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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStatement of Problem1. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM On a street in Miami in September 2008, a verbal dispute began between the YLO (Young Latin Organizations) and a rival gang, the Riverside Boys. Gunfire flew, and a YLO youth was shot three times and died. This led to three related incidents, the latest when a YLO member stabbed two Riverside Boys with a knuckle knife. Miami, the poorest city in the nation (2000 Census), is a dense urban area of 34 square miles with a projected 2010 population of over 390,000 people. Miami's youth are surrounded by the influences of gangs, drugs, and violence and children from poorer neighborhoods often turn to gangs for protection and a place to find acceptance and understanding. The City of Miami Police Department (MPD) Gang Detail, part of the Juvenile and Missing Persons Unit, has documented over 45 active gangs with an estimated 500 gang members. The most prominent gangs within the city are: MS -13s, 18 Streets, Almighty Imperial Gangsters, Satan Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Zombies, Latin Kings, Crazy Young Thugs, Young Latin Organization, Tre-5, Tre-7, 40 Street and 69 Street. During 2008, the MPD Gang Detail made a total of 552 arrests. The type of arrests included: homicide, sexual battery, kidnapping, robbery, assaults, aggravated battery, battery, resisting arrest with violence and truancy charges. The total number of juvenile arrests made by the MPD was in excess of 1,000. Youth who reside in high crime areas are often subjected to daily risk factors that stimulate criminal behavior. At -risk youth that reside within this environment take part in activities that contribute to a lack of respect for others, lack of self-respect, and low self-esteem. The proposed Miami G.R.E.A.T. Program will address community risk factors such as; extreme economic and social deprivation, availability/access to firearms, community norms favorable towards the distributions and use of drugs, availability of drugs, and a glamorized attitude towards media portrayal of violence. Page Iof10 According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 update, Miami's median family income is $29,000, about half of the national income. Approximately 75% of Miami's low income families live in substandard or overcrowded housing. The disproportionate growth and violence of gangs has become a major concern; the number of cities reporting gang activity has increased by over 800% in the last 20 years. According to the Florida Department of Corrections "hundreds of local gangs have been identified in every city from Pensacola to the Florida Keys". Gangs establish their reputation by the types or severity of the crimes they commit. The more heinous the crime, the more `juice' or reputation the gang gets. In the seedy street gang world, the more `juice' you get, the more respect you get. During 2008 the City of Miami continued to experience gang violence and gang -related homicides, including a tragic case when a gang member ambushed a Miami Police Detective inside his vehicle, shooting and killing the Detective. Many of the gangs have escalated their violence by using more powerful and lethal firearms to threaten and attack other gangs to ensure their dominance. Additional prevalent risk factors affecting Miami's youth that fuel gang membership and violence include single parent households, lack of supervision, poverty, lack of pro -social activities, few positive role models, abuse and neglect. While the G.R.E.A.T. Program will be implemented citywide, MPD will target juveniles attending schools identified by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) in communities where the most delinquent youth reside. These neighborhoods ranked in the County's top ten with the highest number of delinquent charges and referrals. Ninety-one percent (91 %) of youth residing in the Miaini neighborhoods of Allapattah, Liberty City, Little Haiti, Little Havana and Overtown qualify for Title I services. Middle Schools located in these neighborhoods average a 17% absenteeism rate; the state average is 10%. Due to an increase in gang activity, MPD has engaged police gang detectives to train school administrators to spot gang colors, gang signs and graffiti. These detectives work with the administrators to monitor students with other risk factors such as behavioral problems, lack Page 2 of 10 of commitment to school, and academic failure. According to Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) statistics, 47% of Miami residents never received a high school diploma, 24% have dropped out by 9`" grade and 68% of prison inmates are high school dropouts. Less than half of the population of the City of Miami is in the labor force. These statistics are bleak. Implementing the G.R.E.A.T. program in City of Miami schools will provide a much needed infrastructure critical to shift the current, intervene early and provide the life skills necessary to prevent gang membership, delinquency and youth violence. 