On September 18th the Fort Pierce Police Department was one of three entities nationwide to be awarded a two year federal grant for $203,478 from the U.S. Department of Justice to combat gang violence in the Lincoln Park Neighborhood. The 2014 Comprehensive Anti-Gang Strategies and Programs Grant through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides funding for localities to enhance coordination of federal, state and local resources in support of community partnerships by implementing anti-gang programs that contain prevention, intervention and targeted gang enforcement. The City of Fort Pierce, especially the Lincoln Park Neighborhood, face incredible challenges regarding gang violence. Recognizing that urgent public safety issues must be addressed through a comprehensive, long-term approach to violence prevention, the Fort Pierce Police Department and the City of Fort Pierce, in conjunction with the Roundtable of Saint Lucie County, Saint Lucie County School Board, the Restoring the Village initiative and a continuum of community partners are developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to address youth gang violence through multi-disciplinary partnerships, balanced approaches and data-driven strategies outlined in the OJJDP’s Comprehensive Gang Model. Implementation of the Comprehensive Gang Model – a nationally recognized, evidence-based, best practice for targeting gang violence – seeks to improve the capacity of Fort Pierce to more effectively contain the spread of gang activity, protect youth most susceptible and mitigate risk factors that foster gang activity by crafting a comprehensive, long-term, strategic and community-based anti-gang initiative, now known as the Restoring the Village Youth Initiative. Grant funding will support the Fort Pierce Police Department and the Roundtable of Saint Lucie County in implementing critical elements of the Restoring the Village Youth Initiative by providing funding to conduct a Comprehensive Gang Problem Assessment and develop a comprehensive anti-gang strategy for Fort Pierce. In addition, grant funds will support a full-time Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator, who will work closely with project partners to implement the Restoring the Village Youth Initiative in Fort Pierce. The grant will also fund full-time Street Outreach Worker to work with gang-involved and at-risk youth and their family in the Lincoln Park Neighborhood.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 13:13:44 +0000
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