Welcome. It is a great pleasure and an honor to participate in my first National Conference for the Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO). It was gratifying to hear personally from Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. He is very appreciative of the Weed and Seed program and the outstanding work you are doing.

I want to thank U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy for serving as our federal host for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Honorable Jennifer Granholm, Governor of the great State of Michigan for honoring us with her participation here this morning.

To our hosts from the City of Detroit, Deputy Mayor Adams, Chief Bully-Cummings, and from Wayne County, County Executive Ficano, and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, we thank you for giving us a warm welcome and exemplifying the Weed and Seed spirit. The video we just saw demonstrates what is so powerful about the Weed and Seed strategy and how it builds the capacity of our communities to reclaim their children, their lives, and their streets. Detroit is a wonderful example of weeding and seeding at work and demonstrating results.

I can't begin without acknowledging the work of our Weed and Seed staff in putting together this conference. Geroma Void, CCDO's Training Officer, is responsible for overseeing all the details of the conference, from logistics to the quality and content of the workshops and presenters. Let's give Geroma and staff the recognition they deserve. (Applause.)

As I have visited your sites over the last 15 months, I have seen first hand how you have embraced the Weed and Seed strategy, creating comprehensive initiatives that weed out crime, violence, and drugs, and seed in hope through social programs and neighborhood revitalization efforts.

I have been impressed with the sophistication of law enforcement and community policing initiatives that target gangs, guns, and drugs, reclaiming the streets in Weed and Seed neighborhoods. I have witnessed lives transformed as Safe Havens deliver services that touch the lives of young people and families struggling to survive.

The bottom line for the Justice Department, the Office of Justice Programs, and my office is increased public safety and the creation of safer, thriving communities. At CCDO, we have the opportunity to address crime and public safety through comprehensive strategies. We are able to achieve these goals through Weed and Seed, the Public Housing Safety Initiative (PHSI), the Drug Education for Youth (DEFY) Program, the VISTA Reentry project, and our Asset Development Partnerships. Each of these components is built on a foundation of collaboration at multiple levels to benefit local communities.

We currently have 281 sites and soon that will reach 319 as new grants are awarded. I would like to thank the CCDO staff, particularly the program managers, for their great work in handling the current load while reviewing over 100 new applications and preparing for our national conference.

As mentioned in the Attorney General's remarks, combating crime in public housing has been a top priority for us. In our partnership between CCDO and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the mission of our Public Housing Safety Initiative, or PHSI, has been in assisting in the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of violent crimes and drug offenses in public and federally assisted housing, including Indian housing. This crime-prevention effort is executed directly through U.S. Attorneys Offices.

While PHSI is in the process of wrapping up efforts, our 19 participating U.S. Attorney Districts, and their ongoing partnerships between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies will still be producing results. The initiative has generated hundreds of federal indictments, disrupted gang networks, and taken vast quantities of narcotics and guns off the streets in and around public housing with the help of U.S. Attorneys, local police departments, and federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Marshals Service. Local and federal authorities have divided responsibilities according to expertise and capacity to maximize program results. This kind of local-federal cooperation is what drives the program, and it is the key to reducing and preventing crime and revitalizing neighborhoods.

Some PHSI sites turned to technology to gain the edge on criminals. In Jordan Downs, a public housing apartment complex in the Watts section of Los Angeles, PHSI organizers turned an ambitious idea into a million-dollar collaboration. The electronics company Motorola, Inc. generously donated fixed cameras, DVD camcorders, and night vision goggles to the police department. Officers installed cameras in the neighborhood to create "safe corridors" for children going to and from school, and initial surveys indicate overwhelming community support for their installation. Patrol cars receive transmissions from these cameras so police can assess the incident scene before they approach. The LAPD is also utilizing face and license plate recognition devices to enforce a city injunction against a criminal street gang with a history of intimidating and terrorizing residents.

Throughout the 19 cities, spanning from Miami to Seattle, PHSI has given public housing and federal assisted housing communities a chance to take back their public spaces, reduce violent crime, and improve the quality of living for its residents. U.S. Attorney leadership has been a critical factor for our PHSI sites and their success. U.S. Attorneys lead by inclusion and bring an array of federal, local, and community decision-makers to the table. The collaborative aspect of PHSI allows programs to endure long after the last PHSI grant dollar has been spent.

