Chapter 2

Empowering Communities to Address Crime

Overview

Throughout the country, communities are engaged in the process of building and rebuilding neighborhoods. At the heart of this work is a commitment to help nurture families capable of providing the skills, knowledge, care, values, and resources necessary to ensure that children become productive, financially self-sufficient, and law-abiding citizens. OJP recognizes the direct impact the health or quality of housing, education, employment, and health care resources available to families and communities--and a community's collective attention to these and related issues--have on reducing crime, preventing violence, and promoting public safety. In partnership with localities, OJP is committed to assisting these efforts by supporting a broad range of programs to build safe and healthy families and communities.

Because crime hurts everyone living in a community, many of the strategies for identifying, understanding, resolving, and preventing crime also lie within the community. OJP's goal is to ensure that local residents and organizations--who best understand their needs and resources--have the building blocks and tools to be successful. Community-based initiatives and the use of local comprehensive strategies that give residents a real opportunity to solve problems show great promise in preventing crime. The public, private, and community partnerships being formed provide the mechanisms through which residents can sustain their involvement.

OJP supports community involvement in the choice, design, and implementation of programs; flexible use of federal funding; and creative mixing of local and federal resources that allows for maximum leveraging. OJP's efforts are focused on ensuring safe communities, and are designed to complement the work of other Cabinet departments, such as the Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development.

Where OJP's programs directly fund local units of government--a town, city, county, or tribal authority--we encourage communities, residents, or community-based groups to learn about these programs and work in partnership with their local government to ensure that they have the resources needed
to address crime. We also encourage looking to other localities currently receiving funding for ideas and information on developing strategies for your community.

OJP supports a number of community-building initiatives and provides the technical assistance to help make programs successful. Our community building programs emphasize the following elements as building blocks that work together to achieve successful efforts:

• Building Collaborative, Community-Based Partnerships that draw upon the knowledge of all stakeholders, including educators, young people, law enforcement and correctional officials, prosecutors, U.S. Attorneys, probation officers, physical and mental health care providers, city government officials, religious leaders, local residents, victim service providers, parks and recreation specialists, as well as representatives of business, the judiciary, criminal justice agencies, research organizations, housing and community development organizations, citizens groups, and private, government, nonprofit, and for-profit service providers to coordinate resources and achieve goals.
  
  
• Recognizing the Local Context of Crime Problems and Solutions by supporting programs that build community capacity to identify and understand local problems. This involves enhancing the capacity to assess local crime statistics, analyze risk factors, engage in problem-solving and strategic planning--drawing in all partners to participate--and supporting programs that acknowledge that public safety is dependent upon addressing housing, economic development, health, environmental, and educational needs and resources in communities. OJP also fosters coordination of multi-federal agency funding at a local level to leverage additional public and private support.
  
  
• Promoting a Broad Range of Coordinated, Integrated Programs that nurture families and communities, promoting comprehensive efforts that support parenting, child abuse and domestic violence prevention, victim assistance, child support enforcement, truancy, conflict resolution, youth mentoring, teen pregnancy prevention, and other child development and supervision programs. Our comprehensive efforts also support initiatives that improve the quality of life in communities, such as recreational, computer and other technology enhancements, economic development programs, and programs that improve law enforcement and reduce gun-related crime and illegal drug use.
  
  
• Giving Communities the Tools They Need to Build Capacity by promoting local problem-solving and decision-making to facilitate strategic planning with criminal justice agencies, local, and federal government, nonprofits, and businesses; and by providing, as needed, technical assistance in a range of areas, such as strategic planning, leadership training for residents, risk assessment, use of data and analytic tools for decision-making, and identifying federal, state, and local resources.
  
  
• Learning from Our Efforts by encouraging practitioner/researcher partnerships that assist localities in their ongoing efforts; building our knowledge of best practices to share across disciplines and communities; and evaluating both the process and the impact of community-based crime prevention efforts.

In support of these efforts, OJP will support the following initiatives in FY 1999.

Continuation Programs

The following programs will be conducted by current or already designated grantees. No new applications will be solicited in the remainder of FY 1999.

