Weed & Seed Initiative

Weed and Seed is a program under the administration of the Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) in the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), United States Department of Justice. CCDO assists states, units of local governments, neighborhoods, and community-based organizations in developing Weed and Seed Strategies under the authority of the Omnibus Crime and Control Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3712 § 103 to 105).

PURPOSE

This initiative aims to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity. Its operative strategy incorporates a community-based, comprehensive multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and neighborhood restoration. It is designed for neighborhoods with persistent high levels of serious violent crime and corresponding social problems. Weed and Seed Communities are developed in partnership with many local organizations including the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in a community. Partnering entities are required to primarily draw on and redeploy existing public and private resources in crafting problem resolution rather than focusing on limited discretionary federal grant funds.

The strategy recognizes the importance of involving community residents who are intimately familiar with local community conditions and community decisionmakers who have the responsibility, authority, and control of existing community public and private resources. These groups must work together in identifying and solving the problems in their neighborhoods. Actions pursuant also help to address related social problems that without proper intervention often lead to violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity.

Recognizing that only with the redeployment of existing community resources can significant and sustainable change be achieved in consistently high-crime neighborhoods, the undersigned governmental and non-governmental agencies have embraced the common goal of significantly reducing violent crime and narcotics activity in the following community:

The ESUC Weed and Seed is located within the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Zone 1, including the following CT’s: 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 18, the approximate size of the site is 4.79 Square miles, with an estimated population of 26,592. The Weed and Seed site boundaries include the following:

o West Boundary: I-95

o East Boundary: Martin Luther King/Talleyrand

o South Boundary: Bay street/7th street

o North Boundary: Martin Luther King Boulevard/17th Street

News and Information

Open-air Drug Market Intervention

City of Jacksonville Weed & Seed Grant Application

Eastside, Springfield, Urban Core Weed & Seed Policies and Procedures 2010

Website with Weed & Seed info and resources

Weed and Seed Steering Committee Application/Survey

Safe Haven Site Location