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.
