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"To have enduring success against gangs, we must address the personal, family, and community factors that cause young people to choose gangs over better, more productive alternatives. The more success we have in this area, the fewer people we'll have to prosecute for violent activity down the road."

On November 8–9, 2006, teams from communities participating in the Department of Justice's Six Site Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative gathered in Dallas, TX, to exchange information and build on local efforts to combat gangs using a combination of prevention, law enforcement, and prisoner reentry strategies. Conference participants included over 100 professionals from law enforcement, schools, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, universities, and State and local government.

OJJDP Deputy Administrator Gregory Harris addressed participants, emphasizing the strong support that this Administration has shown for gang prevention, including the President's Helping America's Youth initiative. He noted that the Department's Anti-Gang Initiative is based on the understanding that multiple anti-gang strategies must be coordinated through Federal, State, and local partnerships to have the best chance for lasting success. Over the 2-day conference, representatives from the six sites shared their experiences with these partnerships, providing valuable information on both their strengths and difficulties.

Last March, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced the six sites that were selected by DOJ to receive $2.5 million in grants to implement a comprehensive anti-gang strategy: Los Angeles, CA; Tampa, FL; Cleveland, OH; Dallas-Fort Worth, TX; Milwaukee, WI; and the "222 Corridor" that stretches from Easton to Lancaster, PA, near Philadelphia.

United States Attorneys in each site work with State, local, and community partners to coordinate and implement the anti-gang strategies of prevention, prosecution, and prisoner reentry. Within the Office of Justice Programs, OJJDP provides funding and leadership for the prevention component of this initiative and the Bureau of Justice Assistance provides funding and leadership for the enforcement and reentry components.

• Prevention. Gang prevention strategies focus on one or more of the following approaches: gang membership prevention, gang intervention, or gang crime prevention. Gang membership prevention includes efforts to identify high-risk youth and deliver services such as tutoring and conflict/anger management that reduce the likelihood that they will join a gang. Gang intervention activities are designed to provide services and opportunities (carrot) and supervision and accountability (stick) to gang-involved youth and older, high-risk youth. Gang crime prevention includes activities in the physical and social environment that are designed to reduce opportunities for gang crime to occur. DOJ provides approximately $1 million per site to support gang prevention strategies with the purpose of reducing youth gang crime and violence by addressing the full range of personal, family, and community factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang activity.

• Enforcement. DOJ provides approximately $1 million per site to help support enforcement measures such as improved surveillance technology and information systems that will focus law enforcement efforts on the most significant violent gang offenders.
• Reentry. DOJ provides approximately $500,000 per site to create voucher-based reentry assistance programs that will provide transitional housing, job readiness and placement assistance, and substance abuse and mental health treatment to prisoners reentering society.

For more information on gangs and strategies for responding to them, go to OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center Web site at www.iir.com/nygc/.