Operation Weed and Seed

Grantees: State and local government entities and nonprofit organizations
FY99 Funding: $33.5 million, with an additional $6.5 million from surplus asset forfeiture funds
OJP Sponsor: Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS)

Project Description: Operation Weed and Seed assists communities to develop and implement comprehensive strategies to "weed out" violent crime, illegal drug and gun trafficking, and illegal gang activity and to "seed" their communities with programs that prevent crime. Under Weed and Seed, community coalitions form to develop and implement strategies that include four key elements: law enforcement, community policing, prevention/intervention/treatment, and neighborhood restoration, including economic development. Weed and Seed strategies coordinate federal participation in that effort in cooperation with the U.S. Attorneys Offices and other federal law enforcement agencies, as well as other federal departments. In addition to funding, EOWS provides training and technical assistance to communities to build their capacity to enhance their strategies.

Operation Weed and Seed was initiated as a demonstration program in three sites in 1991 and is now active in over 170 sites around the nation. In 1999, the number of funded sites is expected to rise to approximately 200 (approximately 170 continuation sites, plus 25 to 30 new sites). Applicants for funding are required to submit an application for Official Recognition of a Weed and Seed strategy by November 30 each year. Sites in the second year of funding and beyond will have the option to use $50,000 in one or more of the following Special Emphasis areas: Gun Abatement; Community Empowerment; Truancy Prevention; Conflict Resolution; Justice Innovations; Jobs and Asset-Building for At-Risk Youth and Adults; Anti-Gang Crime Initiative; Prevention through the Arts; Mentoring; Anti-Drug/Alcohol Abuse Strategies; Brownfields Activities; Volunteer Programs; and Community Learning Centers. Further information is available from the Weed and Seed Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/eows/.

Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative

Grantees: Research entities from Memphis, Tennessee; New Haven, Connecticut; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Portland, Oregon
FY99 Funding: Approximately $5 million
OJP Sponsor: National Institute of Justice (NIJ) with other OJP components

Project Description: The Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) is a problem-solving, information-driven project intended to reduce crime in five pilot cities. In each site, the U.S. Attorney works in concert with an interdisciplinary group of local decision-makers, as well as with a local research partner and a project coordinator, to identify, analyze, and respond to local crime problems. The process and its impact will be assessed in order to provide a model implementation program for jurisdictions nationwide. This project includes technical assistance provided through an existing BJA grant.

National Neighborhood Crime and Drug Abuse Prevention Program (earmark)
Grantee: Eisenhower Foundation
FY99 Funding: $1 million
OJP Sponsor: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)

Project Description: This community-based initiative will demonstrate the utility and effectiveness of community-police partnerships in up to four urban settings. Key objectives include building diverse coalitions and planning teams; adopting community and problem-oriented policing techniques by law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies; reducing the number of at-risk youth involved in delinquent activities; providing alternatives to gangs and gang membership; and developing an environment conducive to social and economic growth.

Project REAL: Community and Police Reconciliation, Education, Action, and Leadership
Grantee: National Coalition Building Institute
FY99 Funding: $140,000
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: In this initiative, the National Coalition Building Institute will facilitate greater interaction between minority communities in Seattle, Washington, and the Seattle Police Department. The project will develop, test, and document innovative ways in which community groups can build effective relationships with the police. The effort will focus on coalition building, conflict intervention, and racial reconciliation.

Stop the Violence (earmark)
Grantee: Spartanburg, South Carolina
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: This initiative implements a strategy for stopping violence through different interventions involving the police, sheriff, community, churches, and other key groups. The initiative is based on model efforts in different regions of the county and will expand these efforts nationwide.

Statewide Communities Initiative
Grantee: National Criminal Justice Association
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: The goal of this initiative is to integrate state and local justice system planning and strategies to achieve collaboration, economy of resources, coordination of funding streams, and an effective and balanced delivery of services by the criminal justice system.

SafeFutures: Partnership to Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency
Grantees: Boston, Massachusetts; Contra Costa County, California; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Imperial County, California (rural site); and Fort Belknap, Montana (tribal site)
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

Project Description: OJJDP is awarding continuation grants of up to $1.4 million to each of six communities to assist in implementing comprehensive community programs to reduce youth violence and delinquency. SafeFutures seeks to prevent and control youth crime and victimization by creating a continuum of care to enable communities to be responsive to the needs of youth at critical stages of their development through a range of prevention, intervention, treatment, and sanctions programs.

Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program
Grantees: Bloomington, Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Riverside, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: This program supports implementation of a comprehensive gang program model in five jurisdictions. The program was competitively awarded with FY 1994 funds. To implement the comprehensive gang program model, communities must mobilize 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.

Partnerships to Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program
Grantees: Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California; and Syracuse, New York
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: OJJDP will award continuation grants to the 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.

Safe Start: Child Development/Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP)
Grantee: Yale University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the New Haven Department of Police Services
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: The Child Development/Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) program is an innovative partnership between the New Haven Department of Police Services and the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of Medicine that addresses the psychological burdens on children, families, and the broader community of children witnessing increasing levels of community violence. The Yale-New Haven model consists of interrelated training of police officers, consultation, and teaming mental health clinicians with law enforcement in intervening onsite with children and families who witness violence. FY 1999 funds will continue replication of the CD-CP model in four sites: Buffalo, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Portland, Oregon. A training and technical assistance center also is under development in New Haven. The CD-CP model is being expanded under the Safe Start Initiative described at page 13.

Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ)
Grantee: Florida Atlantic University
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: In FY 1992, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) was awarded a competitive grant to enhance the development of restitution programs as part of system-wide juvenile justice improvement using balanced approach concepts and restorative justice principles. In subsequent years, the project developed a BARJ program model. The project provides intensive training, technical assistance, and guideline materials to three selected sites that over recent years have been implementing major systemic change in accordance with the BARJ model. The three sites are Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; Dakota County, Minnesota; and West Palm Beach County, Florida. In addition, the BARJ project continues to provide technical assistance and training to other jurisdictions nationwide, as well as training at regional round tables and at professional conferences on juvenile justice system improvement. For further information, contact Peter Freivalds at OJJDP, 202/616-3635 or Peterf@ojp.usdoj.gov.

Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies
Grantees: To Be Selected from applications received in FY 1998
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined for the Special Interest categories described below
OJP Sponsor: Violence Against Women Office (VAWO)

The Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies program is described in full in Chapter 4, Combating Family Violence. However, two Special Interest categories support community-driven programs and partnerships to reduce and prevent domestic violence. These are: community-driven initiatives to address violence against women among diverse, traditionally underserved populations, including women of color, immigrant women, disabled women, women in same-sex relationships, and elderly women; and partnerships between the business community and the criminal justice system to enhance the safety of women in the community and the workplace.

Because OJP received so many more worthy applications in FY 1998 than it had funds to support, new applications will not be solicited for FY 1999. OJP will make awards based on applications received in FY 1998.

TRIAD: A Strategy to Reduce the Criminal Victimization of Older Persons
Grantee: National Sheriffs' Association
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: TRIAD is a national program cosponsored by the National Sheriffs' Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the American Association of Retired Persons. Activities include educating communities about elder abuse; strengthening the criminal justice system's process of prevention, detection, and assistance for elderly crime victims; implementing reassurance programs for homebound and isolated elders; and providing technical assistance for new and existing TRIADs. There are now 436 TRIAD programs in 46 states, Canada, and England.

Victim Services 2000: A Vision for the 21st Century
Grantees: Denver, Colorado VALE Board, The Battered Women's Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties, Ohio, and the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services.
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)

Project Description: This multi-year demonstration initiative supports communities in developing and implementing seamless, comprehensive, coordinated, interdisciplinary systems of services for victims of crime. The Denver VALE Board has developed a model and implementation plan and is identifying ways to provide training and technical assistance. The other sites are involved in the planning phase of this 3-phase, 5-year demonstration project. The projects will result in model environments for crime victims in which culturally and linguistically appropriate services are available to every victim. All projects will conduct thorough needs assessments, develop innovative intervention strategies and services, institutionalize cross-training on victims' issues throughout the criminal justice, community nonprofit, and allied professional communities, and utilize technology to integrate services and communication among providers. Victim Services 2000 projects will serve as models for other communities wishing to set up comprehensive, coordinated services for crime victims. Award amounts under this program will be based on the availability of funds and the needs of each specific program model.

New Programs

FY 1999 funding for the following programs will be available as noted. Also see Chapter 12 for a description of the new $5 million Community Prosecution Grant Program and other community prosecution or community court initiatives. For information about individual program solicitations or application kits, check OJP's Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov or call the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 1-800/851-3420 to be added to the mailing list.

