Welcome to the spring 2005 edition of In-Sites, where CCDO gives you quick and easy access to important information from the field. This issue includes stories about a reentry program that focuses on family reunification, how sites reach out to their limited English proficiency populations, how a surveillance car may be your low-tech answer to crime, and more.

Table of Contents

Letter From the Director

Letter From the U.S. Attorney

Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement, Race, and Reconciliation

Technology to the Rescue in Pico Union

Fighting Crime the Low-Tech Way

Resources

Community Policing

“Shop-With-A-Cop” More Than Just a Successful Day in Portland

A Conversation With Captain Terry Hara

Resources

Prevention

SCOOPing Trenton Kids Off the Street

In Many Different Languages, Help Is There

Look Ma, I'm on Camera: Video Highlights Safe Haven Programs

CADCA Makes Sustainability Make Sense

Small and Simple Makes Tucson's DEFY Work

Resources

Neighborhood Restoration

Money Smart: Coming Soon to a Safe Haven Near You

Earn It, Keep It, Save It: Phoenix Weed and Seed Launches EITC Campaign

Reentry

CSOSA Helps Ex-Offenders in DC

New Reentry Program Cleans Up

Church Links Prisoners With Families

Resources

American Indian/Alaska Native

Children Need Not Suffer, Say Crow Creek Advocates

Fingerprinting and Shaking Hands: Tribe and State Share Information

Resources

Letter From the Director

During my short tenure here at CCDO, I have found much to be proud of. We are headed in a bold, new direction and there's nothing more exciting than being a part of something new. We need to recognize the need for change, but building blocks for change do not have to be buzzwords or difficult processes—they can be strong ideas that reflect our hardworking communities. There is a sense of opportunity in Weed and Seed sites throughout the country; we must capitalize on this and work together to create safer and thriving communities.

We initiated an advisory process to review the Weed and Seed program and many good ideas have already emerged. For instance, the advisory group stressed the importance of developing more resident leadership, so look for greater emphasis on resident leadership development in the future. The group also suggested more sharing of best practices, and we took this suggestion to heart immediately. In this issue of In-Sites, you will find many best practices stories, including an article about reaching people with limited English proficiency. This kind of problem analysis coupled with swift action is what CCDO is all about.

We continue to redefine CCDO's goals. We are focusing more on sustainability and promoting coalition building and leveraging resources. This change in focus is not simply a tightening of budgetary belts, but rather a need for better strategizing and better working relationships within communities. So much can be done through creative thinking and partnering with others—do not look at the short-term problems and think there is a quick fix. Long-term planning, problem solving, and a comprehensive approach to crime prevention and community revitalization are what make Weed and Seed successful.

We are proud to have entered into several partnership agreements with other federal agencies to enhance the neighborhood restoration element of Weed and Seed. Many of you learned about the programs with the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at the Application Kit conference in Atlanta, GA. These partnerships will help residents in Weed and Seed communities manage their money better, increase their assets, and access banking services more easily.

Just as important to take away from the conference are some simple guidelines to help you with your plans to make your communities safer. Many new grantees—and some more experienced grantees—make errors that can hinder their timelines for funding. We want to do everything we can to help you. In that spirit, I ask you to look at the special Application Kit Information page (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ccdo/funding.htm#fy05wsprograms) on the CCDO Web site to find tips that will help you avoid any pitfalls and speed your way to a successful year.

There have been some leadership changes at the U.S. Department of Justice as well. Former Assistant Attorney General Deborah Daniels has returned to her private law practice in Indianapolis, IN. We will miss her advocacy on behalf of Weed and Seed, but we remain in good hands under the leadership of Acting Assistant Attorney General Tracy Henke. We welcome Tracy, our new CCDO Deputy Director Denise Viera, and all the new program managers who are working hard to better serve you.

All this change is exciting, and I hope you share my enthusiasm. Contact us and let us help you accomplish all that you want.

Sincerely,

Nelson Hernandez
Director
Community Capacity Development Office

Letter From the U.S. Attorney

Under the Public Safety Housing Initiative (PSHI), the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designated the Kansas City metropolitan area as one of 10 communities nationwide to receive a federal grant to assist in the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of violent crimes and drug offenses in public, federally assisted, and Indian housing areas.

As U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, I am honored to lead the coordination of this new local law enforcement and crime prevention initiative. It is important that this program include the same Kansas City organizations and agencies that have sought to improve living conditions in these neighborhoods for years. These organizations are made up of advocates who truly understand the problems that plague some of our area's neighborhoods and who believe that the residents of these communities have a right to a safe and drug-free environment.

We will adopt a straightforward approach to implementing PSHI. The grant money will be used to help the community achieve three goals: (1) reduce crime in targeted public housing areas, (2) improve tenant conditions in assisted-living environments, and (3) improve interagency collaboration and communication on quality-of-life issues in public housing areas.

Specifically, we will use these funds to train police officers and crime analysts, improve surveillance in public housing areas, increase the number of sweeps conducted in these areas, target criminals residing in public housing, increase open-air drug enforcement, improve investigations, and coordinate and cooperate with probation and parole efforts. Our efforts are designed to improve landlord and tenant responsibilities and, most important, increase tenant safety.

The U.S. Attorney's Office may be the leader of this initiative, but we look to the same individuals who have done so much already in reducing crime to help us make this initiative successful. Participants of Kansas City's Project Safe Neighborhoods and Weed and Seed program partners are already on the initiative's steering committee. Additionally, the Kansas City, MO, Police Department; the Independence, MO, Police Department; and Connections to Success, a community faith-based organization that focuses on reentry, will play significant roles. A closer look at the work of all the partners will reveal why each is a critical player in this initiative.

Project Safe Neighborhoods has existed in Kansas City for the past 4 years and has been recognized nationally for its success in prosecuting felons who illegally possess firearms. Locally, we refer to the program as Project Ceasefire, which comprises local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and the Kansas City Crime Commission. Since its inception in 1999, more than 700 individuals have been charged with illegally possessing more than 1,300 firearms.

The Weed and Seed program, present in Kansas City for nearly 15 years, was selected because its participants are as familiar with these neighborhoods as the residents themselves. In fact, many are resident volunteers. The current Kansas City Weed and Seed site consists of a nearly 1,600-block radius representing more than 20 neighborhoods. The program's understanding of community development will be a great asset to this endeavor.

The Kansas City Police Department has dedicated law enforcement officers for years to public and federally assisted housing areas to help ensure these communities are safe and drug free. Currently, the department commits two officers to each of its patrol divisions for the sole purpose of working with landlords and tenants. The police department does this in cooperation with the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, an international program that teaches prevention, applicant screening, and drug-nuisance abatement and provides resource material to tenants, landlords, and property managers.

The Hawthorne Complex in Independence, MO, includes 745 units, 90 percent of which are HUD funded. The assignment of two full-time police officers to this site has helped build positive relationships with tenants and complex staff and has also led to a significant reduction in crime in the area. However, improvement is still needed, and this new PHSI grant money will allow the Independence Police Department to continue their work at this site.

Connections to Success has strong working relationships with the Weed and Seed program and the Kansas City Police Department. The organization recognizes that a significant number of Missouri's state probationers and parolees reside in federally assisted housing and will collaborate with other agencies to ensure that probation/parole clients are not a threat to public safety or to these public housing communities.

The creation of safe, federally assisted and Indian housing areas is a DOJ priority. I share that sentiment, and I expect that our aggressive collaborative effort will result in a significant difference for residents in these communities.

Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement, Race, and Reconciliation
Ivy Murphy, Weed and Seed Coordinator, City of Lakewood

In August 2002, then-King County Sheriff Dave Reichert, the Reverend Donovan Rivers, and leadership from the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) met to plan a summit that would focus on improving communication between law enforcement and the many diverse communities within Washington State. Today, the Lakewood Weed and Seed site is still reaping the benefits of that summit, which was held in November 2002, and continuing to see improvements between the police and minority communities.

Before planning participants met that August, nine officers had been involved in the shootings of minorities in King County in as many years. Although each shooting was ruled as justified, the results exacerbated an already tense and explosive situation between law enforcement and the African-American community in particular. NCPC designed the 2-day summit to address bias within law enforcement, institutional racism, and the ways in which law enforcement authorities interact with people and communities of color.

Minority participants in the summit said the police were at fault on a number of issues and that their actions were fueling enmity and mistrust on both sides. These participants charged that police did not provide accurate information, did not communicate with community groups, and did not establish relationships with different minority groups. Their top recommendation was to increase the recruitment, hiring, and retention of bicultural and bilingual law enforcement officers in underrepresented communities.

The city of Lakewood made a commitment to meet the recruitment recommendation. Although the city is predominantly white, as is its Weed and Seed site, it also is highly diverse with sizable African-American, Asian, Latino, and multiethnic communities. The commitment included aggressive outreach to recruit and build a multicultural police department with an enhanced ability to successfully interact with the city's diverse population. In addition to traditional recruitment methods, the police met with community members, faith-based groups, and city employees for assistance in attaining the department's goal.

So far, the city's commitment has borne fruit. The outreach resulted in increased numbers of minority and female applicants, increased numbers of ethnic and female officers on the force, more bilingual officers, more officers with college degrees, an African-American police commission member, and minority community participation in hiring.

Over the past 2 years, other counties throughout the state have replicated the summit. Other signs of the summit's success include an assessment of the cultural competency components of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission and the use of the commission's DVD on cultural competency in police in service activities and roll calls. Partnerships also are starting with Washington's Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to share and distribute emerging information and practices to improve cross-cultural interaction.

A Washington State Working Group consisting of summit participants, law enforcement officials, Weed and Seed staff, community members, faith-based representatives, and political representatives has continued to work with leaders from NCPC, such as Monica Palacio, and former NCPC Chief Operating Officer James E. Copple, now a principal with a consulting group, Strategic Applications International. The group has implemented various strategies to promote cultural and racial understanding.

A recommendation to build relationships between the police and community groups before crises occur led to the formation of three advisory committees for different ethnic groups. The committees consist of retired military and law enforcement officials, education officials, and representatives from faith groups, nonprofit organizations, the Department of Corrections, and the community. Committee members participate in ride-alongs, community outreach efforts, and police trainings about cultural perceptions.

Lakewood acknowledges, in practice and policy, the need for reconciliation and for establishing vehicles of communication that promote trust. Strategies involving cultural inclusion and recruitment of specialized populations remain a priority as Lakewood's police department continues to respond to changing community needs and emerging issues.

For more information, see Law Enforcement, Race, and Reconciliation (http://www.ncpc.org/ncpc/ncpc/?pg=2088-14434), the NCPC document about the summit.

For more information, contact:
Ivy Murphy
Weed and Seed Coordinator
imurphy@cityoflakewood.us

Technology to the Rescue in Pico Union
Kathryn A. Kohn, CCDO Program Manager

Good old-fashioned police work sometimes needs a gadget or two to really start seeing results.

The Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department covers an area of only 7 square miles, yet it is one of the highest crime divisions in the city. It is known for gang activity and narcotics sales, as well as for being the leading area for car thefts in L.A. But this area, just west of downtown, is also known for the efforts of the Pico Union Weed and Seed site and the technology-minded police department.

At the center of Pico Union's site is Macarthur Park, a 40-acre park that used to be known for violence, drugs, and gangs. A joint effort to reclaim the park that began over a year ago has been successful, in large part due to a project that placed cameras in the park that can pan, tilt, and zoom in on illegal activity. Those cameras are linked to Rampart Station through the Internet, allowing police officers to monitor the area while being miles away from the location.

A second major technological innovation that aided police involves facial recognition software. This system, installed in November 2004, works with camera surveillance systems and can analyze images of human faces for comparison and identification. In just a few months, 19 arrests have been made with the assistance of this facial recognition software.

The success of these two systems led law enforcement to consider purchasing equipment for an automatic license plate recognition system for one of their patrol cars. With the assistance of their Weed and Seed grant, the Rampart Division put this third and newest technological application into action in January, which required equipping a patrol vehicle with forward- and rear-facing video cameras and a mobile data computer. The system can scan, recognize, and process the plates of several hundred cars within 15 minutes. License plates are automatically cross-checked in real time against local and national databases to identify vehicles that are of interest to law enforcement. Within 3 weeks of its inception, the license plate system helped officers detect 16 stolen cars in the Pico Union Weed and Seed area.

The Pico Union Weed and Seed site has pushed its crimefighting efforts forward by taking what works; seeking leverage from several sources including donations, federal funding, and private contributions; and implementing systems that have reduced crime. This success with technology has put Pico Union Weed and Seed and the Rampart Division in the media spotlight, with upcoming coverage by ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and by Fox News.

For further information, contact:
Captain Charlie Beck
Commanding Officer, Rampart Area, LAPD
213–485–4060

Fighting Crime the Low-Tech Way

With a plain car—no fancy cameras, hidden microphones, or mobile high-tech vans—and some equipment in its trunk, Detroit's 11th precinct is fighting crime in its Weed and Seed area.

For several years, the police who work in the site have used Weed and Seed funding to lease two vehicles to use for surveillance. Being part of a large police force such as Detroit's can be beneficial for some things, but it can also mean that your precinct has to wait in line for other things, such as surveillance vehicles.

“We need tools we can put our hands on immediately,” said Sergeant Ron Gibson, whose primary responsibility is for the Weed and Seed site. If you are responding to critical situations, you want to have equipment in place every time you need it, he explained. Although the cars are inconspicuous on the outside, inside the trunks are cameras, notebook computers, crime scene tape, evidence collection equipment, and tactical equipment, such as bulletproof vests and weapons.

Sergeant Gibson and other officers have used the cars in various situations and with very good results. Working with the homicide division, the Weed and Seed officers have helped get information on people wanted for murder. Working as narcotics decoys, they have arrested numerous people who came to the car to buy drugs.

In a recent case, Sergeant Gibson and investigators were trying to find suspects whom they could identify by physical description only. The suspects, however, knew the police were looking for them and stayed out of sight, so the police pulled their marked police cars from the street and used the surveillance vehicles. The ploy worked; the suspects got comfortable and went out in the open, unaware they were being observed. The officers arrested them, and the suspects were then found guilty of armed robbery, assault with intent to murder, and felonious assault.

The cars have also helped police establish low-key relationships with neighborhood residents. In the densely populated Weed and Seed area, police can park the car, walk up to someone, and ask them questions “without the whole neighborhood knowing what's going on,” Sergeant Gibson explained. Police also have driven witnesses to court in the cars—one situation in which an unidentified car is much safer than a marked one.

The 11th precinct rotates the kinds of cars it uses every year to keep them from being recognized. One-year leases for two cars total just under $16,000.

Other Weed and Seed sites have taken notice of the 11th precinct's success and want to adapt some of their procedures. The precinct's policy of having crime scene investigation equipment at the ready, for example, has inspired other sites to put together similar “kits” for their detectives' cars.

