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Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Proposed Comprehensive Plan for Fiscal Year 1998 Public Safety and Law Enforcement Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program This program supports the implementation of a comprehensive gang program model in five jurisdictions. The program was competitively awarded with FY 1994 funds under a 3-year project period. The demonstration sites implementing the model, which was developed by the University of Chicago with OJJDP funding support, are Bloomington, Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Riverside, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona. Implementation of the comprehensive gang program model requires the mobilization of the community to address gang-related violence by making available and coordinating social interventions, providing social/academic/vocational and other opportunities, and supporting gang suppression through law enforcement, probation, and other community control mechanisms. During the past year, the demonstration sites began full-scale implementation of the program model and began serving gang-involved youth in the targeted areas. In each site, a multidisciplinary team has been established to coordinate the services that project youth receive. Teams are made up of various community institution representatives, including police, probation, outreach or street workers, court representatives, service providers, and others. The services provided through this team -- or recommended by them -- include social interventions such as outreach, case management, counseling, substance abuse treatment, anger management, life skills, cultural awareness, controlled recreation activities, access to educational, social, and economic opportunities such as GED attainment, school reintegration, vocational training, and job development and placement. Also included in the service mix is accountability or social control. This is provided through traditional suppression from law enforcement and probation, and also accountability through the schools, community-based agencies, parents, families, and community members. The team meets regularly to review progress with each youth, so that each team member is aware of prevailing risks and positive developments and can use this information to be supportive of the youth when contacted in the field by providing additional services, modifying "treatment plans," or invoking accountability measures ranging from values clarification and general motivational support to arrest and prosecution. In addition to core team members, other agencies also support the program, such as the faith community, local Boys and Girls Clubs, and alternative and mainstream schools. In some sites, prevention components have been established to work hand-in-hand with the intervention and suppression program. For example, in one site a mentoring program has been established for youth who are younger siblings of gang members targeted in the intervention components. The demonstration sites also participated in training and technical assistance activities, including cluster conferences sponsored by OJJDP and site-specific consultations on issues such as information sharing and outreach activities. In FY 1998, OJJDP proposes to provide a fourth year of funding to the demonstration sites to target up to 200 youth prone to gang violence in each site through continuing implementation of the program model and work with the independent evaluator of this demonstration program. This project would be implemented by the current demonstration sites. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 1998. Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program The University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, received a competitive cooperative agreement award in FY 1995. This 4-year project period award supports the evaluation of OJJDP's Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program. The evaluation grantee assisted the five program sites (Bloomington, Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Riverside, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona) in establishing realistic and measurable objectives, documenting program implementation, and measuring the impact of a variety of gang program strategies. It has also provided interim feedback to the program implementors. In FY 1997, following two years of program development and evaluation design, the grantee trained the local site interviewers; gathered and tracked data from police, prosecutor, probation, school, and social service agencies; collected individual gang member interviews from both the program and comparison areas; provided onsite technical assistance to the local sites; consulted with local evaluators on development and implementation of local site parent/community resident surveys; and coordinated ongoing efforts with local researchers. In FY 1998, the grantee will continue to gather and analyze data required to evaluate the program; monitor and oversee the quality control of data; provide assistance for completion of interviews; and provide ongoing feedback to project sites. This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998. Targeted Outreach With A Gang Prevention and Intervention Component (Boys and Girls Clubs) This program is designed to enable local Boys and Girls Clubs to prevent youth from entering gangs, intervene with gang members in the early stages of gang involvement, and divert youth from gang activities into more constructive programs. In FY 1997, Boys and Girls Clubs of America provided training and technical assistance to 30 existing gang prevention and four intervention sites and expanded the gang prevention and intervention program to 23 additional Boys and Girls Clubs, including to some of those in the OJJDP SafeFutures sites. A national evaluation of this program, through Public/Private Ventures, was also started in FY 1997 under this award. In FY 1998, Boys and Girls Clubs of America would