Safe Start Initiative
Grantee: Competitive
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Eligibility: To Be Determined

Project Description: This program will fund up to 12 demonstration sites to implement coordinated, community-wide and community-driven strategies to reduce the effects of children's exposure to violence. Safe Start will be based, in part, on an expansion of the Child Development/Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) model response to children who have witnessed or been victimized by violence. The CD-CP model partners community policing officers and mental health clinicians in an effort to reduce the negative consequences of children's exposure to violence. Contact the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 1-800/638-8736 to be added to the mailing list for the application kit and other information on this program as it becomes available. The evaluation of this program is described at page 19. Training and technical assistance is described at page 16.

COMPASS Initiative Pilot Site
Grantee: Competitive
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJP

Project Description: NIJ is currently working with other OJP bureaus and offices and COPS to develop COMPASS (Community Mapping, Planning, and Analysis for Safety Strategies). The COMPASS initiative aims to prevent crime and enhance community well-being by increasing community capacity to collect and maintain integrated databases, as well as analyze and use these data for program planning, development, and evaluation. Communities will make strategic use of a variety of information and technology--including incident-based crime records, crime mapping, and victimization surveys--in combination with promising problem-solving techniques, to devise and structure the most appropriate responses to identified crime problems. Lessons learned from the impact of existing community interventions will inform NIJ's research efforts to understand what works to prevent crime and "build safety" in communities. To that end, NIJ expects to work closely with the leadership of the neighborhood and the larger community to simultaneously test a limited number of interventions that have both a strong theoretical foundation and demonstrated effectiveness. NIJ will examine the impact of these interventions using a diverse set of impact measures and assess the interaction among interventions.

Open Solicitation Grant Program
Grantee: Competitive
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: Through the Open Solicitation Grant Program, BJA encourages state, local, and tribal governments to identify emerging or chronic criminal justice problems within their communities and jurisdictions and then propose innovative strategies to address those problems. To do this, BJA solicits brief concept papers in broad categories that reflect local priorities. An important goal of the program is opening the grant application system to traditionally underserved constituencies, and BJA urges applicants to reach out within their communities and build partnerships with schools, social service agencies, private-sector organizations, and other institutions with a stake in creating safe and vibrant neighborhoods. BJA anticipates announcing a third round of the Open Solicitation in FY 1999.

Training, Technical Assistance, and Capacity-Building Programs

The following describes both current and new initiatives.

Weed and Seed Training/Technical Assistance
Grantee: To Be Determined
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: EOWS

Eligibility: All current Weed and Seed sites or jurisdictions interested in becoming new sites

Project Description: All Weed and Seed funded sites are encouraged to develop a 1-year technical assistance (TA) workplan as part of their overall implementation strategies. The workplans are to be based on the results of local needs assessments, site-initiated consultations with TA providers, and discussions with their EOWS program managers. EOWS TA services include: electronic (listserv, Webpage); multi-site TA; specific onsite assistance; peer-to-peer TA; information exchange and other resources; training workshops and conferences; and telephone consultations. The grantee is responsible
for multi-site training and technical assistance, as well as specific assistance to the sites.

Community Justice Resource Center
Grantee: Fund for the City of New York
FY99 Funding: $1.75 million
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: The Community Justice Resource Center will provide an extensive resource for criminal justice professionals, policy makers, elected officials, and citizens on the topic of community justice. The Resource Center will develop comprehensive information about community justice, make the information easily accessible, and promote the idea of community justice. It also will continue to provide customized technical assistance to jurisdictions developing community justice projects.

National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign (earmark)
Grantee: National Crime Prevention Council
FY99 Funding: $4 million
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: National in scope but local in implementation, the National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign will continue to reach out to children, families, public and private service providers, and elected officials to reduce and prevent crime, violence, and substance abuse. The campaign will focus on five main objectives: (1) the production and dissemination of television, radio, and print crime prevention public service announcements (in English and Spanish) and response materials for targeted populations; (2) the development and production of a full range of crime, violence, and drug prevention support materials (e.g., brochures, pamphlets, booklets) and information sharing through the World Wide Web; (3) the provision of national, regional, and state technical assistance and training workshops conducted in conjunction with state agencies and state crime prevention associations; (4) the maintenance of a licensing program that is expected to assist in raising up to $600,000 in royalties to enhance federally funded crime prevention efforts; and (5) the provision of secretariat services to the Crime Prevention Coalition of America, a network of more than 120 national, state, and federal organizations and agencies committed to building safer and better communities.