2. PROGRAM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION — STRATEGY The City of Miami Gang Resistance, Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program Police Officers will target high risk youth. MPD's mission is to make the City a place where all people can live, work, and visit safely without fear. MPD maintains the highest standards of professional ethics and integrity, with a commitment to the philosophy of community and neighborhood policing. MPD builds partnerships and coalitions with the business, corporate and residential communities to identify and recommend solutions to problems with the goal of improving quality of life. MPD employs time -tested police methods and promising innovative approaches to better protect the community. MPD values the cultural unity and differences of our communities, recognizing that there is strength in both, with a commitment is to provide professional service to citizens, residents, and visitors. By implementing the proposed program in elementary and middle schools, MPD will create safer communities, preventing delinquency, youth violence and gang membership. The program encourages positive relationships between law enforcement, youth and their families. The Miami G.R_E.A.T. Program will use lessons that focus on providing life skills to students to help them avoid using delinquent behavior and violence to solve problems. Incorporating the mastery of basic life skills, positive social bonding, and self-esteem enhancement skills is essential for participants to build valuable character assets. Participants will also focus on methods of understanding conflicts and developing tools to control anger while recognizing the consequences for delinquent behavior. Page 3 of 10 2a. COMPONENTS MPD will implement three (3) components of the G.R.E.A.T Program, Elementary School, Middle School, and a Summer Component. The Elementary School Component will be taught by five (5) G.R.E.A.T.-trained Officers to five hundred (500) 4th and 5th grade students within the City of Miami boundaries utilizing the G.R.E.A.T. six week curriculum. These schools are located in targeted high risk areas with a high incidence of youth violence and gang activity: Allapattah, Liberty City and Little Haiti. Students will be chosen on risk factors as identified by school officials. The elementary curriculum is designed to target children who have demonstrated aggressive behavior in school. This curriculum stresses the prevention of violence while developing a positive bond between law enforcement and youth during their early developmental years. Programs that provide prevention modules at the elementary level have a higher success rate of positively affecting the developmental course of preventing problem behavior. The Middle School Component will be taught by six (6) G.R.E.A.T.-trained officers to six hundred (600) 7th and 81h grade students through a thirteen week curriculum. These schools are located in target high-risk neighborhoods: Allapattah, Liberty City, Little Haiti, Little Havana and Overtown. The program will prioritize youth identified by school administrators and teachers. G.R.E.A.T.-trained uniformed law enforcement officers will teach the violence prevention curriculum in a classroom setting. The curriculum is a life -skills competency program designed to provide students with the skills they need to avoid gang pressure and youth violence. It will be used in conjunction with other programs that encourage positive relationships between the youth and law enforcement, family and community. The Summer Component will collaborate with the City of Miami Parks and Recreation summer programs. During the summer, two G.R.E.A.T Officers will mentor 40 students. The G.R.E.A.T. Summer Program will provide students the opportunity to develop critical life and career skills within the context of lessons, field trips and presentations. The Miami G.R.E.A.T. summer program will build on the school-based curriculum by offering students an opportunity to enhance their social skills, providing alternatives to gang involvement, and adding needed structure to the surruner months. The summer program will address issues and concerns specific to the Miami cormnunity. The summer program will provide consistency in helping youth develop life or career skills as alternatives to gang membership. 2b. TARGETING HIGH RISK YOUTH A review of Miami's 2008 juvenile arrest statistics reveals that critical age for the emergence of juvenile arrests is 12 — the typical age of a 7th grade student. Miami's G.R.E.A.T. program will begin in elementary school, in hopes of preventing the negative influences that would otherwise drive them toward gang membership, delinquency and violence. Youth in the City of Miami are at the highest risk for gang membership based on the prevalence of gang culture, rampant poverty and lack of social supports. As the poorest City in the country, Miami students need strong early intervention to dissuade the empty promises of gang life. The program will pay particular attention to youth that attend the highest risk schools, live in the highest crime areas and are dangerously exposed to community risk factors on a daily basis. G.R.E.A.T. Officers will work closely with Principals, teachers and counselors in all of the identified schools, targeting students in the 4th to 8th grades. 