For Sergeant Gibson, getting basic nuts and bolts instead of fancy gear has worked financially and practically. “This is a tool that we've really been able to use,” he said.

For further information, contact:
Sergeant Ron Gibson
313–995–2823

Resources

Get the 411 on Prosecutors
The Bureau of Justice Statistics provides information on prosecutors' offices throughout the nation on its Web site. The site links to data on personnel, budget, and caseloads organized by district. Users can also create tables that compare data from multiple districts. Data presented were collected by the National Survey of Prosecutors, 2001.
View it on the Web: http://bjsdata.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Search/Prosecutors/index.cfm

Enhance Your Intelligence
Law Enforcement Intelligence: A Guide for State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies aims to help law enforcement agencies develop or enhance their intelligence capacity and to be instrumental in fighting terrorism and other crimes while preserving hard-won community policing relationships.
View it on the Web: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?Item=1404

Community Policing

“Shop-With-A-Cop” More Than Just a Successful Day in Portland

Do building better relationships with law enforcement and shopping sound like things you could do at the same time? Certainly, if you know about the Shop-With-A-Cop program, an annual event in Portland, OR, that makes going back to school a delight rather than a chore for many parents and children.

For 99 kids and 45 police officers, one summer day turned out to be fun and helpful as they roamed the aisles of the local Fred Meyer department store and bought school clothes and supplies. Each child received store gift cards, a bag of school supplies, a membership to the Boys & Girls Club, and a free haircut at the local salon, Hair It Is!

Like a lot of programs, though, Shop-With-A Cop is much more than a 1-day occurrence, explained event director Rachel Stern, Resident Resources Program Coordinator at the ROSE Community Development Corporation (CDC). The ROSE CDC owns and develops properties for low-income single people and families in Lents/Brentwood-Darlington Weed and Seed neighborhoods in southeast Portland.

Just in terms of planning the day, the group solidified partnerships and expanded its relationships with other organizations.

“Weed and Seed has helped us make incredible connections,” Stern said.

Sharon White, Weed and Seed coordinator, worked with partner agencies to help promote the event. She also distributed drug-reduction information, crime prevention brochures, and Weed and Seed information.

Since the event, children who participated have continued to develop better relationships with police officers, and those new relationships have put a network in place for other programs, Stern said. Residents are now more willing to participate actively in community programs, and more people are signing up to be block captains as part of their neighborhood watches. In addition, two families who were a part of Shop-With-A-Cop are now participating in the police-led Gang Resistance Education and Training program.

Of course, the event itself has an immediate impact as well. One ROSE resident said that her kids had a terrific time and got lots of nice things for the new school year: “You guys have also helped to relieve a big stress for me. I was not sure how I was going to get all their stuff for school.”

The response from the community has been incredible, the organizers said. Event planners believe their objectives were met—to ease the financial burden of back-to-school expenses; to develop positive relationships between residents of ROSE's properties and law enforcement officers; and to help the children go back to school feeling confident and ready to succeed.

For further information, contact:
Rachel Stern
Resident Resources Program Coordinator
ROSE CDC
503–788–8052
rachel@rosecdc.org

A Conversation With Captain Terry Hara

For Captain Terry Hara, the biggest challenge in community policing is simply educating the public about the role of the police.

According to Captain Hara, the Commanding Officer of the Training Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, residents sometimes have no idea what community policing is all about, and it's difficult to find a way to tell them. He realizes that police officers do not have time to explain everything, but he said officers must understand that every call essentially involves public relations.

This difficult challenge is just one of many for community policing officers, but Captain Hara seems to relish the challenges, if only because they make the successes sweeter.

At a training event for Washington, DC, police officers in January, Captain Hara told how his department and other agencies once put together a 6-week summer work program for 400 kids in just 90 days.

“People will tell you, 'You can't do it.' Don't take that as a final answer,” he said.

Captain Hara believes community policing is founded on partnership building, comprehensive strategies, community involvement, and information sharing. He sees a lot of similarities with the Weed and Seed strategy and what police departments are trying to achieve in their communities. “Weed and Seed is community policing at its best,” he said.

Captain Hara describes Weed and Seed as the bigger picture; if law enforcement and community leaders use the Weed and Seed strategy, then officers and community members will follow. “It makes everyone's job easier,” he said.

Ideally, Captain Hara would like to see officers assigned full time to Weed and Seed, helping its staff to coordinate programs. He feels Weed and Seed is so successful that there ought to be more sites, and the Weed and Seed method applied to law enforcement structuring. “We need to change the paradigm of thinking in policing,” he said.

Overall, police officials need to get communities more involved in police activity, Captain Hara believes, and police departments must reciprocate and get other agencies involved in improving their communities.

The police department must work within the community to build different kinds of relationships. It is important for law enforcement and youth to understand each other, said Hara, and perhaps just as important, the department must have a direct relationship with the local housing authority.

Captain Hara also advises taking advantage of the media. “Advertise. There's nothing wrong with being proud of what you do,” he said, adding that when you promote your program, it gives it more credibility.

The power of the community is not to be underestimated. Volunteers from the community can prove invaluable, providing guidance as well as immediate help for specific projects. During the training event, Captain Hara reminded officers that the police don't always know what's best for the community but once a relationship is established, community members can really help out.

“When a community sees a good thing, it will always be behind you,” Captain Hara said.

For further information, contact:
Captain Terry Hara
310–342–3010

Resources

Save the Date
The 20th National Conference on Preventing Crime in the Black Community will be held June 1–4, 2005, in Tampa, FL. Many workshop sessions will reflect the Weed and Seed model. Sites are encouraged to use their training and travel funds to send a team. The workshop will include a track for young people.
View it on the Web: http://myfloridalegal.com/pcbc.nsf/00df3f0fdb9ea071852567b4006c5b6a/d93b9738339112e7852567fb007020cc!OpenDocument

Is Cruising Hurting Your Community?
Cruising reviews the factors that contribute to unnecessary repetitive driving. The guide also identifies questions to ask when dealing with a cruising problem, proposes numerous responses to the problem, and identifies ways to measure the effectiveness of these responses.
View it on the Web: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1420

Drugs on the Street
Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets, a guide from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, describes drug dealing in open-air markets and reviews the factors that contribute to the problem. It then identifies a series of questions to help analyze a local problem and reviews responses.
View it on the Web: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1423

Have COPS Grants Helped?
Funding Community Policing to Reduce Crime: Have COPS Grants Made a Difference From 1994 to 2000? examines how funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services between 1994 and 1999 affected violent and property crime rates in the United States from 1995–2000.
View it on the Web: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1414

Prevention

SCOOPing Trenton Kids Off the Street

In cities across the country, parents scramble to get their children into programs during the all-important afterschool hours. But in Trenton, NJ, there is no more scrambling, thanks to SCOOP, a citywide initiative that helps thousands of kids participate in more than 100 different activities after school and on Saturdays.

SCOOP, which stands for Social Celebrations Opportunities Organizations People, was launched in 2003 after city leaders agreed that every child in Trenton should have access to activities without being limited by transportation, lack of money, or location.

So the city developed SCOOP with a transportation system to support it. The bus system links 13 centers, including 4 Safe Havens, and uses barcoded photo identification for all children, which helps SCOOP track their participation and progress. This dramatic program started to take shape a few years ago, and now every day nearly 700 children ages 7–18 are taking part in SCOOP, and more than 3,000 youth are registered participants.