National Night Out (earmark)
Grantee: National Association of Town Watch (NATW)
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: NATW helps coordinate National Night Out (NNO) activities at the national, state, and local levels. NATW disseminates information and provides technical assistance to federal and state agencies, local units of government, civic and neighborhood organizations, and residents. NNO assists in strengthening comprehensive community partnerships and supports the development and enhancement of innovative local crime, violence, and drug prevention initiatives. Since its inception in 1984, NNO has evolved into a year-long program in which 30 million people in 9,250 communities across the United States and military bases throughout the world participate. In many communities, NNO activities are cosponsored by businesses, private sector corporations, and local utility companies.

Project GRAND (earmark)
Grantee: National Training and Information Center
FY99 Funding: $375,000
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: Project GRAND (Grassroots Residents Against Neighborhood Destruction) builds upon previous BJA-funded initiatives of the National Training and Information Center (NTIC), including Community Responses to Drug Abuse (1990-1992) and Communities in Action to Prevent Drug Abuse I & II (1992-1997). For Project GRAND, NTIC will provide training, technical assistance, and funding to 11 community-based organizations to enable them to develop cost-effective strategies for revitalizing neighborhoods by reducing crime, violence, and substance abuse. The approach includes efforts to combat drug dealing and prostitution, assist residents with access to legitimate employment opportunities, and reintroduce legitimate business into targeted areas.

Comprehensive Communities Technical Assistance
Grantee: Criminal Justice Associates
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: Based on the positive results of BJA's Comprehensive Communities Program (CCP), the next step is to disseminate the initiative's initial findings and evaluations for replication. CCP was designed to suppress violence and restore the security of neighborhoods. The jurisdictions participating in CCP developed jurisdiction-wide crime prevention and control strategies and implemented community-based responses to crime consistent with those strategies. This phase of the program will produce a fact sheet, implementation manual, program brief, case studies, sustainment planning model, a resource development monograph, and video to help other communities implement CCP.

Training and Technical Assistance for Safe Start
Grantee: Competitive
FY99 Funding: $1 million
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Eligibility: To Be Determined

Project Description: This funding will support training and technical assistance to the Safe Start demonstration sites (see page 13) to assist them in achieving program goals.

Training and Technical Assistance Coordination for SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets Initiative
Grantee: Patricia Donahue
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: OJJDP proposes to continue funding for long-term training and technical assistance for the remaining years of the SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets programs. The purpose of this effort is to build local capacity for implementing and sustaining effective continuum of care and systems change approaches to preventing and controlling juvenile violence and delinquency in the six SafeFutures communities and the five Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites.

Development of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders
Grantees: Developmental Research and Programs, Inc. and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: This project will continue to provide training and technical assistance for communities implementing OJJDP's model design for a comprehensive approach to serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. The model includes identifying programs that address prevention services for at-risk youth and their families and developing a system of graduated sanctions for juvenile offenders. Program development is guided by risk and needs assessment instruments at each level of the juvenile justice process. The grantees will conduct extensive literature reviews, survey practitioners, visit exemplary programs, and hold focus groups with managers of successful programs to aid in developing OJJDP's Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The grantees also will continue to disseminate the Comprehensive Strategy to conferences and major national groups, especially those involving elected officials, to encourage interest in implementing the Comprehensive Strategy in additional communities.

Center on Rural Crime and Justice (earmark)
Grantee: University of South Carolina, Institute for Law and Families
FY99 Funding: $381,363
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: This program will provide funding and support to establish a Center on Rural Crime and Violence Prevention. The center will engage targeted, rural communities in crime prevention efforts and provide assistance to rural communities by linking them to local criminal justice systems and assisting them in the development and evaluation of local initiatives.

