Weed & Seed

 

 

 

 

           
   

The Weed & Seed strategy is a multi-agency strategy that "weeds out" violent crime, gang activity, drug use, and drug trafficking in targeted high-crime neighborhoods and then "seeds" the target area by restoring these neighborhoods through social and economic revitalization.  The strategy is administered to communities that have drug-related crime and violence problems.  Monthly Weed & Seed Steering Committee meetings are held at different locations.  At these meetings, Weed & Seed links and integrates Federal, State, and local law enforcement and criminal justice efforts with Federal, State, and local social services, and community involvement to maximize the impact of existing programs and resources.  Four strategies exist to bring about community restoration: 1) Law Enforcement 2) Community Policing 3) Prevention, Intervention and Treatment and 4) Neighborhood Restoration.  As a result, community residents are empowered to take an active role and assist in solving problems in their neighborhoods.

Weed & Seed has recently partnered with Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN), a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in America. Through Weed & Seed meetings, PSN is able to provide additional tools to "weed out: the criminal elements and "seed" the community with social services and resources. The Bush Administration has committed $901 million to this effort over 3 years. This funding is being used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, distribute gun lock safety kits, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop and promote community outreach efforts as well as to support other gun violence strategies.

  

Reclaiming Our Neighborhoods
Block By Block

When drug dealers make themselves at home in a neighborhood, they often bring with them a number of other blights: crime; truancy; a higher drop-out rate; increased drug use; the physical deterioration of buildings and common areas; and despair. Residents, however, often don't realize the tools at their command to discourage drug dealing. Drug dealers tend to avoid neighborhoods in which the community stands united against them. Here's how we can demonstrate our commitment to reclaiming our streets:

Form a community patrol, block association, or Neighborhood Watch
Increase two-way communication with the police
Fill the street with volleyball games, block parties and other events
Call the city public works department for help in cleaning up cluttered areas
Provide positive outlets for the energies of local young people
Continue to reassure our children that we love them and don't want them to do drugs

~Department of Education
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For more information about the Weed & Seed program, please contact Ted Montelongo, New West Weed & Seed Coordinator or Darrell Boyce, East Weed & Seed Coordinator at San Antonio Fighting Back, Inc. (210) 271-7232.  To learn more about Project Safe Neighborhood log on to: www.psn.gov or contact Ted Montelongo or Darrell Boyce.