Of course, developing such a program was a tall order, but after holding forums with youth service providers in 2001, the city came up with a 5-year strategic plan. Trenton's Department of Recreation, Natural Resources, and Culture became the plan facilitator and began working on the program with community leaders. Then, the Youth Advocacy Cabinet designed the SCOOP pilot program.

The Weed and Seed strategy served as a basis for the plan, said Francis Blanco, Director of the Department of Recreation, Natural Resources, and Culture. Like Weed and Seed, SCOOP stresses leveraging resources, a systematic approach, and support from policymakers.

The breadth of programming that SCOOP offers spans different age groups and interests. Programs focus on arts and culture, education, leisure and sports, history, and special initiatives such as drug prevention. Some examples of activities include martial arts, African drumming, Latin dance, horseback riding, community service, music, and basketball.

Trenton's Northwest and Southeast Weed and Seed sites play a key role in SCOOP, particularly in the prevention and intervention areas. The Trenton Police Department provides a safe corridor using funding from Weed and Seed and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Many of the people who serve on the Seed subcommittee are working with SCOOP as well.

Blanco is particularly pleased when kids are having a good time and learning while doing so.

“When kids are playing chess they're having fun, but they're also learning analytical skills,” she said. “If we can get kids off the street, that's great, but if we can get them off the street and teach them, that's even greater.”

Winning the support of the community was paramount and something of which SCOOP is proud. For example, Jim Carlucci, chairperson of a community police advisory group, sent in a testimonial of support for SCOOP.

“I must say I personally was impressed with the scope of the children's activities, the attention to security and tracking through technology, and the stated objective to bring the various programs of organizations such as the CYO and Boys & Girls Club into the mix,” Carlucci wrote. “This is a wonderful asset for our community. . . . I will be sure to spread the word every chance I get about this great program.”

With SCOOP in full swing, Blanco said she is feeling more confident on the prevention front and is starting to focus more on intervention with at-risk youth, including those who are reentering the community after a stay in a juvenile justice system facility.

Blanco is enthusiastic about SCOOP's prospects of further success. “It's very exciting,” she said. “It gives them a chance. It works.”

For further information, visit SCOOP's Web site at http://www.trenton.k12.nj.us/dascoop/, or contact:
Francis Blanco
609–989–3169
fblanco@trentonnj.org

In Many Different Languages, Help Is There
Angela Pearson Hill

Weed and Seed sites are providing foreign-born populations in their communities with meaningful access to services and benefits.

Last November, CCDO asked select Weed and Seed sites about their Limited English Proficiency (LEP) policies and practices. Throughout the country, 173 sites were identified as having a foreign-born population of 5 percent or more, and about 45 percent of those sites completed assessments.

The majority of the sites that participated in the assessment have aggressively reached out to the LEP community. For example, at the Newburgh Weed and Seed site in New York, 36 percent of the site's 28 employees are bilingual and are able to assist Spanish-speaking residents competently.

Two other sites have focused their outreach through local police departments. Employees of the West Oakland (CA) Police Department are tested to see whether they can provide translation services to the LEP community. In fact, employees receive additional pay for bilingual services, according to Annie Sloan, the West Oakland site coordinator. In Seattle, WA, law enforcement officers assist the Weed and Seed Southwest site community, where an astonishing 70 languages and dialects are spoken. The commander of the police department's Communications Section coordinates language-access activities, and the department provides interpreters for its LEP population.

Although many sites have demonstrated successful outreach efforts, CCDO has selected three sites as delivering premier services: Brownsville Westside, TX; Northwest and Southeast Trenton, NJ; and the Colfax Corridor site in Aurora, CO. Each site offered a fascinating outreach approach.

Brownsville Westside has a 30-percent foreign-born population that consists mainly of Spanish-speaking residents. This model site is staunchly committed to its LEP community. According to Elizabeth Limon-Garza, the site coordinator, staff members are required to speak Spanish fluently. Instead of speaking through an interpreter, staff members speak directly to the residents about available Weed and Seed benefits and services, and all of Brownsville Westside's vital documents are distributed to the public in both English and Spanish. The site also conducts community meetings about crime prevention in Spanish to maximize resident participation.

The Trenton site maximizes the use of a multicultural staff for its LEP community. Many of Trenton's Northwest and Southeast residents speak Spanish. As such, they are part of a foreign-born population of about 27 percent in the community. Regarding the site's staffing policy, Nancy Diel, the site coordinator, said that the receptionist and at least one senior staff member must be bilingual, and each Safe Haven must have at least one bilingual staff person. All of the sites' vital documents are translated into Spanish, and all written materials for afterschool programming are translated and posted on the Web site. The site tracks its frequency of contact with the LEP community by counting the Spanish-language versions of the registration forms for afterschool programs and summer camps that have been completed at the end of each month. Each year, staff members also compare the services the site provides to Spanish-speaking clients with U.S. Census tracking information.

The Colfax Corridor Weed and Seed site has outstanding LEP policies and practices. The spring 2004 edition of In-Sites featured an article on Aurora's education and training geared toward LEP residents and their integration into Aurora's neighborhoods. Almost 1 year later, Colfax Corridor still excels in reaching out to its LEP community. Although the site is diverse, the population is composed primarily of Spanish-speaking individuals (54 percent ).

Site Coordinator Dawn Barrett said that Aurora's primary objective is to “build unity in the community.” This multifaceted outreach program includes regular visits to schools, homes, nonprofit organizations, and businesses to share city information and resources with Spanish-speaking residents. The program includes the Lifelong Learning Project, which is designed to advance the language and life skills of non-English speakers. The Community College of Aurora's (CCA's) Language Center and its Workforce Development Center offer English language classes, and Colfax Corridor assists CCA in recruiting and enrolling individuals into these classes.

Neighborhood Watch for Spanish Speakers, an outreach mechanism coordinated by Colfax Corridor's bilingual Weed and Seed network, engages Spanish-speaking residents in crime prevention and public safety efforts. Another component of the site's outreach efforts, the Information and Referral Program, identifies LEP individuals who require or request language assistance and refers them to available community resources. And these are just a few of the innovative outreach tools that are part of Colfax Corridor's strategy.

Improving access to services is an ongoing process. Weed and Seed grant recipients are responsible for ensuring that program goals and objectives include all of the people that sites serve or encounter, including those with limited English proficiency. CCDO is confident that all sites will continue to strive to meet the needs of the LEP community.

For further information, contact:
Brownsville Westside Weed and Seed
Elizabeth Limon-Garza, Coordinator
956–544–0868

Oakland Police Department
Annie Sloan, Coordinator
510–777–8719

Aurora's Colfax Corridor
Dawn Barrett, Coordinator
303–739–7926

Look Ma, I'm on Camera: Video Highlights Safe Haven Programs

The kids in the Safe Havens in South Bend, IN, might have felt as if they were being watched last fall—and they were. They not only were watched, they also were filmed, interviewed, and inundated with questions by other kids, all with the ultimate goal of drawing even more of their peers to the Weed and Seed centers in the evenings.

The project began with a simple question, “Why do you like coming here?” and resulted in a 13-minute video titled “The Choice Is Yours.” The project was a Weed and Seed effort to determine what was working at the site's Safe Havens and how they could encourage more youth to take advantage of afterschool programs such as homework assistance, tutoring, computer literacy training, recreational programs, mentoring, the Reading Corps program, and conflict resolution training.

Mark Dollinger, the site coordinator, said he wants to replicate the programs that work and tailor them to reach as many youth as possible.

“It keeps them from hearing gunshots in their neighborhood,” Dollinger said, matter-of-factly.