Local Initiatives Support (earmark)
Grantee: Local Initiatives Support Corporation
FY99 Funding: $500,000
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) was established by the Ford Foundation and community groups in 1979. LISC has worked in many cities to mobilize partnerships to assist communities in their efforts to rebuild neighborhoods. LISC provides technical assistance and support to community development corporations throughout the nation, primarily in the 42 cities in which it has offices. This program will build on LISC's efforts to interconnect public safety and economic development through such initiatives as the Community Security Program, which LISC developed and implemented in cooperation with the Police Executive Research Forum and Harvard University's Program in Criminal Justice.

Victim Empowerment through Mediation and Dialogue
Grantee: University of Minnesota
FY99 Funding: $100,000
OJP Sponsor: OVC

Project Description: The University of Minnesota is developing victim-sensitive training and program development guidelines for victim-offender mediation and dialogue. The project has produced a training curriculum, training manuals, and guidelines for the development and operation of victim-offender mediation programs, a pamphlet on intercultural aspects of mediation, and a training videotape on intercultural aspects and mediation involving property crime and minor offenses. During this continuation phase, the grantee will offer two regional victim-offender mediation training seminars to victim service providers, develop new written and audiovisual training resources, provide intensive onsite technical assistance to corrections systems in Texas and Ohio, complete an assessment of victim satisfaction with the new mediation services provided by the Texas and Ohio systems, and provide technical assistance to other states or corrections departments implementing victim-offender mediation and dialogue programs. These programs will serve as resources for other communities interested in incorporating this kind of victim-offender mediation into their community justice strategies to help restore victims, promote community healing, and, at the same time, impress upon offenders the impact their behavior has on both individual victims and the community as a whole.

Research and Statistical Programs

The following describes both current and new initiatives.

Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
Grantee: Harvard University School of Public Health
FY99 Funding: $2.2 million
OJP Sponsor: NIJ

Project Description: The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (which is cofunded by NIJ, other federal agencies, and the MacArthur Foundation) is a long-term inquiry into the relationship between community, crime, delinquency, family, and individual development. At the community level, the project has surveyed more than 8,700 adult residents in 343 neighborhoods throughout Chicago. In addition, researchers have identified 80 neighborhoods that are the focus for a longitudinal cohort study. As part of the first wave of this longitudinal study, researchers have conducted interviews with 7,000 children and adolescents and their primary care givers. The research team, headed by Dr. Felton Earls of the Harvard School of Public Health, recently reported that the largest predictor of violent crime rates was "collective efficacy"--a term used to mean a sense of trust, common values, and cohesion in a neighborhood. The research team found that there are lower rates of violence in neighborhoods that have a strong sense of community and values, for example, where adults are likely to intervene when children are missing from school or scrawling graffiti on building walls. According to Earls, the most important characteristic of "collective efficacy" is a "willingness by residents to intervene in the lives of children."

Evaluation of Safe Start
Grantee: Competitive
FY99 Funding: $1 million
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Eligibility: To Be Determined

Project Description: This evaluation is designed to document and explain the process of community mobilization, planning, and collaboration that takes place before and during the Safe Start awards; to inform program staff of performance levels on an ongoing basis; and to determine the effectiveness of the implemented project in achieving the goals of the Safe Start program, which is described on Page 13. Training and technical assistance available under this initiative are described at page 16.

SafeFutures National Evaluation
Grantee: The Urban Institute
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: This project addresses the program implementation process and measures performance outcomes across the six SafeFutures sites (see program description on page 10). The process evaluation focuses primarily on the development and implementation of a strategic plan to establish a continuum of care and integrated services for youth in high-risk communities. It will identify and report on obstacles and key factors contributing to the successful implementation of the SafeFutures program.

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program
Grantee: University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: The University of Chicago received a competitive cooperative agreement award in FY 1995 to evaluate OJJDP's Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program in five sites across the country. The grantee is assisting the five sites in establishing realistic and measurable objectives, documenting program implementation, and measuring the impact of a variety of gang program strategies. It also provides interim feedback to the program implementors.

Evaluation of the Partnerships to Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program
Grantee: COSMOS Corporation
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: COSMOS Corporation is examining and documenting the process of community mobilization, planning, and collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, collaborative approach to reducing gun violence involving juveniles in four sites.

