SUCCESSFUL WEED AND SEED COMMUNITIES HIGHLIGHTED IN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORT

Washington D.C. -- Communities that are implementing successful crime reduction activities, community policing, crime prevention initiatives, and neighborhood restoration are highlighted in a report recently released by the Justice Department's Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS). Weed and Seed Best Practices discusses community efforts in four cities -- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Jose, California; and Syracuse, New York - that have adopted the Weed and Seed approach to public safety.

"This Best Practices publication allows communities to share information about their successes in implementing the Weed and Seed strategy," said EOWS Director Steve Rickman. The initiatives being undertaken in these cities represent approaches that communities across the country may wish to consider when crafting a comprehensive, community-based response to crime and community well-being."

Specifically, the publication highlights community activity in the following areas:

• Pittsburgh's efforts to promote neighborhood revitalization through techniques such as developing community technology centers and building the capacity of community-based
organizations;
• Salt Lake City's undercover law enforcement initiative to disrupt illegal drug and gang activities in targeted areas;
• San Jose's community policing approach, which dedicates local-level community coordinators to assist in fostering community involvement and improving community safety and well-being; and
• Syracuse's collaborative prevention program that emphasizes involvement with the arts as a vehicle to counteract youth crime, truancy, ethnic intolerance, and substance abuse.

The Weed and Seed approach is a coordination strategy that works to make a wide range of public and private sector resources more accessible to communities. Under the leadership of U.S. Attorneys, the strategy brings together federal, state, and local crime-fighting agencies, social service providers, representatives of public and private sectors, business owners, and neighborhood residents and links them in a shared goal of weeding out violent crime and gang activity while seeding the community with social services and economic revitalization. The Weed and Seed approach emphasizes four principles: aggressive law enforcement strategies, community policing, the provision of crime prevention, intervention, and treatment services, and neighborhood restoration and revitalization activities.

The Weed and Seed Best Practices publication may be obtained by calling the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 1-800/851-3420. For more information about EOWS can be found on the EOWS Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/eows. Information about EOWS parent organization, the Office of Justice Programs, may be found at www.ojp.usdoj.gov. Media should contact the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at 202/307-0703.

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For additional information contact Liz Pearson at 202/307-0703. EOWS 0045