Difference between revisions of "Mount Vernon Weed & Seed Initiative"

Revision as of 21:40, 15 June 2008

This group is coordinating a new citywide strategy to reduce crime in Mount Vernon, New York.

Mount Vernon's new Weed & Seed Initiative focuses on: 1) Enhancing law enforcement’s multi-pronged efforts to break up gangs with increased field intelligence and enhanced inter-agency and inter-program coordination; 2) Filling the critical gap in law enforcement’s implementation of Project Ceasefire by complimenting law enforcement’s suppression tactics with targeted outreach and services designed to help gang members safely break their gang connections; 3) Increasing use of evidence-based crime prevention models in our community; 4) Sharpening our community’s focus on chronic truancy as a key indicator of, and contributing factor to, both juvenile and adult crime; and 5) Expanding opportunities for resident participation in crime prevention, community policing, neighborhood restoration, program planning, and program monitoring. These Weed & Seed-funded activities will be integrated into a much larger coordinated effort that includes multiple initiatives in law enforcement, community policing, prevention/intervention/treatment, and neighborhood restoration.

UPCOMING EVENTS

NEXT MEETING
Dates: This group meets on the second Wednesday of each month. The upcoming meeting dates are:

*  July 9
*  August 13
*  September 10
*  October 8
*  November 12
*  December 10

Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Mount Vernon City Hall, room to be announced.
Notes:
Directions:
Driving Directions

OTHER NOTICES

The City of Mount Vernon's application to the U.S. Department of Justice for its first year of Weed & Seed funding is still pending.

RESOURCES

Evidence-Based Interventions

• Preventing Crime- What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising

This Report to Congress, funded by the National Institute of Justice, is a comprehensive review of decades of research on the effectiveness of every major crime reduction strategy supported by the U.S. Department of Justice. This resource is invaluable for anyone trying to allocate scarce prevention resources to interventions with the strongest evidence of effectiveness.

• Summary of "Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising"

This 19-page "Research in Brief" from the National Institute of Justice summarizes the major conclusions of a comprehensive review of decades of evidence for the effectiveness of every major crime prevention strategy.

• Benefits and Costs of Prevention and Early Intervention Programs for Youth

This study includes a table listing benefits, costs, and benefits per dollar of cost for 61 common evidence-based model programs.

• Model Programs Guide

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Model Programs Guide (MPG) is designed to assist practitioners and communities in implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that can make a difference in the lives of children and communities. The MPG database of evidence-based programs covers the entire continuum of youth services from prevention through sanctions to reentry. The MPG can be used to assist juvenile justice practitioners, administrators, and researchers to enhance accountability, ensure public safety, and reduce recidivism. The MPG is an easy-to-use tool that offers a database of scientifically-proven programs that address a range of issues, including substance abuse, mental health, and education programs.

• Helping America's Youth
  

The Helping America's Youth (HAY) website provides a Community Guide to Helping America's Youth. It provides strategies and tools to help communities form effective partnerships, assess community needs, and identify evidence-based programs. You can search the database of evidence-based programs by risk factor, protective factor, or keyword. All of the programs featured in the HAY database have demonstrated results in accordance with widely accepted scientific criteria for program effectiveness. The following federal agencies worked together to identify programs for the HAY Program Tool: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office for National Drug Control Policy, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Other Criminal Justice Information and Resources

• 1 in 100 Americans behind bars, report finds:

NEW YORK - For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America’s rank as the world’s No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars. Prison spending ballooned from $11 billion to $49 billion in 2 decades. “Getting tough on criminals has gotten tough on taxpayers,” said the project’s director, Adam Gelb. “For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling,” the report said. “While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine.”

• Sign up for Join Together Updates

Join Together is a project of the Boston University School of Public Health. Since 1991, Join Together has supported community-based efforts to advance effective alcohol and drug policy, prevention, and treatment. Join Together leads initiatives to help communities respond to the harms caused by excessive alcohol and drug use and provides free internet services supporting their efforts. The link above takes you to a site where you can sign up to receive any of the following free internet resources: Daily News Edition, Weekly News Roundup, the monthly Treatment Practitioner's Research Bulletin, or the Funding News Weekly.