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Weed & Seed, begun in 1991, is a collaborative enterprise sponsored
by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs through its Community Capacity Development
Office (formerly the Executive Office of Weed & Seed) to bring together
private and public agencies aimed at the prevention, control, and reduction
of violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in targeted high-crime neighborhoods
across the country. Weed & Seed consists of a two-pronged strategy:
first, to “weed out” violent offenders, drug dealers, and other
criminals who undermine the quality of life for community residents and
to prevent their return to the area; and second, to “seed in”
positive practices, programs and institutions that contribute to a better
quality of life for neighborhoods, including human services and neighborhood
revitalization efforts (e.g., neighborhood clean-up). Community policing
strategies provide a bridge between the "weeding" and "seeding"
activities, in which police officers work to develop contextualized, community-specific
solutions through strategic partnerships with community residents and institutions.
The East
Anchorage Weed & Seed site, a racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood
located in the northeast part of Anchorage, is currently the only Weed &
Seed site in Alaska. In 2001, it had an estimated population of more than
20,000 people living in nearly 7,600 households.
In support of East Anchorage Weed & Seed's effort
to evaluate the Weed & Seed initiative in Northeast Anchorage, the Justice
Center conducted a community survey designed to measure Northeast community
residents’ level of satisfaction with their neighborhood as a place
to live, specifically with regards to residents' feelings about neighborhood
safety, neighborhood crime levels, criminal victimization, police activity
in the neighborhood, and the availability of social services.
In 2008, a second evaluation using the same survey instrument was conducted to assess whether there had been any changes to dimensions measured by the surveys.
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