| EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE | 10:06 A.M. EDT, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1999 |
Contact: Melinda Malico, ED, (202) 401-1008
USDOJ Public Affairs, (202) 514-2007
Marsha Corbett, SAMHSA, (301) 443-2957
PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES MORE THAN $100 MILLION
IN COMMUNITY GRANTS TO PREVENT VIOLENCE AMONG YOUTH
In his weekly radio address, President Clinton today announced more than $100 million in grants to 54 communities to make schools more safe and help safeguard young people from aggressive and violent behavior, as well as drug and alcohol use.
Under the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, urban, rural, suburban and tribal school districts will receive support to help link community-based services and prevention activities into one communitywide approach to violence prevention and healthy child development -- including promoting children's skills to show self-control and rebuff the use of violence or aggression.
The unprecedented joint effort involving the U.S. Departments of Education (ED), Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) aims to help communities design and implement comprehensive educational, mental health, social service, law enforcement and juvenile justice services for youth. The grants announced today fund the first year of three-year projects.
"Research shows that a far-reaching, communitywide and schoolwide approach is the best strategy to promote healthy child development and reduce school violence and drug abuse," said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. "Our children's health, safety and future success depend on partnerships that pool the strengths of schools, families and community organizations and offer a broad-based preventive approach to violence and drug use. These partnerships will also address children's emotional and developmental needs."
"These funds will assist local communities and school systems in working collaboratively to develop comprehensive approaches to reduce violent behavior in our young people," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "We've been preaching collaboration at the community level for years. Now we're finally doing it on a significant scale at the federal level."
"We need to nurture the personal strengths of children and adolescents so they can resolve problems without resorting to violence, alcohol, drugs and suicide," said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala. "We must enter the 21st century using the knowledge we have to promote healthy development among our children and provide prevention and treatment services for them."
The school-based community partnerships are as diverse as Washington, Maine, and Washington, D.C.; as Delta Junction, Alaska and Des Moines, Iowa. School districts submitted comprehensive plans generated under a formal partnership with law enforcement officials and local mental health authorities, in collaboration with families, juvenile justice officials and community-based organizations. To be considered, the plans were required to address the following six elements:
Research demonstrates that preventing violence by building on children's strengths and promoting healthy development yields better results and is more cost-effective than strictly punitive measures. Grantees are encouraged to intervene early and to use programs that have a solid base of evidence showing their effectiveness -- such as life skills development, mentoring, conflict resolution, support for families, professional development for staff, truancy prevention, after-school activities, teen courts and alternative education.
The initiative is funded in Fiscal Year 1999 with $60 million from ED's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, $25 million from HHS' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), $15 million from DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and an additional $6 million from DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) -- to fund the hiring of 53 police or school resource officers in schools. In addition, President Clinton today announced that another 46 communities will receive nearly $17 million to fund the hiring of 147 additional school resource officers.
Urban school districts were eligible for up to $3 million, suburban districts were eligible for up to $2 million and rural and tribal districts were eligible for up to $1 million. Applications - judged for their strength, comprehensiveness, viability and likelihood to succeed -- were peer reviewed by an interdepartmental team that made recommendations to the cabinet departments.
Descriptions of the funded projects will be available Saturday on the various department web sites at www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS, www.samhsa.gov and www.usdoj.gov.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: A list of grantees, contacts and grant amounts follows. Also included are DOJ's funds for school resource officers, funded under the COPS program.
ALASKA
Delta Junction Delta/Greely School District $ 930,047
Contact: Laural Jackson (907) 895-4657
ARKANSAS
Jonesboro Jonesboro Public Schools 2,786,926
Contact: Dr. Jackie McBride (870) 933-5800
ARIZONA
Show Low Northern Arizona Academy 433,089
Contact: Scott McKee (520) 537-4060
Pinon Pinon Unified School District #4 801,232