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders
Grantee: Caliber Associates
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: OJJDP

Project Description: In FY 1998, OJJDP began a multi-year, multi-site evaluation of its Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The evaluation is looking at the lessons learned from the Comprehensive Strategy training and technical assistance process that was demonstrated in three pilot communities. The evaluation will then assess the effect of the 2-year training and technical assistance process that is currently being tested in 5 states and 26 local jurisdictions and is beginning in two additional states. The evaluation will document the effectiveness of this training and technical assistance process and will look at the crime and delinquency outcomes and level of services provided in each jurisdiction.

NIJ Visiting Fellowship Program
Grantee: Roger Conner (Fellowship)
FY99 Funding: $300,000
OJP Sponsor: NIJ

Project Description: This project will examine the concept of community safety lawyering. It will attempt to define this emerging field and explore its larger role in enhancing safety and justice in local communities.

Austin Community Justice
Grantee: Travis County District Attorney's Office
FY99 Funding: $20,000
OJP Sponsor: NIJ and OVC

Project Description: Travis County will formulate a plan of action over the next year that will provide guidance for refining existing community justice initiatives and directing the development, implementation, and evaluation of an integrated system of community justice. This planning effort will involve three components: refining the vision and assessing which initiatives meet the definition; determining next steps in the short and long term regarding community justice initiatives, and beginning to establish implementation and performance measures that will appropriately capture this shift to a community justice paradigm. Importantly, Travis County will work to develop broader community representation in its community justice initiatives by expanding the Neighborhood Action Protection Committee infrastructure.

Software for Crime Victimization Survey
Grantee: Interagency Agreement
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)

Project Description: BJS and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) have developed a software program using a popular computer database that allows localities to conduct their own telephone surveys of residents to collect data on crime victimization, attitudes toward policing, and other community-related issues. Using this user-friendly version of the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), localities can quickly design a questionnaire to reflect local interests, while maintaining a standard core of NCVS questions. Pilot testing of the software is currently in the final stages. BJS anticipates that the software will be available free-of-charge to the criminal justice community by mid-1999.

Investigator Initiated Research Grants
Grantee: Competitive/Multiple Awards
FY99 Funding: $1.5 million
OJP Sponsor: NIJ

Project Description: NIJ's Investigator Initiated Solicitation invites researchers, practitioners, and technologists to explore innovative topics and techniques to aid in shaping public policies that control crime and enhance justice. NIJ challenges applicants to build on information gleaned from past research and development to shed new light on efforts to understand and reduce crime. Applicants are encouraged to experiment with practical approaches that will rethink the conventional wisdom and offer alternative means for solving recurring problems. Importantly, NIJ encourages researchers to seek collaboration with other organizations and disciplines in testing ideas and approaches that more effectively involve the entire community in building safety and justice.

Byrne Evaluation Partnership Program
Grantee: Competitive
FY99 Funding: To Be Determined
OJP Sponsor: BJA

Project Description: In FY 1999, BJA will solicit concept papers for a third round of awards for the Byrne Evaluation Partnership Program, which builds state and local evaluation capacity through support of evaluation activities by Byrne State Administrative Agencies (SAAs). The program increases the quality and use of evaluation research conducted by state and local agencies by creating a mechanism for enhancing the design, implementation, measurement, evaluation, and dissemination of information in high-priority program areas. The program also enhances collaboration among Byrne SAAs, funded program managers, and university or other research organizations.

For More Information

OJP sponsors many other initiatives designed to empower communities to address crime. Most of the other chapters in this Program Plan also describe grant programs and other assistance available to communities. Chapter 1 describes OJP formula and block grant programs from which communities can receive funding. Chapter 14 describes Internet-based and other information resources. Also see Chapter 3 for information about programs to address substance abuse, Chapter 4 for a description of initiatives to help communities combat violence against women, Chapter 11, which describes programs targeted for Native American communities, and Chapter 13, which describes training and technical assistance available through OJP.

In cooperation with the Federal Support to Communities Initiative, OJP is developing a Website on "Building Safe and Healthy Communities: An Information and Ideas Guide." The Website grew out of the Attorney General's vision to provide communities with easy access to federal program information via the Internet. The guide will link communities directly to DOJ publications, Websites of other federal agencies, local programs, and a broad range of non-federal resources in the areas of community development, substance abuse treatment, and other community-building initiatives. For further information about this Website and when it will be accessible via the Internet, check the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov.

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