Southwest Key Gang Prevention Program

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 grantee will implement the Southwest Key Gang Prevention Program in Buffalo, NY. The target population for the program is youth at risk of gang activity, delinquency, and youth violence. This program will serve male and female youth ages 10–17 in Buffalo, targeting youth who reside in high-risk, high-poverty areas of east, west, downtown, and south central Buffalo. Southwest Key's Gang Prevention Program uses approaches from OJJDP's evidence-based Comprehensive Gang Model, including community mobilization, opportunities provision, and social intervention. The program also builds upon strategies from the OJJDP Gang Reduction Program, which proved successful in serving youth with similar characteristics as the proposed target population and geographic areas with similar gang-related activity as Buffalo. The Southwest Key Gang Prevention Program is designed to offer a unique mixture of core services and activities that engage youth, and support and encourage them to practice healthy behaviors in a positive, prosocial peer group. The program will serve 30 youth annually (90 youth over the 3-year grant period) and provide them with a unique and individualized combination of case management, skills-building opportunities, job readiness, prosocial and recreational activities, and linkages to employment supports and community resources for gang-involved youth and their families. The project goal is to prevent and reduce youth gang involvement and youth gang violence. Southwest Key will also implement a gang prevention task force that will include representatives from Locked Up Prison Prevention Program, Cassadga Job Corps, International Institute of Buffalo Sex Trafficking Unit, Crosswater Digital Media, and other youth-serving organizations. Southwest Key will also coordinate with Project Safe Neighborhoods in the Western District of New York to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in this community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. CA/NCF