In partnership with the U.S. Navy, CCDO offers a Drug Education for Youth program, also known as DEFY. Through DEFY, CCDO and the Navy are collaborating on a critical program that helps protect youth ages 9/12 in Weed and Seed communities nationwide and reduces their chances of engaging in criminal or delinquent behavior. DEFY is a great example of federal agencies working together using promising practices to strengthen and increase public safety for youth who are at greatest risk of substance abuse, school failure, delinquency, and violence.

Weed and Seed sites have strong support from the DEFY partners including local police departments, the National Guard Drug Demand Reduction Program, Boys and Girls Clubs, all branches of the military, federal law enforcement agencies, and the local U.S. Attorney's Offices.

We also have 80 Weed and Seed sites that are actually participating in either Phase I or Phase II of the DEFY Program. Weed and Seed sites in Michigan, Arizona, California, Missouri, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, DC all have DEFY programs that have been in operation since 1998. Our first pilot site in San Antonio, Texas, was established in 1996, and I am glad to report that it is still going strong today. That particular DEFY program consists of a partnership with the Weed and Seed site and the San Antonio Police Department.

My office is committed to this joint effort. Weed and Seed sites now include an allowable amount of $10,000 for DEFY in the overall Weed and Seed budget, either from the core funding or the Special Emphasis areas. However, many sites leverage the resources necessary to complete Phase I and Phase II of the program through other funding sources and programs. Through DEFY and other programs, we are committed to strengthening our communities, our families, our youth, and to increasing public safety.

Another program contributing to public safety and increasing our community capacity is our Weed and Seed/Americorps VISTA Reentry Initiative. This initiative, which was conceptualized in 2005, focuses on utilizing Americorps*VISTA members to support reentry housing, employment, and mentoring initiatives in 12 American cities. By November of 2005, my office and the Corporation for National and Community Service, or CNCS, co-sponsored 39 full-time Americorps*VISTA members. Our Americorps*VISTA members role has been to build the capacity of Weed and Seed sites, faith-based organizations, and other community-based organizations to create volunteer hubs and mobilize volunteer support reentry initiatives in these cities. Due to the success of partnership and impact in reentry on these communities, in 2006, CNCS approved 285 slots for reentry VISTAS in more than 32 cities, including the original 12. This is over a 700 percent increase in Americorps*VISTA volunteers for capacity development resources to address the pressing reentry issues facing many of our communities.

On the neighborhood revitalization front, CCDO has actively built partnerships with key federal agencies to leverage resources and widen the scope of Weed and Seed sites. These include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Office of Community Services (OCS). These partnerships have helped us to create an asset development model that incorporates financial literacy, tax credits, and training in savings accounts as well as investment opportunities. This approach can move families out of poverty, establish them as home owners, stabilize transient neighborhoods, and help build wealth in Weed and Seed communities, breaking generational cycles of poverty.

Our partnership with the FDIC has promoted the Money Smart financial education curriculum which is available to each of our sites in multiple languages. In 2005, we trained over 100 representatives in financial education as train-the-trainers, and all of our sites received copies of the curriculum. We continue to encourage sites to build financial literacy into their neighborhood restoration strategies.

We began our partnership with the IRS in 2004 with three pilot sites and an outreach campaign with five rural Weed and Seed sites promoting the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). We then moved to encourage Weed and Seed sites to operate Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, Centers by providing them with training and technical assistance in the form of computer labs necessary to serve their neighborhoods. VITAs offer free tax preparation services for low- to moderate-income families and promote full utilization of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit designed to help working families, a great opportunity for our Weed and Seed communities. EITC is the largest anti-poverty program in the country, moving more families out of poverty than any other federal initiative. But it is under-utilized by up to 25%, particularly by families who are the most vulnerable, like those in our Weed and Seed sites. So our partnership with the IRS is helping us leverage an existing tax credit to give our Weed and Seed communities an economic boost.

During the 2005 tax season, 50 new Weed and Seed VITA sites processed over 11,000 returns worth more than $15 million in tax refunds and tax credits. Because of our success with the first round of Weed and Seed sites, in 2006 we extended the resource to an additional 50 Weed and Seed sites. This past tax season, the 102 Weed and Seed VITA sites completed 24,400 returns worth $28 million in tax refunds. Add to this an additional value of $7 million in savings in tax preparation fees, fees that, without the VITAs, our Weed and Seed residents would have paid out of their own pockets.

