Cleveland Gang Prevention Coordination Program

The applicant proposal will allow the City of Cleveland, through the expanded operation of Stand Together Against Neighborhood Crime Everyday (STANCE), to enhance the coordination of federal, state and local resources in support of community partnerships implementing primary prevention, secondary prevention, gang intervention and gang enforcement strategies. The overreaching goals of Cleveland STANCE are to: 1) expand STANCE's ability to reach high-risk youth and families through the implementation of best practices programs and proven effective prevention programming, as prescribed by the OJJDP comprehensive gang prevention model; 2) expand STANCE's core design as an integrated, multi-functional, multi-partnership community-based suppression, intervention, and prevention initiative; 3) expand STANCE's collaboration and coordination of existing anti-gang initiatives with additional local partners, including neighborhood faith-based and grassroots organizations and reinforcement and expansion collaboration with state, federal, and local police officials; 4) expand community stakeholders' general knowledge of STANCE partnership and resources available to STANCE agencies; 5) increase CMHA PD officers' knowledge, skills and ability to relate more constructively with youth and their families; and 6) increase the ability of high-risk youth and their families to access a full range of services (social; educational; treatment; vocational; medical, dental, psychological) by implementing Operation Focus and targeted outreach in high-crime gang neighborhoods. STANCE will create a sustainable infrastructure for the collection of data, the maintenance of effective and efficient programming and the active engagement of community and business partners through the establishment of an integrated collaborative structure for ongoing coordination and planning.

CA/NCF