menominee
Tribal Police Department and Menominee Tribal
Housing Authority to create a safe haven for the
community. The meaning of the logo is demonstrated
by the individual successes described below:

Community Success. Connections with several
reservation programs and departments were made, and
the organizer was involved in a diverse range of
community tasks. A partnership was formed with the
Menominee Tribal Housing Authority, and a working
relationship was developed between the LECO
organizer and the director of the housing
authority's Drug Elimination Program, which allowed
several successful joint efforts. The housing
authority owns the majority of reservation homes
and relies on police protection and cooperation.
With the development of a positive relationship
with the director, many different events occurred
including numerous drug busts and arrests. In
addition, the housing authority showed its
commitment to the LECO project by its willingness
to convert two units for professional use: one will
become an offsite precinct for police officers on
patrol, and the other will be used by the housing
authority, Drug Elimination Program, and LECO
project.

The largest joint undertaking was the cohosting of
the National Drug Elimination Crime Prevention
Conference. Because of the working relationship
between the housing authority and the Tribal Police
Department, the Office of Native American Programs
in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development office in Chicago
chose the Menominee reservation as the site of this
annual conference. The planning process started in
October 1994 and included attending many meetings
on and off the reservation, establishing the
agenda, arranging for speakers, developing special
events, making travel arrangements, and performing
other duties necessary for a successful conference.

As requested by the reservation's Maehnowesekiyah
Treatment Center, the organizer led the center's
spirituality and culture sessions once every 6
weeks, with many positive results. Since the
organizer himself was in recovery, he was able to
understand and relate to the clients, and being
from the reservation added credibility to his
presentations as he could speak their language.
More important, the center's clients were provided
a positive connection to the police department.
Having someone they could trust to take them
seriously and act in a helpful manner made center
residents comfortable in speaking with the project
organizer and even with officers. In addition, the
staff at Maehnowesekiyah gained a contact person at
the police department who was able to participate
in many of their programs. The organizer's
involvement enhanced the image of the police
department while helping individuals who might
otherwise have had additional negative experiences
with the police to successfully rehabilitate
themselves. 

The project organizer helped the South Branch
community obtain the architectural plans for their
new community building at no charge. A graduate of
North Central Technical College (NCTC) with an
associate's degree in architecture, the organizer
planned a meeting between the members of the South
Branch Community Building Planning Committee and
the lead instructor at NCTC. The result was that
the school agreed to use the creation of the South
Branch community building plans as a class project
at no cost to the tribe or the South Branch
community.

During July 1994, Chief Awonohopay initiated a
community picnic to honor tribal elders. The LECO
organizer planned and organized the picnic, which
had excellent attendance.

Community meetings were held in Neopit and South
Branch. The citizen input and problems that the
organizer brought back to the police department
from these meetings gave the chief of police and
his staff firsthand knowledge of the citizens'
attitudes and concerns. The organizer's efforts
allowed the citizens and the department to be
represented to each other in a positive light.

The organizer made numerous presentations on legal
issues at the Menominee Tribal School in Neopit.
Several additional activities were held at the
Menominee Junior/Senior High Schools, and some
students were included in the LECO programs held
off the reservation. Such activities were
beneficial to the students and the school staff. A
line of communication with the principals at both
schools opened up. The greatest benefit of this
communication was that students and department
officers began to work on projects together. Some
students also showed an interest in law
enforcement. Coordination with the schools will
continue to be one of the main focuses for the
future.

Department Success. The LECO project has been
extremely beneficial for the Menominee Tribal
Police Department due to the full support of the
Chief of Police and the department's staff. The
organizer planned and facilitated an eight-session
training program on public relations, which was
mandatory for all tribal officers and jail
personnel.

The theme of the 1994 annual Menominee Nation Pow-
Wow was Honoring Tribal Law Enforcement in Indian
Country. Several different tribal law enforcement
agencies were participants, and the organizer was
in charge of all the event's activities. An article
about the powwow was written in Wisconsin Trails, a
monthly magazine published in Madison, Wisconsin.
This publication had never published an article on
powwows, so it was quite an honor that the
Menominee Nation's powwow was chosen.

The organizer handled many delicate situations for
which police officers had previously been
responsible. During the previous year, the
reservation suffered the untimely deaths of their
former tribal Chief of Police, Ken "Paddo" Fish,
and their former tribal Chairman, Glen Miller. In
both situations, the organizer was able to remove
many pressures from the officers, community
members, and family members by responding to a host
of concerns and requests. He was in charge of all
aspects of both funerals, including the media. The
department received many letters of support and
thanks for the organizer's work in this regard.

External Success. The LECO organizer shared the
Indian tribal culture and the ideas behind the LECO
project with select groups and police departments
outside the reservation. U.S. Secretary of the
Interior Bruce Babbitt visited the reservation. The
LECO organizer worked with the Tribal Public
Relations Department to schedule the visit. The
Secretary and his entourage toured the law
enforcement facilities and two other locations on
the reservation.

The organizer taught several classes and sessions
about diversity at Fort Valley Technical College in
Appleton, Wisconsin; the University of Wisconsin,
Green Bay; Youngstown State University, Youngstown,
Ohio; North Central Technical College, Wausau,
Wisconsin; and Southwest High School, Green Bay,
Wisconsin. He is working with the staff at the
College of the Menominee Nation to begin this type
of work in their system.

The organizer coordinated a trip for a group of
singers and dancers from the reservation's high
school to the Fox Valley Technical College for a
demonstration during the school's Multi-Cultural
Week. The organizer is also on the planning
committee and is a presenter for the Multi-
Jurisdictional Conference held each fall in Green
Bay.

The Resident Organization from the Ho-Chunk Nation
in Tomah, Wisconsin, contacted the organizer to
request a presentation of the project. The LECO
organizer and other tribal representatives met with
the organization and explained the partnership, the
national conference, and the importance of
communication and working together.

Many of these situations and items may seem
unrelated to crime, violence, and drugs; however,
the LECO project is at the forefront of empowering
communities to become involved in innovative
approaches to community policing. The community
meetings, networking, training, and other public
relations services the program offered through the
police department enabled the organizer to set the
pace for his future work and the work of other
tribes. The partnerships established with the
housing authority and other programs and the
interest shown by other tribes demonstrate the
program's success. During the next year, the
organizer's main goal is to expand on the work
already accomplished.

Prospects for Replication

The Menominee Law Enforcement Community
Organization project has demonstrated that a
program can be successful even when the main
participants have had a negative history. All that
is required is an organizer willing to work to
bring the two groups together under a common
purpose. The LECO project suggests the following as
keys to a successful community organization
project:

o The administrators of the program must support it
fully.

o The project's goals and objectives must be clear,
yet flexible.

o The LECO organizer should be a resident of the
area.

o The LECO organizer should not be a police
officer.

o The project and its leader should remain in the
police department and not become politicized.
   
Contact Information

Richie Plass
Law Enforcement Community Organizer
Law Enforcement Community Organization Project
Menominee Tribal Police Department
P.O. Box 518
Keshena, WI 54135
715-799-3321
715-799-1310 fax

------------------------------

Bureau of Justice Assistance Information

General Information

Callers may contact the U.S. Department of Justice
Response Center for general information or specific
needs, such as assistance in submitting grants
applications and information on training. To
contact the Response Center, call 1-800-421-6770 or
write to 1100 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20005.

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programs, and its funding opportunities, requesters
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Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), shares BJA
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conferences, and other networking and outreach
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eastern time

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