The South Bend Weed and Seed Alliance recently set out to refocus its goals, starting with helping out youth (especially from 3 to 7 p.m.). Because the site serves very distinct neighborhoods, part of the video explains which services are offered at which sites (although there has since been an attempt to integrate more programs).

In the video, youth talk about why they like going to Safe Havens. One child said she liked going to La Casa de Amistad because she can do her homework there, and that her sisters won't let her do her homework at home. A young boy said he liked coming because it is a safe place where he can get away from gangs that are fighting on the street. Another said he likes going because his grades have improved, and he now makes As and Bs, not Cs and Ds.

All local schools have copies of the videotape and nonprofit groups and churches have shown interest as well. The site's newsletter published an article about the video project while it was in progress, and a premiere of the completed video was attended by South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke, the local U.S. attorney, members of the South Bend Police Department, board members from the local Weed and Seed site, and children featured in the video.

The video has made the public aware of the youth programming available but also has served other functions. It has become a stepping stone to a second project in which youth are filming a documentary about Weed and Seed neighborhoods. The same production company that assisted with the first video will again donate its time and charge a low rate, Dollinger said. The documentary project will teach youth how to properly videotape, edit, and produce a film. Because this second film will document the progress of the site, said Dollinger, it will serve as an educational and evaluation tool in one. The Safe Havens video cost $6,500; the upcoming video is estimated to cost $6,000 and will be completed later this year, depending on the site's funding cycle.

Another payoff has been more children signing up for programs, resulting in the need for more staff to be hired at the six Safe Havens that cross three South Bend neighborhoods. Student volunteers from the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's College also continue to help out.

For further information, contact:
Mark Dollinger
Weed and Seed Coordinator
574–235–7619

CADCA Makes Sustainability Make Sense

There was a time when you could apply for a grant and hope your short-term plan would be enough. Funders may have felt that your short-term plan was fine, and you were awarded the money.

The problem with this scenario is that it happened all too often. Success would turn into failure because organizations were shortsighted and programs faded or cycled in and out of effectiveness.

No more, say all sides. The buzzword “sustainability” is being used with good reason. Funders are now looking for more accountability from grantees, and grantees are realizing that long-term planning is in their best interest.

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is working with Weed and Seed to get the message of sustainability across to coalitions and sites. Much of the Weed and Seed strategy parallels the goal of sustainability. Working together in a systemwide approach over a long period to effect change is the way Weed and Seed sites are designed to function. To make changes in the community, CADCA says that community groups, both formal and informal, need to take on specific responsibilities and form partnerships to effectively implement their plans and better guarantee sustainability.

CCDO and CADCA have worked together since 2003 to provide additional training and technical assistance to Weed and Seed sites.

CADCA believes that sustainability is not just about funding but about ensuring communitywide support and resources. In its literature, CADCA states that sustainability can be achieved by “establishing relationships, securing training and coaching to help members master collaboration, and arranging for technical assistance to strengthen weak areas in their infrastructure.”

Having a new understanding of what sustainability entails seems to be difficult for people to catch on to, according to Kareemah Abdullah, Deputy Director of Training and Technical Assistance for CADCA's National Coalition Institute. “Sustainability has always been there, but it's been, ‘Where's my next grant?' It's always been about the money,” she said.

A paradigm shift is necessary for communities to realize that their plans must involve sustainability. “Foundations are looking for sustainability more than they used to, and federal funders are moving to more accountability,” Abdullah said.

The institute suggests using core competencies—proven, evidence-based strategies that assist with program planning and implementation. They include community assessment, analysis of the issue, development of a strategic plan, community action and intervention, social marketing of ideas or practices/media advocacy, evaluation, and sustainability of the effort.

Another key factor to a sustainability plan is that it must not only effectively address problems that the community currently cares about, but also adapt to community needs as they change. The problems facing a community change over time, CADCA says, and to stay relevant, your organization needs to periodically “take the temperature” of the community at large.

Leadership roles must be rotated to get fresh perspectives and to help other members develop leadership skills. In addition, members with leadership roles feel more productive and are generally more committed to the coalition. Relying on just one charismatic leader is not a good idea, according to Abdullah, because if the leader leaves, the whole group will suffer.

“There has to be a group IQ,” she said. “From the bottom up and the top down, there has to be depth and breadth.”

The changes have been long in coming, Abdullah and other CADCA leaders say. But they believe coalitions and organizations are getting the message that times have changed.

For further information, contact:
Kareemah Abdullah
www.cadca.org
kabdullah@cadca.org

Small and Simple Makes Tucson's DEFY Work

Six years ago, DEFY started in Tucson, AZ; 6 years later, kids are still coming to DEFY events.

The secret to this kind of dedication and interest lies in a number of small yet very effective strategies, according to Marcia Roberts, Weed and Seed and DEFY Coordinator for Tucson's Westside Coalition Weed and Seed.

Roberts keeps all of the names of children who attended DEFY camp (Phase I) in a database so they are readily available for mailings and information dissemination about Phase II activities. This deceptively easy step makes things work more smoothly and efficiently for Roberts, who reaches out to at least 90 kids, drawing about 35 new children each year from the three active Weed and Seed sites. Events can sometimes draw up to 30 kids.

“It doesn't matter if you have great programs if your outreach fails,” Roberts said. “You have to have both to be successful.”

DEFY likes to try new activities and broaden experiences, but it is also important to replay favorites, Roberts noted. The Christmas festival of lights, for example, is a perennial success and an event that the kids look forward to, so Roberts keeps hosting it.

Keeping things straightforward is paramount because if you complicate event descriptions or communications, you'll lose members, Roberts warns. She keeps her fliers to one page with readily recognizable DEFY logos. Even in an area with many non-English speakers, this method was more effective than translating the materials, Roberts discovered. At one time, she tried translation services but soon experienced problems with that approach—some services took too long and some translations were done poorly—so finally the immigrant groups themselves urged her to print things in English only.

Without quality programs, of course, DEFY would not attract continued interest, so Roberts always makes sure the programs—old favorites, slight variations to old programs, or new ideas—are fun while they reinforce messages learned in DEFY camp. These messages include respect for others, how to be part of a team, personal leadership, and the value of community service.

One of the best-attended activities was at the recent “El Tour de Tucson” bicycle ride, a national race that attracted 7,000 riders and where the DEFY kids manned an aid station. In another event, kids participated in a martial arts “kick-a-thon” at which they competed with other future black belts across the country in number and styles of kicks. Every year, DEFY youth march in the Veteran's Day Parade; in 2004, they decorated a jeep with their logo and marched and sang alongside it.

Roberts has encountered a fair number of challenges to coordinating activities in the community, including attrition. In low-income neighborhoods, people tend to move a fair amount, which is all the more reason for consistent mailings and reliable outreach, Roberts said.

Roberts also emphasized that personal contact and relationship building with as many youth as possible are part of her approach. After forming a relationship with one adult, she said, kids are more likely to develop relationships with other adults and also to return to events and work cooperatively with others. The skills and values learned through DEFY become habit.

When she runs into her DEFY kids, said Roberts, they always say, “Hey, Marcia, when's the next DEFY?”

“There's nothing you want to hear more,” Roberts said.

