Blueprints for Gang Prevention

OJJDP FY 09 Demonstration Programs Division Grants was established to provide grants, cooperative agreements and other assistance to organizations designated by OJJDP, as authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. Sections 5601 et seq.) and statutes appropriating funds for juvenile justice programs.

Gang membership appears to facilitate increased involvement in violence and serious delinquency. It is imperative to identify effective programs to reduce the level of gang membership and to reduce the impact that gang membership has in facilitating antisocial behaviors. Currently, the number of known gang intervention programs that meet rigorous standards to be considered "evidence-based" are very limited. However, there are the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project has identified other programs that have been shown to reduce violence, delinquency, and drug use, and which meet these evidence based standards. The overall purpose of this project is to identify the Blueprint programs that have the highest probability for success with gang members or youth at risk for gang membership, modify them to be responsive to the particular needs of gang members, and then implement and rigorously evaluate their effectiveness. This award will provide support for the second stage of this effort (which was funded in the initial year with funding from the CDC). The project will have identified approximately four eligible programs at the end of the first stage. For the next stage, with the assistance of the project's Advisory Board, researchers will identify necessary modifications for these programs and work with the program designers to modify each program's protocol.

NCA/NCF