Thank you Mr. Ramirez, U.S. Attorney Charlton, Chief Harris, Councilman Mattox, and Assistant Attorney General Schofield for your words today and your support for Weed and Seed.

I am so very proud to be here representing CCDO. I would first like to recognize the person who coordinated this conference, Geroma Void, and I also would like to thank the great staff of CCDO for all of their work—all the dedicated and concerned program managers, policy analysts, technical assistance and partnerships officers—we appreciate all that they do. CCDO staff, please stand up and be recognized.

We welcome all of our new sites and believe they will fulfill the mission of Weed and Seed just like all of you are doing. I know that the Weed and Seed strategy continues to help so many communities. Our sites participate in national "Night Outs" and coordinate with Project Safe Neighborhood. We have sites that couple intensive crime reduction strategies with recreational and educational programs. Sites that run gang intervention services and parent gang awareness classes. Sites that know children are not safe on the streets and open up their Safe Havens and provide innovative programming. I'm proud of all of these accomplishments and it's up to my office to help all of you continue what you do successfully.

We are called Weed and Seed—not "Weed or Seed"—and that's deliberate. Two halves make a whole, and by utilizing both approaches you will fulfill your strategies and make them work. We know that with increased involvement from U.S. Attorneys and DEA agents, as reflected in our guidelines, we can do even more. The way you approach crime has to be inclusive—but it must emphasize both the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. You do not give up things when you work in the Weed and Seed model; you gain the trust of neighborhood organizations and residents, and together we can create safer and stronger communities.

Community policing is intended to be the bridge between the "weeding" and the "seeding." If you allow the two parts of the strategy to operate too independently, then you are making your jobs harder, and your jobs are hard enough. Law enforcement has its hands full with drug busts and curfews and arrest warrants. But you can do more than enforce: you can prevent, collaborate, and partner. Collaboration and communication are not meant to be buzzwords—they are meant to be building blocks and they are intrinsic to your success. OJP wants to do as much as it can to help you.

Police officers are instructors and mentors in our DEFY program, now in its 10th year of partnership with the Department of the Navy. DEFY is a perfect example of how law enforcement can do more and stretch its potential by reaching out to thousands of kids in DEFY school activities and summer camps. Cops are positive role models and youth are exposed to anti-gang and anti-drug instruction.

Teaching and mentoring are part of a crime prevention strategy, and we are always quick to point out that Weed and Seed is a strategy and not a grant program. We are not just dealing with semantics—we are dealing with the knowledge that you cannot throw money at a problem and hope it will go away. Money runs out, but a strategy endures.

One of the most stunning successes at CCDO and an example of a comprehensive Weed and Seed strategy is the new VITA program, where sites are learning to run Volunteer Income Tax Assistance centers. In partnership with the IRS, CCDO provides the computer lab and technical assistance for sites to help low- to moderate income families prepare their returns and learn about programs that can help them save money, like the Earned Income Tax Credit. The 50 VITA centers processed more than 11,000 tax returns worth more than $15 million in tax refunds and credits last tax season. So, we are adding more, and this year there will be almost 100 centers in our Weed and Seed sites helping people across the country.

Why is this program so successful? Because it is about building community capacity. Why am I talking about tax centers at a law enforcement conference? Because programs like VITA are a critical part of your work. Things do not work in a vacuum. Just as we are here to discuss the latest technologies and security procedures, we are here to talk about partnerships, community policing, and prevention strategies.

I may be the new face at CCDO, but I am certainly no stranger to law enforcement and crime prevention. Working at the Office of Victims of Crime, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Office of National Drug Control Policy, and as a County Executive showed me the ravages of crime firsthand. I have seen the blighted communities, I have seen the destruction that gangs and drugs bring, I have seen the victims of crime who wonder, "Why did this have to happen to me?"

But that's why we are here, to discuss why this doesn't have to happen. We all have been a part of the solutions that work. We know that when we all work together we really do change things. You are not alone on the streets—we are with you.

There's a reason for why Weed and Seed is still around. Like others, we have to adjust our budgets as Congress adjusts its budget, but we are still here. We are recognized as something worthwhile, something that works, something that makes sense.

Thank You.