This year, we also conducted outreach to Spanish language media markets in partnership with the IRS. The three largest media conglomerates aired Public Service Advertising for VITA services in Spanish on 237 radio and TV stations nationwide. We plan to continue our emphasis on reaching Limited English Proficiency (LEP) populations to ensure that they access resources that they have already earned.

In addition, this year we partnered with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to ensure that our resources and technical assistance are reaching Indian Tribes. Our collaboration and outreach efforts led to six new Tribal VITAs. Combined, they completed 600 returns for their first year of operation, despite technical and geographic challenges. We look forward to our continued collaboration and to helping improve services to Tribes.

Building on the increased disposable income and financial literacy within our Weed and Seed sites, CCDO partnered with the HHS Office of Community Services, Assets for Independence program to implement a National Individual Development Account, or IDA, Demonstration Program consisting of 10 Weed and Seed IDA projects. The IDA's are federally matched savings accounts that provide a 2 to 1 or higher match for each dollar saved by a qualifying individual or family. IDA's are designed to help low income families purchase a home, start a business, or pursue higher education. The Weed and Seed National Demonstration Program designation is for home ownership, since for most of the American public, homes represent our single greatest financial asset.

Each Weed and Seed site developed the foundation for an IDA program and either submitted an application to OCS for the Assets For Independence (AFI) grant program or partnered with an existing grantee in its community. With technical assistance from the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, whom you will hear from tomorrow, Weed and Seed sites built the infrastructure for IDA programs, and all 10 were 100% successful in launching their IDA programs and receiving funding. All 10 Weed and Seed sites were approved based on the quality of their application or signed MOU's with local IDA partners. Their efforts will produce over 260 new Weed and Seed homeowners over the next few years. If the average mortgage is approximately $85,000, CCDO's return on investment is over $23 million in 10 Weed and Seed communities.

Not only do we expect to see the economic impact of moving over 260 families out of poverty and into home ownership, we also expect to see more stable neighborhoods. As homeownership increases, civic participation and community involvement also increase. This is an excellent example of ventures that increase public safety and create more stable and prosperous neighborhoods.

Asset development involves many possible strategies, in addition to the three that I have just described. CCDO will continue to look for ways to help Weed and Seed sites access existing federal programs and other resources that can enhance your efforts to address the housing, employment, and infrastructure needs of Weed and Seed families and neighborhoods. We also will continue to keep our eyes open for other partnership opportunities that may enhance the other components of the Weed and Seed strategy.

Partnerships have been a key strategy for sustainability in Weed and Seed. From the first application for funding to your final Grant Progress Report (GPRA), we are seeking to encourage a wide range of participation and collaboration in the local Weed and Seed strategy. Steering Committees represent the range of stakeholders on both the weeding and seeding sides of the equation. They bring existing resources and capacity to focus on the gaps in service and the unmet needs of the designated neighborhood.

CCDO strives to model constructive partnership principles. CCDO partnerships are built on a compelling common mission or purpose, with defined roles and responsibilities, the concrete commitments of each partner, and the expected performance measures or outcomes of the partnership clearly articulated. CCDO partnerships have generated increased resources and technical assistance; innovation in systems design of service delivery; increased coordination of local, state, and federal stakeholders with more participation by tribal sovereignties; improved multi-agency collaboration; better leveraging of existing resources; and higher impact on our designated Weed and Seed neighborhoods.

Again, I welcome you and I would encourage you to be diligent. Don't miss any opportunity to learn or to network. Geroma and her staff have put together a fantastic conference that stands to introduce you to the latest in technology to combat crime, comprehensive law enforcement strategies that are delivering results, opportunities for professional development and strengthening your Weed and Seed Strategies, and asset development practices that will support your public safety efforts while helping to take families out of poverty.

Let me close by thanking each of you for your hard work to reclaim our Weed and Seed neighborhoods. It is because of your efforts and diligence that we are here. CCDO functions to serve you, to build your capacity to tackle local challenges, and to promote the exciting innovations and effective models you are implementing and sustaining.

End.