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Annual Report on School Safety--October 1998
Alternatives to Gang Membership, for middle schools, is a promising program with multiple components. One component is a fifth grade antigang curriculum with an intermediate school follow-up program for youth that encourages involvement in constructive activities. A study in which the names of 3,612 participants were matched with data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department found that only 4 percent had joined gangs.
Contact: Human Services Department, City of Paramount, 16400 Colorado Avenue, Paramount, CA 90723, 213-220- 2140
Gang Risk Intervention Program (GRIP), for middle and high schools, is a promising model pilot-tested in the Los Angeles, CA, area and now operating in 15 of California's 58 counties. GRIP involves parents, school administrators, teachers, community organizations, and gang experts in keeping youth out of gangs. Schools with GRIP provide their students with counseling, sports, cultural activities, job training, apprenticeships and career exploration opportunities, and opportunities for positive interaction with police officers. The major goals of the program are to tie youth to community organizations and to commit businesses and community groups to providing positive activities to youth. Evaluation data are not yet available.
Contact:Chuck Nichols, Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Office, California Department of Education, 560 J Street, Suite 260, Sacramento, CA 95814, 916-323-1026, E-mail: cnichols@cde.ca.gov
Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT), for grades K-12, is a promising model with curricula appropriate for children of all ages. The instructional programs (which range in length from four to nine weeks), taught by law enforcement officers, have sessions on law, crimes, victims, gangs, and substance abuse. The training focuses on the impact of crime on victims and communities, conflict resolution skills, cultural differences, and meeting basic needs without joining a gang. Schools and communities also have the option of implementing a summer component. A preliminary evaluation found that GREAT participants had lower rates of delinquency, lower rates of gang affiliation, and more negative attitudes about gangs.
Contact: G.R.E.A.T. Branch, P.O. Box 50418, Washington, DC 20091, 800-726-7070, Fax: 202-565-4588,
E-mail: great@atfhq.atf.treas.gov
Web site: www.atf.treas.gov/great/great.htm
Community Organizations United to Reduce the Area's Gang Environment (Project COURAGE),for grades K-8, is a promising program that provides youth with positive alternatives that may serve as deterrents from gang membership and substance abuse. Key components include tutoring in all school subjects; academic, family, and personal counseling; workshops on self-esteem, decision-making and resistance skills, health and nutrition, and job training; and leisure and sports activities. When students, staff, parents, and teachers were questioned by auxiliary staff, more than half of them said that Project COURAGE students had made improvements in stability, empowerment, self-esteem, and educational commitment. In addition, close to 80 percent of teachers and staff saw an improvement in students' social abilities and positive identities.
Contact: Mary Fowlie, Project COURAGE Coordinator, Riverside County Office of Education, 3939 Thirteenth Street, Riverside, CA 92502, 909-369-7860, Fax: 909-778- 0487
[Racial and Other Bias-Related Conflict]