Contact: Mary Robertson-Begay (520) 725-34507
COPS funding 214,498
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Los Angeles Unified School District 2,790,000
Contact: Marta L. Bin (213) 625-5110
Riverside Riverside Unified School District 2,422,180
Contact: Susan J. Rainey (909) 788-7130
COPS funding 500,000
San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo County Office of Education 635,460
Contact: Jayma Newland (805) 782-7271
San Francisco S.F. Unified School District 2,788,878
Contact: Trish Bascom (415) 749-3400
COLORADO
Denver School District #1 2,789,999
Contact: John Leslie (303) 764-3433
CONNECTICUT
New Haven New Haven City School District 2,789,997
Contact: Ms. Dee Speese-Linehan
(203) 946-7443
Waterbury Waterbury Department of Education 2,537,140
Diane T. Summa (203) 574-8354
DELAWARE
Newark Christina School District 1,373,536
Thomas Downs (302) 454-2000
COPS funding 375,000
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Washington, D.C. Maya Angelou Public Charter School 2,641,146
Eve Brooks (202) 488-3990
FLORIDA
Fort Myers The School District of Lee County 2,728,211
Doug Whittaker (941) 337-8307
Largo Pinellas County Schools 2,484,171
Charles D. Eubanks (727) 588-6299
COPS funding 1,000,000
GEORGIA
Baxley Appling County Board of Education 781,572
Contact: Sheila Tillman (912) 367-8600
HAWAII
Mililani Hawaii State Department of Education 1,859,973
Contact: Aileen S. Hokama (808) 627-7478
ILLINOIS
Cicero J.S. Morton H.S. Dist. 201 1,805,640
Contact: R.W. Giles (708) 222-5784
IOWA
Des Moines Des Moines Ind. Comty. School Dist. 2,443,622
Contact: Dawn E. Francis (515) 242-8147
KANSAS
Hays Hays Unified School District #489 840,937
Contact: Mark Hauptman (785) 623-2400
KENTUCKY
Jefferson County Jefferson County Public Schools 2,774,001
Contact: Pam Carter (502) 485-3260
MAINE
Washington Washington County Consortium for 929,292
School Improvement
Contact: Nancy Melhorn (207) 255-1219
COPS funding 125,000
MARYLAND
Baltimore Baltimore City Public School System 2,641,203
Contact: Phil Leaf (410) 955-3962
COPS funding 1,250,000
MASSACHUCETTS
Springfield Springfield Public Schools 2,728,606
Contact: William R. Thayer (413) 750-2302
MICHIGAN
Lansing Lansing School District 2,751,448
Contact: Suzanne Brook (517) 325-6183
MINNESOTA
Fertile Fertile-Beltrama School ISD #599 930,001
Contact: Dan Wilson (218) 281-3940
MISSOURI
St. Louis St. Louis Public Schools 1,519,390
Contact: Linda Riekes (314) 345-2465
MONTANA
Missoula Missoula County Public Schools 800,470
Contact: Larry Johnson (406) 728-2400 x1025
COPS funding 239,318
NEW MEXICO
Gallup Gallup-McKinley County Schools 857,329
Contact: Robert Gomez (505) 722-7711
NEW YORK
Auburn Auburn Enlarged School District 1,852,283
Contact: Philip Uninsky (518) 434-6348
COPS funding 602,330
Westbury Board of Cooperative Educational Services of 576,977
Nassau County
Contact: Laura Lustbader (516) 826-8435
Yonkers Yonkers City Schools 1,833,659
Contact: Gladys Pack (914) 376-8213
COPS funding 1,125,000
NORTH CAROLINA
Raleigh Wake County Public School System 2,751,039
Contact: Ron Anderson (919) 850-1650
Winston-Salem Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools 1,218,889
Contact: Donald Martin, Jr. (336) 727-2292
COPS funding 336,906
OHIO
Cleveland Cleveland Municipal School District 2,790,000
Contact: James Wingo (216) 574-8587
Columbus Columbus City School District 2,641,948
Contact: Maurice Blake (614) 365-5737
OKLAHOMA
Idabel Idabel Public Schools 651,312
Contact: Jane Wooten (580) 286-7639
COPS funding 83,169
OREGON
Portland School District No. 1 2,747,999
Contact: R. Patrick Burk (503) 916-3220
Redmond Crook Deschutes Education Service District 928,252
Contact: Kathy Emerson (541) 923-8900
Springfield Springfield School District 2,779,204
Contact: Janon Kent (541) 726-3200
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia School District of Philadelphia 2,770,844
Contact: Gary Ledebur (215) 299-7461
Pittsburgh School District of Pittsburgh 1,617,248
Contact: Andrew King (412) 665-4960
RHODE ISLAND
Newport Newport Public Schools 899,562
Contact: Mary Canole (401) 847-2100 x 213
SOUTH CAROLINA
Anderson Anderson School District Five 1,857,951
Contact: Van Roe (864) 260-5021
TENNESSEE
Tazewell Clinch-Powell Educational Cooperative 929,357
Contact: Dwight Snodgrass (423) 626-4677
TEXAS
Georgetown Georgetown Independent School District 1,251,394
Contact: Jim Gunn (512) 943-5000 x 5015
COPS funding 250,000
Houston Houston Independent School District 1,996,271
Contact: Ada Cooper (713) 892-6818
UTAH
Davis County Davis County School District 1,859,999
Contact: Peggy Hill (801) 444-5132
COPS funding 750,000
VIRGINIA
Norfolk Norfolk Public Schools 2,643,198
Contact: Denise K. Schnitzer (757) 441-1516
WASHINGTON
Bremerton Olympic Educational Service District 114 2,452,237
Contact: Kristin Schutte (360) 405-5833
WEST VIRGINIA
Hamlin Lincoln County Board of Education 778,294
Contact: Donna Martin (304) 824-5801 x 248
COPS funding 123,678
WISCONSIN
Madison Madison Metropolitan School District 2,782,932
Contact: Mary Gulbrandsen (608) 266-6227
WYOMING
Ethete Wyoming Indian Schools 879,104
Contact: Garrett Goggles (307) 332-2992
COPS funding 125,000
Laramie Albany County School District #1 684,690
Contact: Diana Seabeck (307) 721-4445
TOTAL SSHS GRANTS $98.7 million
TOTAL COPS FUNDING $7 million
GRAND TOTAL $106 million