Refocusing Education with Students & Police by Enlisting Courts & Training (RESPECT)

Grantees are funded under this initiative to develop program activities based on the core strategies of the Comprehensive Gang Model. Category 1, Intervention, supports intervention strategies that can dissuade youth from joining gangs and help them discontinue their involvement in gangs. Proposed strategies are built upon the principles of the following core strategies in the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model: Community Mobilization, Opportunities Provision, and Social Intervention.

The City of Portsmouth Police Department proposes to implement the RESPECT program to address the ongoing problem of juvenile gang violence. The RESPECT program strives to reduce in-school juvenile arrests and present the youth, the City’s most valuable resource, with constructive RESPECT lessons and positive options to enhance the student’s ability to succeed not only in the RESPECT program, but also in school and life. The RESPECT program is a 9-week program wherein each class will be instructed by City of Portsmouth Police Department (PPD) Officers with assistance from Portsmouth Public Schools staff, Commonwealth Attorney’s Office and other accredited entities as deem fit and appropriate to achieve the program’s mission and goals. The program will also support the convening of a working group that meets regularly through the project period to identify and address service gaps and barriers, and use funding for intervention strategies, such as mentoring, to target youth at risk of or involved in gangs. CA/NCF