provide training and technical assistance to 20 new gang prevention sites, three new intervention sites, and six SafeFutures sites. This program would be implemented by the current grantee, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 1998. National Youth Gang Center The proliferation of gang problems in large inner cities, smaller cities, suburbs, and even rural areas over the past two decades led to the development by OJJDP of a comprehensive, coordinated response to America's gang problem. This response involved five program components, one of which was the implementation and operation of the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC). The NYGC was competitively awarded in FY 1995 for a 3-year project period. The NYGC was created to expand and maintain the body of critical knowledge about youth gangs and effective responses to them. In FY 1997, NYGC continued to assist state and local jurisdictions to collect, analyze, and exchange information on gang-related demographics, legislation, literature, research, and promising program strategies. It also supported the work of the National Gang Consortium, a group of federal agencies, gang program representatives, and researchers. A major activity was a survey of all federal agencies and the presentation of data on their programs, planning cycles, and other resources. It continued to promote the collection and analysis of gang-related data and published the results of its first National Youth Gang Survey of 2,000 law enforcement agencies. OJJDP proposes to extend the project an additional year and provide FY 1998 funds to NYGC to conduct more indepth analyses of the first and second National Youth Gang Survey results that track changes in the nature and scope of the youth gang problem. NYGC, through its Focus Group on Data Collection and Analysis, will also continue its efforts to foster integration of gang-related items into other relevant surveys and national data collection efforts. Fiscal Year 1998 funds would support an additional year of funding to the current grantee, the Institute for Intergovernmental Research. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 1998.
Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program COSMOS Corporation received a competitive award in FY 1997. This 3-year project period award supports OJJDP's Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program. The program will document and evaluate the process of community mobilization, planning, and collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, collaborative approach to reducing gun violence involving juveniles in four sites. The sites are Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California: Shreveport, Louisiana; and Syracuse, New York. In FY 1997, the grantee conducted onsite technical assistance workshops with partner organizations and assisted the sites in planning and developing local Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence. In FY 1998, the grantee will develop data collection protocols, conduct a process evaluation, and continue to provide onsite technical assistance to the sites. In addition to the four sites listed above, the grantee will also identify additional promising/effective programs under way in communities across the country and evaluate a select number of these programs. With an expanded base of youth gun violence programs, there is greater opportunity to identify sites that are employing similar strategies with different targeted populations. This evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, COSMOS Corporation. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998. The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention's primary goal is the development of a citywide, accelerated, long-term effort to reduce violence in Chicago. In addition, the Chicago Project serves to demonstrate a comprehensive, citywide violence prevention model. Overall project objectives include reductions in homicide, physical injury, disability and emotional harm from assault, domestic abuse, sexual abuse and rape, and child abuse and neglect. The Chicago Project is a partnership among the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Illinois Council for the Prevention of Violence, the University of Illinois, and Chicago communities. The project began in January 1995 with joint funding from OJJDP and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The project currently provides technical assistance to a variety of community-based and citywide organizations involved in violence prevention planning. The majority of the technical assistance supports community level efforts and agencies working to directly support the community plan. In FY 1996, technical assistance was provided to the central planning group for the Austin community-based coalition, leadership and staff of the Westside Health Authority in the Austin community, and to other selected groups involved in the Austin plan for the development of their components (e.g., to the Northwest Austin Council for the development of the afterschool and drug treatment components of the Austin plan). These groups are members of the violence consortium in Austin. In FY 1997, the Chicago Project further refined the violence prevention strategy developed in the Austin community, began implementation of the strategy, and continued to provide technical assistance to the Logan Square and Grand Boulevard communities as they developed their violence prevention strategies. In FY 1998, OJJDP proposes to continue funding the project, which would complete the strategic planning process with Logan Square and Grand Boulevard and continue to work with Austin in implementing its strategy. The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention would be implemented by the current grantee, the University of Illinois, School of Public Health. