U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Shay Bilchik, Administrator

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OFF ICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS

BJA NI J OJJDP BJS OVC

each youth. The MGIP gang detectives and probation officers

hold program youth accountable through surveillance and routine

monitoring and support street outreach workers and staff from

community-based agencies who ensure delivery of services such

as counseling, job referrals, drug and alcohol treatment, and other

social services. The Arizona Supreme Court, Administrative

Office of the Court, has recently provided additional support to

MGIP for a computer literacy lab for youth in the target area.

Tucson Gang Project

The Tucson Gang Project, affiliated with the OUR Town Family

Center of Tuscon, AZ, focuses on 4 Tuscon neighborhoods where

4 main gangs with an estimated 350 members are located. The

project operates from offices in a Boys & Girls Club in the target

area. Street outreach workers, probation officers, a police gang unit

officer, and others work daily to provide services and opportunities and to encourage constructive and positive activities and

accountability for negative or criminal acts to youth targeted by

the project. Weekly outreach staff meetings are supplemented by

weekly meetings of the entire project team to review progress and

reevaluate community needs. The project recently added the Boys

& Girls Clubs of America’s Gang Prevention Through Targeted

Outreach Program, which focuses on younger at-risk youth, to its

strategy. A community justice effort, led by the Pima County

District Attorney’s Office, is also underway in the area and

potential links to the project are being examined.

Riverside Comprehensive Communitywide Approach

to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression

This project of the City of Riverside (CA) Police Department

focuses on 2 communities in the city known to be high gang crime

areas and home to 21 gangs with approximately 1,230 members.

Outreach workers and employees of other service agencies meet

weekly to discuss service needs. They also meet regularly with

police and probation officers to discuss area safety, gang activities,

and accountability issues. Outreach workers encourage youth to

attend school, obtain job training, seek regular employment, and

use social services. Police and probation officers make home visits,

July 1999 #112

Implementing the OJJDP

Comprehensive Gang Model

In 1995, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded grants to five communities to implement

and test a model program to reduce gang crime and violence. The

OJJDP (or “Spergel”) Model includes five strategies for dealing

with gang-involved youth and their communities. These strategies

are: (1) mobilizing community leaders and residents to plan,

strengthen, or create new opportunities or linkages to existing

organizations for gang-involved and at-risk youth; (2) using

outreach workers to engage gang-involved youth; (3) providing

and facilitating access to academic, economic, and social opportunities; (4) conducting gang suppression activities and holding

gang-involved youth accountable; and (5) facilitating organizational change and development to help community agencies

better address gang problems through a team "problem-solving"

approach that is consistent with the philosophy of community

oriented policing. The model and its strategies are designed and

targeted based on a strategic problem assessment and implemented sequentially. At each of the five sites, a steering committee made up of key community leaders and staff from local

agencies provides overall direction and guidance.

Although the demonstration phase of the projects will not end for

some time, each site has seen important preliminary results. This

Fact Sheet offers a preview of programs at each site and should

be helpful to any community attempting to address gang crime

and violence. These descriptions are intended to highlight the

essence of the model—a coordinated team approach to delivering

services and problem solving.

Mesa Gang Intervention Project

The target area for the Mesa (AZ) Gang Intervention Project

(MGIP), coordinated by the City of Mesa Police Department,

is defined by the service areas of 2 junior high schools, home to

approximately 18 gangs with an estimated 650 members. A team

of 2 gang detectives, 1 adult and 3 juvenile probation officers,

and 2 street outreach workers monitors and provides services

daily to the 100 youth in the project. The MGIP team operates

out of a storefront office in the target community and uses a team

problem-solving approach to ensure that progress is made with

by Jim Burch and Candice Kane, Ph.D.
PRESORTED STANDARD

POSTAGE & FEES PAID

DOJ/OJJDP

PERMIT NO. G–91

FS–99112 Fact Sheet

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

perform area surveillance, make arrests, and maintain other

controls on project youth. The project has also been enhanced by

the Probation Department’s development of Youth Accountability

Boards and a new prevention-oriented, school-based outreach

program that is linked to the gang project.

Bloomington/Normal Youth Impact, Inc.

Run by Project OZ, Inc., this project includes all of Bloomington

and Normal, IL, in its target area where 8 gangs with 640 gang

members are located. Regular team meetings for outreach workers

are supplemented by monthly meetings between the Bloomington

Police Department’s Proactive Unit and juvenile parole, adult and

juvenile probation, and school resource officers who review the

progress of project youth, special problems in the cities, and

overall gang activities. Outreach workers assist both project youth

in the community and those who are incarcerated but expect to

return in the near future. Bloomington and Normal police, along

with other justice agencies, such as probation and the county

prosecutor’s office, work closely to provide increased gang

surveillance and sanctions for gang crime in Bloomington/Normal.

The project has been enhanced by an OJJDP Juvenile Mentoring

Program (JUMP) grant that provides services to youth at risk for

joining gangs. The Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach

Program of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America has recently been

added to the project and will focus on youth at high risk of gang

involvement.

San Antonio Gang Rehabilitation, Assessment,

and Services Program

The target community of the City of San Antonio (TX) Police

Department’s Gang Rehabilitation, Assessment, and Services

Program (GRAASP), located on the outer limits of the southwest

side of the city, is home to 15 gangs with an estimated 1,664

members. Street-based outreach workers assist other social service

agency employees, probation officers, a job developer, Texas Youth

Commission staff, city police assigned to community policing and

tactical units, and others to provide services, opportunities, and

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of

Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute

of Justice, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

support to youth in the program while also providing sanctions

including arrest for criminal or delinquent acts. Outreach workers

meet monthly to discuss coordination and case management.

Police and probation officers are available to meet whenever safety

or accountability issues arise, although communication between

police, probation officers, and other GRAASP staff also occurs

outside of scheduled meetings and informal meetings take place

regularly. The project coordinator, outreach staff, and job developer

operate out of a project office near the target area. Project staff

have organized graffiti paintouts, community health fairs, recreational opportunities for project youth, and other community

activities with local neighborhood associations.

University of Chicago Evaluation

Over the past 4 years, project participants at the five sites have

learned many lessons that are expected to greatly enhance

knowledge about responding to chronic and emerging youth

gang problems. The University of Chicago’s evaluation of the

demonstration effort, funded by OJJDP, is expected to shed

further light on the process and outcomes in each of these sites.

For Further Information

For additional information about youth gangs, call OJJDP’s

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, 800–638–8736, or visit OJJDP’s

Web site, www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org (Internet).

Jim Burch is a Program Manager with the Special Emphasis Division

of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Candice

Kane is Project Director for OJJDP’s gang technical assistance project

at the University of Chicago.

FS–99112