For further information, contact:
Marcia Roberts
Westside Coalition Weed and Seed
520–791–4806, ext. 1018
marcia.roberts@tucsonaz.gov

Carol Neylan
CCDO DEFY Coordinator
202–307–6562
carol.neylan@usdoj.gov

Resources

Female Delinquency
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Girls Study Group Web site enhances understanding of female juvenile offending and identifies effective strategies to prevent and reduce female involvement in delinquency and violence. The site describes research activities and offers resources for further information.
View it on the Web: http://girlsstudygroup.rti.org

Neighborhood Restoration

Money Smart: Coming Soon to a Safe Haven Near You

Join the financial literacy wave: CCDO's goal is to have 75 new sites offering Money Smart classes for residents by 2006.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and CCDO signed a partnership agreement at the FY 2005 Weed and Seed Application Kit and Training Workshop in March. The partnership guarantees 75 Weed and Seed sites access to all of the curriculums, training materials, and training for trainers needed to launch or expand financial literacy offerings in neighborhoods most affected by crime and violence. Sites may enhance neighborhood restoration strategies by including financial literacy in their competitive application requests for 2005.

“The collaboration between FDIC and CCDO represents a natural fit for both agencies,” said Lee Bowman, National Coordinator of FDIC's Community Affairs Program. “Working together, we can increase our effectiveness by promoting financial education as a key strategy to help revitalize neighborhoods. By increasing the health of Weed and Seed residents, our agencies can contribute substantially to increasing family assets and homeownership rates, as well as small business ownership.”

CCDO's goal is to offer more financial literacy programming to Weed and Seed residents as part of a comprehensive approach to increasing the financial stability of individuals and families and fostering neighborhood restoration efforts. Neighborhood restoration is a core component of Weed and Seed and key to sustainability.

“Our partnership with FDIC will bring Money Smart, a financial education program, to our Weed and Seed residents, many of whom are outside the financial mainstream,” said Nelson Hernandez, CCDO Director. “Many of our Weed and Seed communities are characterized by a significant number of low- and moderate-income families, so this partnership makes sense.”

Sites will begin receiving copies of the Money Smart training materials and ten 1-hour workshops in April 2005. Training for instructors will be available through regional trainings offered by FDIC and at the CCDO national conference in Los Angeles in August.

If you need more information or assistance in identifying organizations interested in sponsoring financial education, contact the FDIC Community Affairs Officer (http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart/cao.html) for your community.

For further information, contact:
Sonia Klukas
CCDO Community Partnerships Officer
202–616–3454
sonia.klukas@usdoj.gov

Colleen Copple
CCDO Community Partnerships
202–353–4317
colleen.copple@usdoj.gov

Earn It, Keep It, Save It: Phoenix Weed and Seed Launches EITC Campaign

Garfield working families are getting help claiming thousands of dollars of earned income tax credits (EITC) and child tax credits.

The Lupe Sisneros Safe Haven in the Phoenix, AZ, Garfield Weed and Seed site launched a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) center with residents and Mayor Phil Gordon at a grand opening event on February 2, 2005. Garfield is one of three pilot sites opening VITA centers this tax season as part of a larger CCDO partnership with the Internal Revenue Service to open 50 VITA centers by 2006.

“We are very excited about adding the VITA center to our Safe Haven as a way to better serve our Weed and Seed residents,” said Roberto Frietz, the Garfield site coordinator. “We are using this opportunity to increase the ability of residents to begin saving, purchase or repair homes, start businesses or go back to school. What better way to stabilize and strengthen the neighborhood?”

VITA centers provide high-quality tax preparation services, free of charge, to low-income tax filers. The services help residents receive the full benefit of tax credits for which they qualify. Up to 25 percent of the individuals and families who qualify for EITC nationally do not claim this tax credit of up to $4,300.

VITA centers are becoming a key element of effective neighborhood restoration strategies for Weed and Seed sites. Sites are also connecting residents to other services such as food stamps, the WIC nutrition program, financial literacy, home ownership preparation, and other opportunities to strengthen financial stability.

Click on a link below to check out the promotional materials from the Garfield VITA center. Some materials are also available in Spanish.

• Take Your Money. You Earned It. (nr_attachmenta.pdf) (English only).
• Tips to Save You Money (nr_attachmentb.pdf) (English and Spanish).
• Earned Income Tax Credit: Questions and Answers (nr_attachmentc.pdf) (English and Spanish).

CCDO selected sites from across the country and will offer up to $10,000 per Officially Recognized site to be used for computer equipment to support the launch of a VITA Center. Some additional sites may be selected based on IRS criteria.

For more information on VITA centers as part of a neighborhood restoration strategy, read “Fighting Poverty With a New Partner,” http://www.ncjrs.org/ccdo/in-sites/winter2004/neighborhood_1.html, which appeared in the winter 2004 issue of In-Sites.

For further information, contact:
Sonia Klukas
CCDO Community Partnerships Officer
202–616–3454
sonia.klukas@usdoj.gov

Reentry

CSOSA Helps Ex-Offenders in DC

The officials at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) in Washington, DC, know they are better funded than most community corrections agencies. They have taken their good fortune and organized myriad programs to serve ex-offenders and improve reentry initiatives in communities throughout the nation's capital.

An independent executive branch agency of the federal government, CSOSA provides supervisory and treatment services to more than 26,000 individuals on pretrial release, probation, and parole.

CSOSA has a lot of support in the community thanks to the groundwork it lays by working with community leaders and ensuring that the community understands what CSOSA does. A community relations team goes door-to-door explaining CSOSA's mission, attends community meetings, and makes CSOSA representatives available. The investment in the team "has paid off tremendously," said CSOSA's Associate Director Cedric Hendricks.

A visit to a CSOSA field office and a nearby resource center reveals how CSOSA keeps itself rooted in the community. The offices are in the neighborhoods where the ex-offenders live. Community supervisory officers (CSOs), who have caseloads of approximately 50 clients and work in special teams, go on "accountability tours" during which they ride along with police officers to do home visits.

"We have an extremely dedicated staff motivated to assisting offenders to reestablishing themselves in the community as law abiding members," said Tom Williams, Associate Director for Community Supervision Services.

But motivation is a tough issue for a lot of ex-offenders. About 40 percent of his clients want to get a job and keep it from the beginning, but others need to be shown how their lives can improve if they participate in programs, said CSO Floyd Jackson.

The Vocational Opportunities Training and Education/Employment Unit, for example, provides educational, vocational, training, and referral services to offenders under CSOSA supervision.

At the center, ex-offenders can take computer, literacy, and GED classes and get counseling or job-training assistance.

Keith Hankins, age 26, has been in the program for 5 months and is working toward his GED. He takes two buses to get to the center and says his family is supportive. After 10 months in a DC jail, Hankins seems to like the classroom setting. "I needed this in my life," he said.

Darrell Warren just started the program, although he has been out of the prison system for 3 years. He has worked odd jobs but says he needs to work on his reading skills and ultimately get a GED. He wants his life to be more stable, and he plans to get married this summer.

For some, the faith community was instrumental in changing their lives. Albert Farmer went through job-training and mentoring programs at a church, and now he mentors other ex-offenders. The spiritual foundation that the church provided was important and helped him help himself, Farmer said. "In my moment of despair, they opened the door," he said.

Recognizing the power of faith institutions, CSOSA started the CSOSA/Faith Community Partnership several years ago. More than 40 interdenominational faith institutions throughout the city belong to the partnership. Its mentoring program has trained more than 200 mentors, and over 100 offenders have been placed. The partnership also refers offenders to a network of faith-based support services, including job training, transitional housing, substance abuse counseling, and family support.

