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Midwood Kings Highway Development Corporation, Brooklyn, New York - Exemplary Project Validation Report

NCJ Number
73097
Date Published
1980
Length
167 pages
Annotation
This validation report assesses the goals and accomplishments of the Midwood Kings Highway Development Corporation's (MKDC's) neighborhood anticrime project serving Brooklyn, N.Y.
Abstract
MKDC is a nonprofit, State-chartered organization founded to solicit and manage funds for the stabilization and improvement of the Midwood neighborhood. In addition to a LEAA-funded anticrime program, other major projects of MKDC focus on housing, commercial revitalization, education, and neighborhood beautification. A key component of MKDC is the organization of Midwood residents; over 100 block and tenant associations have been formed in Midwood. The anticrime program employs block and tenant organizing, an ombudsman, a community-based newsletter, and crime prevention education. It provides technical assistence to outside agencies, youth recreation, and civilian car patrols uses Operation Identification, home security surveys, automobile decals, and court watchers, and distributes crime protection equipment as part of the program. However, many of these components suffer from inadequate police funding and manpower reductions, although funding received from LEAA has been used successfully to attract additional funds for a wide range of community redevelopment projects. MKDC has been successful in handling citizen complaints about city services and giving outside groups an efficient way of communicating with Midwood residents. An attitudinal survey, though methodologically flawed, provides some evidence that Midwood residents are less afraid of crime in their neighborhood than before the program's inception. Efforts to assess the successfulness of the project in reducing crime and changing residents' perceptions of their neighborhood have not resulted in conclusive findings. Eleven appendixes presenting the survey instrument, forms, and other supplementary information; statistical tables; and a few footnotes are supplied.