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You
may not know it by name, but you
probably noticed the changes it
brought to New Britain. It’s
called Weed and Seed, and it’s a
federally-funded program
initiated in cities throughout
the country to promote safe and
prosperous communities. Its
mission is to advance strategies
to reduce crime and revitalize
neighborhoods through the
accomplishment of three distinct
goals: weed, seed and sustain.
Weed
refers to the “weeding out” of
violent and drug crime by
providing communities with the
skills, relationships and
resources to reduce criminal
activity. Seed is to strengthen
neighborhoods through the
“seeding” of much-needed human
services, thus increasing the
quality of life of its citizens.
Finally, sustain is to promote
long-term community well-being
and resilience.
Due
to high levels of gang activity,
narcotic-related violence,
unemployment, poverty and
deteriorated housing, Broad
Street was selected in the mid
1990s as New Britain's first
Weed and Seed site. In 2000, the
city expanded the Weed and Seed
program to include the Arch and
Oak Street neighborhoods after
additional funding was received.
Coordinated by the New Britain
Police |
Department (NBPD), the local
Weed and Seed initiative set out
to: promote a collaboration of
criminal justice and social
service agencies’ efforts to
provide the community with
economic, social and housing
improvement programs;
effectively target violent crime
by concentrating federal, state
and local funding within the
high crime areas; and finally
restore neighborhoods to a level
of strength that would allow
police and social service
efforts to remain intact once
federal funding expired.
You may not know it by name, but
you probably noticed the changes
it brought to New Britain. It’s
called Weed and Seed, and it’s a
federally-funded program
initiated in cities throughout
the country to promote safe and
prosperous communities. Its
mission is to advance strategies
to reduce crime and revitalize
neighborhoods through the
accomplishment of three distinct
goals: weed, seed and sustain.
Weed
refers to the “weeding out” of
violent and drug crime by
providing communities with the
skills, relationships and
resources to reduce criminal
activity. Seed is to strengthen
neighborhoods through the
“seeding” of much-needed human
services, thus increasing the
quality of life of its citizens.
Finally, sustain is to promote
long-term community well-being
and resilience.
Due
to high levels of gang activity,
narcotic-related violence,
unemployment, poverty and
deteriorated housing, Broad
Street was selected in the mid
1990s as New Britain's first
Weed and Seed site. In 2000, the
city expanded the Weed and Seed
program to include the Arch and
Oak Street neighborhoods after
additional funding was received.
Coordinated by the New Britain
Police Department (NBPD), the
local Weed and Seed initiative
set out to: promote a
collaboration of criminal
justice and social service
agencies’ efforts to provide the
community with economic, social
and housing improvement
programs; effectively target
violent crime by concentrating
federal, state and local funding
within the high crime areas; and
finally restore neighborhoods to
a level of strength that would
allow police and social service
efforts to remain intact once
federal funding expired.
Although the improvements seemed
clear, formal evaluations were
conducted to quantify the
success of Weed and Seed.
Central Connecticut State
University’s Institute for the
Study of Crime & Justice (ISCJ)
worked with the Department of
Criminology & Criminal Justice
and the NBPD to complete New
Britain's Weed and Seed
evaluation. The ISCJ is a
non-partisan, university-based
resource providing information,
training, research, program
evaluation and consulting
services to communities,
municipal and state government,
and non-profit organizations.
The
recent evaluation found
significant decreases in drug
and violent crime after
initiation. There was a 33%
decrease in violent crime
calls-for-service from 1996-2005
in the initial area and a
decrease of 36% in the expansion
area; whereas the entire city
experienced a 21% decrease. Drug
calls-for-service dropped 76% in
the initial Weed and Seed area,
48% in the expanded area and 51%
throughout the city.
The
first study of the initiation
efforts of Weed and Seed in New
Britain conducted by CCSU’s Dr.
Stephen Cox in 1999, found that
shortly after the program
commenced there was a decrease
in calls for drug and violent
crime. The evaluation attributed
the program’s success to the
NBPD's willingness to partner
with other criminal justice
agencies and neighborhood
groups, and its successful
implementation of all aspects of
its Weed and Seed program.
For
more information on other ISCJ
activities please visit:
http://www.ccsu.edu/iscj/
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