CSOSA also provides comprehensive assessment and treatment services for substance-abusing probationers and parolees. Clients who are involved with drugs are evaluated through individualized assessment inventories and are subsequently placed in a variety of rehabilitative settings. These include residential and intensive outpatient treatment programs, continued drug surveillance monitoring, and other specialized assessment and treatment services delivered within the context of a sanctions-based case management process.

"Part of the concurrent goals of treatment and supervision is holding offenders accountable for their actions," said Williams. "CSOSA has a large percentage of its caseload in very high levels of supervision. Frequent contact and drug testing along with the efficient and swift imposition of intermediate sanctions sends a message that CSOSA takes its public safety mission seriously," he said.

For further information, contact:
Leonard Sipes
Senior Public Affairs Specialist
202–220–5616
www.csosa.gov

New Reentry Program Cleans Up

With any new program, one expects difficulties or kinks that need to be worked out, because that's how things are when you make a start.

However, when asked about Work Ventures, his reentry program that began only last August, Keith Vermillion, Director of the Savannah Impact Program (SIP), said, "No problems."

Small but successful, Work Ventures is a community services and employment-based program that provides training, employment, and educational opportunities to supervised offenders. SIP, an intensive probation and parole supervision, juvenile outreach, and offender employment program, worked in collaboration with Weed and Seed and the city of Savannah's Property Maintenance Department to start the program. Property and Maintenance's Trent Chavis approached Vermillion with the idea and together they convinced City Manager Michael Brown and Mayor Otis Johnson to give the program the go-ahead.

SIP serves approximately 700 parolees annually, many of whom live in Weed and Seed sites. Since its inception in 2001, SIP has evolved by providing a range of services with emphasis on employment that includes referring offenders to job opportunities and actively working with community employers to hire them. The most challenging group of felons needing employment consists of youth and young adults ranging from ages 17 to 25. Offenders within this age bracket often lack education, marketable skills, experience, and a work history, all of which employers usually require.

Work Ventures tries to provide opportunities for stable work for these young adults. Presently, the project focuses on landscaping, receiving notification on specific privately owned properties (such as overgrown lots and abandoned structures that are in a state of neglect) that need to be cleaned and cleared. Vermillion would like to expand to basic construction by boarding up and securing the abandoned buildings located on these sites.

Work Ventures ensures that participants' skills are constantly improving and that companies have a pool of talented and capable people from which to choose, because businesses and communities are linked by the value of services or local employment they provide, Vermillion said.

Parolees and probationers supervised by SIP are referred by their supervising officer and then interviewed by the maintenance supervisor. Work Ventures only accepts referred individuals who do not have any current violations and who have not tested positive for drugs. If approved, parolees/probationers are referred to the agency with which the city contracts for temporary labor. They are then screened, and, after they complete an application, they can begin work.

The crew presently consists of a maintenance supervisor, a lead worker, and two maintenance workers. Terence Eiland, a probationer in the Work Venture program, said he feels very confident about finding jobs in the future but for now is quite content to serve his community.

Many parolees will probably look back on this stage of their lives with the belief that it was the most important turning point, said Weed and Seed Coordinator Yvonne Segar Davis. "They have had to make adjustments, grow, and make some hard decisions about the direction their lives will take. While no one can make these decisions for them, they do need some help with the process," she said. "SIP assists those [who] have not been in the workforce with self-confidence, direction, and job-search techniques."

The feedback from the community has been the best one could expect. One community asked the crew to come to their monthly meeting so they could be thanked for a job well done. The city has demanded that private contractors doing the same type of labor as Work Ventures improve their level of service to match the standards of the Work Ventures program. With such glowing feedback, SIP plans to double the number of offenders employed by Work Ventures, and Vermillion said he would like to add an additional landscaping crew and a construction crew.

For further information, contact:
Yvonne Segar Davis
Weed and Seed Coordinator
912–651–3653
yvonne_davis@SavannahGa.gov

Keith Vermillion
SIP Director
keith_vermillion@SavannahGa.gov

Church Links Prisoners With Families

For a number of young children in Brockton, MA, seeing their fathers was a scary thing. Their fathers were incarcerated, and the family visits to the prison were traumatic.

Traditional ministry work with offenders involves counseling and reentry preparation, but the problems involved with family reunification are often overlooked. So, the Reverend Eugene Neville, pastor of Mount Moriah Baptist Church, teamed up with Weed and Seed, the District Attorney's Office, and the state parole office to create a program that would help these families.

In trying to think outside the box, Reverend Neville turned to the Polycom Corporation for help in video conferencing. Polycom donated video conferencing units, which the church uses to enable children to be in touch with their fathers while in a positive setting and to help smooth the transition home.

The Weed and Seed site, which had set aside funding for reentry programming, helped the church coordinate with the prison and also hired a part-time case manager to work with inmates. Heather Thomson, the site coordinator, said they helped bring the key stakeholders to the table.

"We're building these bridges because we're working on the same thing," she said. "We're thinking, 'How can we all help each other out?'"

The case manager uses the video conferencing units to more efficiently work with offenders on issues such as job training, education, anger management, housing, and mental health and substance abuse counseling. Church volunteers also work with offenders on some of these issues and provide spiritual counseling as well.

The case manager and volunteers tell the inmates and their families which services are available in the community, and the church works with the local YMCA to offer children more activities. When an offender is released from prison, the family meets the offender in the church and they all celebrate the homecoming.

This pilot project, which began in October 2004, handles 10 cases. Two offenders have already returned to prison because of substance abuse problems, but Reverend Neville cautions that it takes time to build relationships. One offender has "turned his life around," Reverend Neville said, and other participants in the program have changed their attitudes and are responding positively to the program now that they see that someone cares about them.

"When they saw us reach out to their families, that meant something," Reverend Neville said.

The church has built a better relationship with the parole office through its work on home visits with ex-offenders. Thomson explained that when the volunteers and case manager accompany parole officers on their ride-alongs, the visit becomes less of a curfew check and more of a chance to fill a counseling need. Thomson believes the project also softens the image of the parole office and fosters better communication among all parties.

Reverend Neville is working to expand the video link program to other churches. He sees the practical side of establishing relationships with technology companies that are looking to get rid of their old equipment, and the more spiritual side of getting corporations to understand how they can help the community.

The church, Weed and Seed site, sheriff's office, and parole office continue to discuss the status of the program and ideas for expanding it, such as discussing the need for housing for ex-offenders. They also are looking at new income streams so they can continue this work. Their dedication is clear.

"We have to be committed, because we're dealing with people's lives," Reverend Neville said.

For further information, contact:
Heather Thomson
508–894–2576
heather.thomson@state.ma.us

Reverend Eugene Neville
508–588–0833, ext. 101

Resources

Communicating for Correctional Officers
Interpersonal Communications in the Correctional Setting (DVD and CD–ROM) is a training program explaining the basic communication skills model that has been used by correctional agencies for more than 35 years to train officers and counselors. For availability and ordering information, contact the National Institute of Corrections at 800–877–1461.
View it on the Web: http://www.nicic.org/Library/020035

Taking Another Look at Parole
Parole Violations Revisited: A Handbook on Strengthening Parole Practices for Public Safety and Successful Transition to the Community sets forth a series of steps that jurisdictions can take to assess their current parole violation and revocation policies and practices, identify targets of change, and provide tools for mobilization. For availability and ordering information, contact the National Institute of Corrections at 800–877–1461.
View it on the Web: http://www.nicic.org/pubs/2004/019833.pdf

Policy Council Report
The Re-Entry Policy Council offers consensus-based, bipartisan recommendations for reducing public spending and increasing public safety by promoting the safe and successful return of ex-offenders to the community. The Report of the Re-Entry Policy Council reflects the results of a series of meetings among 100 experts in the fields of workforce, health, housing, public safety, family, community, and victims.
View it on the Web: http://www.reentrypolicy.org/report-index.html

American Indian/Alaska Native

Children Need Not Suffer, Say Crow Creek Advocates

The signs that there was a child abuse problem in the community were there. In addition, children who were victims of abuse had to travel for a whole day to get medical attention or psychological counseling, and child victims often returned years after they were first treated, showing signs of additional abuse.

