INTRODUCTION

Gang prevention and disruption requires a community-wide approach. Often community members recognize that there is a gang problem but they do not know the specifics about it and do not know what they can do to help. To help with their efforts, some community leaders have decided to create strategic community plans. These plans provide details about the goals of the community as they relate to gang activities, what initiatives will be put in place, and what specific actions will be taken to carry out those initiatives.

After a challenging year of gang violence, the state Attorney General announced the expansion of a comprehensive anti-gang initiative to target dangerous street gangs and promote prevention efforts to keep communities and neighborhoods safe. Your neighborhood will receive $10 million in additional grant funding to assist with gang prevention and disruption.

Before you continue, read the following articles and review the image:

• Prevention EffortsLinks to an external site.
• Strategic Plan to Address Gang ViolenceLinks to an external site.

As shown in the above image, the five core strategies for the comprehensive gang model are:

• Community Mobilization – Community engagement and collaboration
• Opportunities Provision – Education, training, and employment programs
• Social Intervention – Outreach and access to provision of services for gang-involved youth and their families
• Suppression – Community policing with formal and informal social controls and accountability measures
• Organizational Change and Development – Development of policy for effective use of resources

INSTRUCTIONS

You have been asked to assist with the determining how the grant funds should be used and which initiatives will likely have the biggest impact on preventing gang activity in the community.

To do this, you will identify three major initiatives and at least five specific actions for each initiative. Refer to the list of required components farther down this page for details about what is required. Please note that if you were completing a real strategic community plan, you likely would have more than three initiatives but to keep this assignment manageable, please limit your submission to only three initiatives.

It is highly suggested that you use the Strategic Planning Tool (in the readings above) that was created by the National Gang Center. Another good resource is the Comprehensive Gang Model that details some core strategies that are used to address gang activities.

Begin your work on this assignment by analyzing the specific needs of your community. Think about what makes your community unique as far as gangs are concerned. To successfully complete this assignment, you should use the knowledge you have gained throughout this course, as well as any additional research you feel is necessary.

Examples of potential focal points for your initiatives may include but are not limited to the following:

• Preventing gang recruitment
• Helping gang members transition out of gang life
• Providing financial or other resources to individuals
• Raising community awareness

To help with the organization of this assignment, a template has been provided for you below. You should use this template as is but you are free to add additional rows in the tables for activities. The template is based on the Strategic Plan to Address Gang Violence document that is linked in the introduction for this assignment. While it is not identical, it would be a good idea to refer to that document for inspiration and examples of how to write the required components (see below). Note that this document is specific to one community and is only meant to inspire you. You are expected to come up with your own initiatives and actions and not to copy what the example community did.

Download the templateDownload Download the template

• Initiative – The initiative is what you are trying to accomplish to reduce gang activity. For example, you may have an initiative to prevent illegal firearms from being available to gang members. Your submission should include three initiatives.
• Strategy – The strategy is the overall plan to make the initiative successful.
• Objectives – An objective is a measurable way to see if your initiative is successful. Each initiative will likely have multiple objectives.
• Actions – The specific things that will be done to meet the objectives. For each initiative, you should have at least five actions.
• Focus Population – Who is the target audience for the action? Some options include but are not limited to:
  • Current gang members
  • Students
  • Families
  • Community leaders
  • Law enforcement
• Approach – The approach is the phase of gang activity that will be targeted by the action. For each action, choose one of the three approaches below:
  • Prevention – Stopping people from joining gangs in the first place.
  • Disruption – Stopping ongoing gang activities.
  • Re-Entry – Intervention with gang members as they are released from prison.
• Barriers – What problems do you foresee with the action that could prevent it from being successful?
• Overcoming Barriers – What is your plan to overcome the barriers?
• Responsible Entities – Who will ultimately be responsible for the success of the action?
• Justification – After you have completed the table, write a 1-2 paragraph justification for why you chose the initiative and how you think the actions support it. You will write a separate justification for each initiative