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 1998. Safe Start -- Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) The Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) program, an innovative partnership between the New Haven Department of Police Services and the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of Medicine, addresses the psychological burdens on children, families, and the broader community of increasing levels of community violence. In FY 1993, OJJDP provided support to document Yale-New Haven's child-centered, community-oriented policing model. The program model consists of interrelated training and consultation, including a child development fellowship for police supervisors; police fellowship for clinicians; seminars on child development, human functioning, and policing strategies; a 15-hour training course in child development for all new police officers; weekly collaborative meetings and case conferences that support institutional changes in police practices; and establishment of protocols for referral and consultation to ensure that children receive the services they need. In FY 1994, BJA, using community policing funds, joined with OJJDP to support the first year of a 3-year training and technical assistance grant to replicate the CD-CP program nationwide. In each of FY's 1995, 1996, and 1997, OJJDP provided grants of $300,000 to the Yale Child Study Center to replicate the model through training of law enforcement and mental health providers in Buffalo, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Portland, Oregon. The CD-CP program has provided a wide range of coordinated police and clinical responses in the four replication sites, including round-the-clock availability of consultation with a clinical professional and a police supervisor to patrol officers who assist children exposed to violence; weekly case conferences with police officers, educators, and child study center staff; open police stations located in neighborhoods and accessible to residents for police and related services; community liaison and coordination of community response; crisis response; clinical referral; interagency collaboration; home-based followup; and officer support and neighborhood foot patrols. In the CD-CP program's last four years of operation in the New Haven site, more than 450 children have been referred to the consultation service by officers in the field. It is anticipated that these results can be obtained in the replication sites as well. In FY 1997, through a partnership between OJJDP, the Violence Against Women Grants Office (VAWGO), and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), $700,000 ($300,000 from OJJDP, $300,000 from VAWGO, and $100,000 from OVC) was allocated to CD-CP to expand the program under a new Safe Start Initiative designed to support the following activities: Development of a training and technical assistance center in New Haven consisting of a team of expert practitioners who provide training for law enforcement, prosecutors, mental health professionals, school personnel, and probation and parole officers to better respond to the needs of children exposed to community violence, including but not limited to family violence, gang violence, and abuse or neglect. Plan for expansion of program sites from the original four. Future sites, the total number of which are yet to be determined, will be selected competitively based upon each site's capacity to establish a core police/mental health provider team concerned with child victimization. Further research, data collection, analysis, and evaluation of CD-CP in the program sites. The development of a casebook for practitioners, which will detail intervention strategies and various aspects of the CD-CP collaborative process. In order to continue this work in FY 1998, this project will be continued by the current grantee, the Yale University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the New Haven Department of Police Services. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998. Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Program Juvenile crime and victimization present major challenges to law enforcement and other practitioners who are responsible for prevention, intervention, and enforcement efforts. Violent crime committed by juveniles, juvenile involvement in gangs and drugs, and decreasing fiscal resources are a few of the challenges facing juvenile justice practitioners today. OJJDP is committed to helping federal, state, local, and tribal agencies, organizations, and individuals face these challenges through a comprehensive program of training and technical assistance that is designed to enhance the juvenile justice system's ability to respond to juvenile crime and delinquency. This assistance targets many audiences, including law enforcement representatives, social service workers, school staff and administrators, prosecutors, judges, corrections and probation personnel, and key community and agency leaders. In FY 1997, a 3-year contract period was awarded to John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) for the Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance program. Since the program's inception in March 1997, John Jay has trained approximately 700 state, local, and tribal workshop participants and provided requested onsite technical assistance to 16 communities. Fiscal Year 1998 funds will support the continuation of seven regional training workshops: the Chief Executive Officer Youth Violence Forum; Managing Juvenile Operations (MJO); Gang, Gun, and Drug Policy; School Administrators for Effective Operations Leading to Improved Children and Youth Services (SAFE Policy); Youth Oriented-Community Policing; Tribal Justice Training and Technical Assistance; and the Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP). A minimum of 10 of these regional trainings are planned in FY 1998, with onsite technical assistance provided upon request. Participants in the workshops will have access to followup technical assistance that will enable them to devise, implement, modify, and evaluate community partnerships and programs in their localities. Online, computer-assisted training will also be available on OJJDP's Web page, along with workshop information. This project will be implemented by the current contractor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998. Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence OJJDP will award continuation grants of up to $200,000 to each of four competitively selected communities that initially received funds in FY 1997 to help them increase the effectiveness of existing youth gun violence reduction strategies by enhancing and coordinating prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies and strengthening linkages between community residents, law enforcement, and the juvenile justice system. Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Syracuse, New York were competitively selected to receive 3-year awards. The goals of this initiative are to reduce juveniles' illegal access to guns and address the reasons they carry and use guns in violent exchanges. Each of the sites is required to address five objectives: (1) reduce illegal gun availability to juveniles; (2) reduce the incidence of juveniles' illegally carrying guns; (3) reduce juvenile gun-related crimes; (4) increase youth awareness of the personal and legal consequences of gun violence; and (5) increase participation of community residents and organizations in public safety efforts. To accomplish the goals and objectives, each site will complete the development of a comprehensive plan and incorporate the following seven strategies in the target area:
A national evaluation is being conducted by COSMOS Corporation to document and understand the process of community mobilization, planning, and collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, collaborative approach to reducing juvenile gun violence. The Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence program will be carried out by the four current grantees. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998. Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Technical Assistance and Training Since 1995, OJJDP has provided funding to five communities to implement and test a comprehensive program model for gang prevention, intervention, and suppression, known as the Spergel model. In 1997, the sites were awarded continuation funding for the third year of a 3-year project period grant to continue program implementation. OJJDP is proposing to provide a fourth year of funding for this program. To support the ongoing implementation and a potential fourth year of operations (being proposed elsewhere in this Program Plan), OJJDP proposes to provide funding to the University of Chicago for enhanced technical assistance and training services. This award would be made to the University's Gang Research, Evaluation, and Technical Assistance (GRETA) program, through the School of Social Service Administration. Technical assistance and training to be provided through this award may include technical assistance and training to law enforcement, probation, and parole on their role in the model; technical assistance to community and grassroots organizations on their role in the model; and technical assistance on team development, information sharing, information systems, and data collection and on issues of sustainability and organizational and systems change to better deal with the community's youth gang problem. Other training and technical assistance services to be provided may include the development of relevant materials for onsite use, such as a manual on the model being implemented (in response to the national evaluation advisory board's recommendations), a manual on youth outreach, and a "lessons learned" publication or other materials, including audiovisual and electronic media. Training and technical assistance services provided under this project would be limited to OJJDP's comprehensive gang demonstration sites in Mesa and Tucson, Arizona, Riverside, California, Bloomington, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas. This project would be implemented by the current grantee, the University of Chicago. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 1998. Rural Youth Gang Problems -- Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach In 1996, OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center completed its first annual nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies regarding gang problems experienced in their jurisdictions. This survey represents the largest number of small law enforcement agencies in rural counties ever surveyed. Among the findings of this survey is that half of the 2,007 gang survey respondents reporting youth gang problems in 1995 serve populations under 25,000, confirming that youth gangs are not just a problem for large cities and metropolitan counties. Youth gangs are emerging in new localities, especially smaller and rural communities. Many of the agencies in smaller and rural communities had no personnel assigned to deal with youth gangs or gang units. OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression (Spergel Model) is currently being implemented and tested in multiple jurisdictions. The communities implementing the model are mainly suburban and urban in nature, with areas of dense population within the community. In light of the rural gang problems exposed by the nationwide gang survey, OJJDP is considering funding a new initiative to assist rural communities in implementing the fully adaptable Comprehensive Approach in a way that is appropriate to rural community needs, through a comprehensive and systematic problem assessment and program design process. Upon completion of the problem assessment using law enforcement-based gang incident, census, and other data, communities would engage in a process of adapting and applying the Comprehensive Approach in a way that responds to the gang problems identified. OJJDP is considering awarding funds to rural communities to implement a rural youth gang program and also awarding funds for related evaluation and technical assistance services.
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