"The need wasn't being met," recalls Lisa Thompson, Executive Director of Wiconi Wawokiya, Inc., which runs Children's Safe Place, the first child advocacy center (CAC) in Indian country. The center is located on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota, where about 3,500 people live. It is the first and only tribal CAC that is certified by the National Children's Alliance. It serves both Native and non-Native children alike.

In mainstream child advocacy centers, children are interviewed on average seven to nine times following an incident of sexual or other physical abuse. Before the center opened, Indian children were lucky to be interviewed once, Thompson said. Between the long court processes and federal bureaucracy, valuable information was lost and children were missing out on important therapeutic help.

The time for change came as Thompson, who had received training about CACs, started the Children's Safe Place in 1998. At the center, which serves about 100 children per year, Indian children are medically examined and evaluated when child abuse is suspected. The medical examiner can use the center's telemedicine equipment to consult with other physicians about forensic medical evidence without taking the child away from the community. The center also sends staff to different grade levels in the schools to teach about prevention and recognition of abuse.

Children also can be interviewed at the center. Tribal and federal investigators come to the center to talk with children and their families in a child-centered and culturally specific setting that encourages victim safety and healing. Counseling is provided as well.

Wiconi Wawokiya, which means "helping families," works in the community in different capacities. It advocated for mandatory arrest of domestic violence offenders and saw success when the tribe passed such a law in 1997. Offenders are now arrested and removed from their homes when the police arrive.

Just by the way it operates, the center is responding to the community's needs. A tribal, federal, and state multidisciplinary team that includes federal prosecutors, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and representatives from state social services and local law enforcement meets monthly to discuss center operations and planning. "It's the cornerstone of our work," Thompson said of the team. "Without them, we wouldn't be where we are now."

Sharing information and ideas is essential to be successful, she explained. It's also empowering to victims to know that the prosecutors believe their stories and are working on their behalf.

Getting the word out and educating the community can be particularly challenging, said Thompson. The staff realized that if you are in an abusive situation, you are not likely to just come to the center, she said.

"Then we thought, let's use our own culture to draw people in," Thompson said. Now, one of the more successful center programs is a powwow, where the community gathers to socialize and dance and the center educates people about domestic violence and child abuse.

In addition to a multidisciplinary team and an understanding of how to incorporate the culture, a successful program needs leadership and people who are passionate about the issue, Thompson said.

"No matter what, we're here," she said. "We believe in what we do and we're going to stand up for victims."

For further information, contact:
Lisa Thompson
Executive Director
605–245–2471

Fingerprinting and Shaking Hands: Tribe and State Share Information

With a little less ink and a little more keyboard, the Navajo Nation is taking a step toward fully digitizing their fingerprint system and sharing their information with Arizona's Department of Public Safety.

The alliance is the only example of participation by an Indian tribe in a national law enforcement database. The move marks a big shift for state-tribal relationship building at the Information Management Services (IMS) division of the Navajo Department of Law Enforcement.

The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is the latest tool that the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, AZ, uses to identify, compare, and archive millions of fingerprints. AFIS allows technicians to search databases and compare and retrieve fingerprints to be used in identifying missing persons, possible suspects, or clearances for law enforcement employment.

Just 2 years ago, such actions took a month or longer; now, the scanning results pop up in about 2 hours.

Orlando Bowman, the IMS program supervisor, says that although there are legislative and political ramifications of sending Navajo Nation information to a shared database, informal sharing of information already takes place. In addition, a memorandum of understanding exists between Arizona and the Navajo Nation, which is approximately the size of South Carolina and covers areas in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

Tribal criminal history and information sharing between state and American Indian law enforcement entities are thorny issues. Standard criminal history background checks do not include tribal court convictions, and tribal police often do not submit requests for background checks or fingerprints because of restrictive state and federal policies or past problems with tribal-state and tribal-federal relations. At the same time, tribes are encountering growing caseloads but do not have enough resources to fully develop their own independent, electronic criminal history databases.

These factors make the situation in Window Rock all the more exciting, said Norena Henry, Deputy Director of the American Indian/Alaska Native Affairs Desk at CCDO. "This is a major step by an Indian tribe to not only address safety in their community, but also to enhance the security of the country," she said.

There is a trend among tribes to organize their law enforcement information systems, and while tribes are stepping up to the plate, the states still show some hesitancy, Henry said.

Despite not having any formal information-sharing structures in place, other Indian tribes also are showing interest in AFIS. The Hopi Tribe, Choctaw Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, Tohono O'odham Nation, and the Gila River Tribe all contacted Window Rock and are gathering information about the project.

"I certainly encourage tribes to explore participating in electronic information sharing at the local level, the regional level, and the national level," Henry said. Federal funding has gone to pilot projects that encourage tribal-state law enforcement information sharing, she added.

The Office of Justice Programs also has been working with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to facilitate the planning, design, and implementation of integrated information systems by various Indian nations—in particular, an effort to share justice information among the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni tribes.

Police on the Navajo Reservation can now scan a person's fingerprints directly into the computer if the person is arrested in or brought into Window Rock. The suspect simply places a finger on the computer screen and the computer digitally scans the print. If the person is arrested outside the Window Rock law enforcement district, the department still uses the tried and true, albeit outdated, ink and paper system. Law enforcement personnel then scan the inked prints into AFIS.

Ultimately, AFIS could be used to process prints at a crime scene, but no funding is available to expand the system. Funding is tight already because the division needs to consider the cost of maintaining the system. Bowman said other plans could include dealing with Navajo arrestees in other states.

For further information, contact:
Orlando Bowman
928–871–7621
orlandobowman@navajo.org

Resources

Helping Victims in Indian Country
Victim Services: Promising Practices in Indian Country describes promising practices in assisting victims of violence and abuse in 12 Indian country locations throughout the United States as compiled by the Office for Victims of Crime. Each description includes the program's keys to success, relevant demographic data, and a contact for further information.
View it on the Web: http://www.ovc.gov/publications/infores/victimsrvsindian_country2004/729404.pdf

What Has Changed in 10 Years?
American Indians on Reservations: A Databook of Socioeconomic Change Between the 1990 and 2000 Censuses was released by The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the Kennedy School of Government. This report shows that, although substantial gaps remain between American Indians and the rest of U.S. society, rapid economic and social development is taking place among gaming and non-gaming tribes alike.
View it on the Web: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied/pubs/documents/AmericanIndiansonReservationsADatabookofSocioeconomicChange.pdf

Violent Crime and American Indians
American Indians and Crime: A BJS Statistical Profile, 1992–2002 summarizes data on American Indians in the criminal justice system and reports the rates and characteristics of the violent crimes they experience.
View it on the Web: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/aic02.htm

Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions
In Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions Among American Indians and Alaska Natives: 2002, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) Office of Applied Studies reports on the increase of treatment admissions among American Indians and Alaska Natives, based on data from SAMHSA's Drug and Alcohol Services Information System.
View it on the Web: http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/IndianTX/IndianTX.cfm

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