2c. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The Miami G.R.E.A.T. program will strongly support and reinforce the goals of the overall G.R.E.A.T. initiative. Goals include the prevention of youth crime, violence and gang involvement by changing attitudes and behaviors that contribute to negative choices, create safer schools and communities by building positive relationships with law enforcement, communities and school, and increase the number of youth that have a positive perception of law enforcement. Objectives are: • Increase the number of elementary and middle school youth who demonstrate negative views about gangs by 50 % from the inception of the program. Page 5 of 10 • Increase the number of youth who address conflict non-violently by 50% from the inception of the program. • Increase the number of youth who improve their perception of law enforcement by 50% from the inception of the program. 2d. SUPPORT FOR LOCAL EDUCATION AGENCY'S GOALS RELATED TO ACADEMIC ACHEIVEMENT AND SCHOOL SAFTEY Miami's G.R.E.A.T. Program supports Miami Dade County Public School's (MDCPS) goals to ensure achievement of high academic standards for all students as well as the assurance of safe schools by: • Increasing academic performance of all students o G.R.E.A.T. encourages positive adult/youth relationships between community, parents, schools and law enforcement, bridging the gap to higher performance through mentoring. • Eliminating the achievement gap o G.R.E.A.T. supports setting realistic and achievable goals by developing a student achievement plan with input from the participant, teachers and counselors. • Improving safety and the school environment c G.R.E.A.T. teaches positive life skills such as self-control, discipline, anger management and conflict resolution. • Increasing graduation and lower student dropout o G.R.E.A.T. emphasizes higher education, career exploration and goal setting. Aside from increasing truancy, academic deficiency can increase the chances of school dropout and delinquent behavior. • Eliminating low performance schools Page 6 of 10 o The G.R.E.A.T. Program will focus on increased attendance as the primary protective factor and will incorporate other factors such as academic enrichment, positive -social bonding and self-esteem enhancement. 2e. SERVICE and POPULATION A total of 13 officers will participate in the G.R.E.A.T. Program and will dedicate approximately 83 hours each, 1,084 in total. G.R.E.A.T certified officers will teach the 13 -week curriculum to 24 middle school classes, the 6 -week curriculum to 20 elementary classes, with a 6 -week summer component. The program will reach approximately 1,100 students in class, and mentor approximately 40 students in the summer. MPD will continue to target schools with low academic grades and high incidences of violence including youth that reside in high crime areas. Both curricula will be given by the Gang Detail Officers of the MPD and School Resource Officers. As required, all police officers will be certified in the G.R.E.A.T. Program. Classes will take place in public elementary and middle school classrooms. The summer component will be implemented in collaboration with City of Miami Parks and Recreation Department. 2f. STRATEGY and SEQUENCE The strategy is to reach elementary school age students through the G.R.E.A.T. skills - based curriculum designed as a precursor to the middle school curriculum. This component establishes the foundation that prepares children for the intensified exercises taught in the middle school curriculum, while developing a positive bond between law enforcement and youth. The program will commence on July 1, 2009. Once the City's process of acceptance is finalized, we service will begin with the sununer component.. The actual teaching at the schools would start with the school year in August. The elementary component will last the required six weeks and the middle school, thirteen weeks. This component will take us into the final months of the school year ending on June 30th, 2010. Page 7 of 10 2g. COLLABORATION MPD works in collaboration with Federal, State and neighboring law enforcement agencies, MDCPS, US Attorney General's Office, Miami -Dade District Attorney's Office, the City's Department of Parks and Recreation, and a variety of local faith- and community-based organizations. All of these entities will work together to implement several anti gang/anti- violence initiatives and delinquency prevention programs. Miami's G.R.E.A.T. Program will complement services provided by MPD which also address at -risk juveniles. Miami G.R.E.A.T. will incorporate the FBI's Safe Streets Initiatives in all components. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will work in collaboration to identify, investigate and dismantle violent crime enterprises involved in homicides, robberies, drug trafficking, home invasions and other gang - related criminal activities that have disparate effects on Miami's highest -risk communities. MPD joined forces in the Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative operated out of the Miami -Dade District Attorney's Office. Representatives from MPD, Multi -Agency Gang Task Force (MAGTF), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the US Attorney's Office and the State Attorney's Office meet to discuss current and future crime prevention and detection strategies. This Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force developed a list of "impact players" responsible for the majority of violent and gun -related crimes within the City. Collaborative law enforcement agencies work to increase gun seizures and decrease gun and gang -related crime in target areas, resulting in a better quality of life for Miami. 3. CAPABILITIES/COMPETENCIES/MANAGEMENT AND STAFFING MPD is innately invested in ensuring the success of the Miami G.R.E.A.T. program, as it affects the Police Officers professionally and personally every day. MPD's mission is to make the City a place where all people can live, work, and visit safely without fear. The Gang Detail's Lieutenant will manage the implementation and coordination of all activities of the grant. As Grant Coordinator, the Lieutenant will supervise 10 Juvenile Investigators and 2 School Page 8 of 10 Resource Officers, and will have the full cooperation of the MDCPS's Superintendent and each school's administration. The Lieutenant will work directly with school officials and City of Miami Parks and Recreation Administrators to implement Miami G.R.E.A.T. The Grant Coordinator will be responsible for monitoring the grant activity and submitting all required financial information and progress reports. All staff will consult with the Lieutenant on a regular basis to ensure proper implementation and operation of the grant as well as ensure that goals and objectives are being met, and that all activity and expenditures are within guidelines of the application and compliance with all special conditions and federal regulations. 4. BUDGET NARRATIVE AND SUMMARY 'See Attachment 2 5. IMPACT/OUTCOMES, EVALUATION AND SUSTAINMENT Impact/Outcomes: Miami G.R.E.A.T. Program will: • Increase the percentage of youth that view gangs and gang membership negatively by 50% by the end of the grant period. 0 Increase the number of certified G.R.E.A.T. certified officers by 10%. Increase the number of G.R.E.A.T. graduates • Increase the percentage of youth who improve the use of non-violent tools and skills to address problems and conflicts by 50% by the end of the grant period. • Increase the number of school age children who improve their perception of law enforcement by 50%. All of these measures are in line with the overall goals of the U.S. Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance goals for the G.R.E.A.T. Program. Evaluation: Under the supervision of the Grant Coordinator, MPD's G.R.E.A.T. Officers will be responsible for data collection, ensuring the G.R.E.A.T. survey instrument (provided by the Page 9 of 10 Bureau of Justice Assistance) is administered to each student and that results will be provided to each school official. G.R.E.A.T. Programs have a proven success in Miami; according to previously -funded G.R.E.A.T. Officers, school staff, and parents, improvements were noted in attitude, behavior, interest in school, improved grades and attendance. All data is gathered, compiled and analyzed among the schools, law enforcement, parents and community members to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program and the importance of sustaining it. Sustainability: After federal grant funding ends, G.R.E.A.T. certified School Resource Officers will continue to teach the program while on duty. MPD will seek to reallocate funds from its budget to continue implementing this important initiative. In addition, the City will continue to seek different funding sources from corporate and private foundations interested in contributing towards the expansion of its youth programs. The G.R.E.A.T. Program is an extremely important component for our youth, their families, the community as well as the MPD. The G.R.E.A.T. Program allows youth to receive mentoring, learn life skills and discipline, and take part in field trips. They learn to prepare for college as well as the workforce. MDCPS has ensured that the G.R.E.A.T. curriculum will always be allowed in the classrooms, supplying resources when necessary. In order to counteract the high level of risks, there must be protective factors that buffer the negative stimulation experienced by our youth. By promoting improved life and social skills, values, citizenship and a healthy life style, we believe that we can begin to counteract the negative stimulation our youth receive as a result of their daily exposure to many of these risks. Recognizing the need for implementing prevention programs, the Miami G.R.E.A.T. Program seeks to provide youth with the opportunity to develop much needed life skills, fostering a sense of positive self worth and the prevention of gang membership, youth violence and delinquency. Page 10 of 10