FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Office of Justice Programs

APRIL 22, 2003????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? www.ojp.usdoj.gov

Contact: David A. Hess

202-307-0703

 

 

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA JOINS OPERATION WEED AND SEED

 

Tenth Indiana Weed and Seed Site to Receive $225,000

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Today, the Department of Justice?s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announced that South Bend, Indiana is the newest member of Operation Weed and Seed.? The city will receive $225,000 to implement a comprehensive strategy to root out crime and seed economic development and community revitalization.???

 

?Today?s announcement is wonderful news for the residents of South Bend,? said Deborah J. Daniels, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs.? ?Through its Weed and Seed strategy, South Bend will work to reduce drug trafficking and drug crimes, strengthen its community policing activities, and improve and augment social service opportunities.? We believe this effort will allow South Bend to address its unique crime problems, and improve the quality of life for all residents.??

 

Before serving as the Assistant Attorney General for OJP, Ms. Daniels, an Indianapolis, Indiana native, served as the first Director of the Executive Office for Weed and Seed.

 

The award, administered by OJP?s Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS), will allow the Weed and Seed site to undertake several law enforcement initiatives, including addressing drug trafficking in neighborhoods and increasing residents? participation in community policing efforts.? The award and strategy will also be used to enhance residents? awareness of different forms of assistance available through social service agencies.? The total award includes $50,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist in the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of violent crimes and drug offenses in public and federally assisted low-income housing.???

 

South Bend is Indiana?s tenth Weed and Seed site.? The other sites are Evansville, Gary,

Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis, which has six different Weed and Seed sites.? Including South Bend, seven Indiana sites are currently receiving funds through EOWS, including Evansville,

Gary, Ft. Wayne, and three Indianapolis sites.? Since the inception of Operation Weed and Seed

in 1991, EOWS has provided $7,544,806 to Indiana?s Weed and Seed sites.? Overall, since 1991, EOWS has provided nearly $340 million to 315 communities to further the community crime prevention and community revitalization goals of Operation Weed and Seed.

 

Operation Weed and Seed is a program administered by the Office of Justice Programs? Executive Office for Weed and Seed.? Operation Weed and Seed is foremost a strategy‑‑rather than a grant program ‑‑ that aims to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and

gang activity in targeted high‑crime? neighborhoods across the country.? 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.

 

In order to receive funds, a site must first become ?Officially Recognized? through the development and approval of a comprehensive strategy that focuses on reducing a target neighborhood?s crime problems, as well as providing economic development opportunities and social services.? 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.

 

For more information on Operation Weed and Seed or other OJP programs, please see OJP?s Website.? Media inquires should be directed to David Hess or Joan LaRocca in OJP?s Office of Communications at 202-307-0703.?

 

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership in developing the nation?s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims.? OJP is headed by an Assistant Attorney General and comprises 5 component bureaus and 2 offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime, as well as the Executive Office for Weed and Seed, and the Office of Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education.? Information about OJP programs, publications and conferences is available on the OJP Website, www.ojp.usdoj.gov .

 

 

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