Department of Justice Recognizes Madisonville as a Weed & Seed Site
Community Participation Residents are a critical component to the Weed and Seed strategy. The community must be involved from the beginning in helping to identify priorities and formulate local solutions. We need your participation.
Weed and Seed empowers communities to solve their own problems. Citizen involvement, whether through community meetings, local projects, marches, rallies, involvement on the steering committee, or other activities, is a key component for a successful Weed and Seed project.
Communities that are empowered to solve their own problems function more effectively than communities that depend on services provided by “outsiders.” Workers who own part of the company are more committed than those who simply collect a paycheck. Initiatives that empower communities to help themselves, involve residents in decision-making processes, and encourage broad citizen involvement will be more effective than those designed to simply provide services to people or clients.
Citizens are people who understand their own problems in their own terms. Citizens perceive their relationship to one another and they believe in their capacity to act. Good clients make bad citizens. Good citizens make strong communities.
OVERVIEW
In 1991, the U.S. Department of Justice established Operation Weed and Seed — a community-based
multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and neighborhood restoration. The goals of Weed and Seed are to control violent crime, drug trafficking, and drug-related crime in targeted high-crime neighborhoods and provide a safe environment free of crime and drug use for residents.
The Weed and Seed strategy brings together federal, state, and local crime-fighting agencies, social service providers, representatives of the public and private sectors, prosecutors, business owners, and neighborhood residents under the shared goal of weeding out violent crime and gang activity while seeding in social services and economic revitalization. Weed and Seed began with three pilot sites in 1991 and has spread quickly to more than 250 high-crime neighborhoods across the nation.
The Weed and Seed strategy is a two-pronged approach to crime control and prevention: law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate in “weeding out” criminals from the target area “seeding” brings prevention, intervention, treatment, and neighborhood revitalization services to the area. The Weed and Seed approach is unique when compared to traditional crime prevention approaches of the past. The strategy is based on collaboration, coordination, community participation, and leveraging resources.
Operation Weed and Seed is foremost a strategy - rather than a grant program - which aims to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in targeted high-crime neighborhoods across the country. Weed and Seed sites range in size from several neighborhood blocks to 15 square miles.
Weed and Seed sites maximize existing programs and resources by coordinating and integrating existing federal, state, local, and private sector initiatives, criminal justice efforts, and social services. The strategy also puts heavy emphasis on community participation. Residents of Weed and Seed neighborhoods are actively involved in problem solving in their community. Neighbor-hood watches, citizen marches and rallies, clean-up events, drug-free zones, and graffiti removal are some of the common programs that encourage community participation and help prevent crime.
Madisonville is one of 350 communities throughout the
United States that is a recognized Weed & Seed Site by the Department of
Justice. The recognition is forever but the funding is not guaranteed from year
to year. We are currently in the second year of implementing the strategy which
was presented to the Department of Justice in 2002.
UPDATE
Weed & Seed is a strategy that consists of four major
areas: Law Enforcement, Community Policing, Neighborhood Restoration and
Prevention, Intervention and Treatment. Communities compete for recognition as a
site by preparing a five year strategy that consist of goals and measurements to
improve the community and then each year prepare a budget to implement the
strategy. These funds are used for extra policing, activities with children
that have an impact and a long lasting effect on them such as the Student Police
Academy (co-sponsored by KeyBank) and overnights with Police Officers for both
boys and girls. Over 150 Madisonville children have benefited in 2003 and thus
far in 2004.
There will be another opportunity for Madisonville children
participate at the end of July when we partner with a program called “Kid’s
Games”. Keeps your eyes open for additional information.
Madisonville has three Safe Havens; the YMCA, the
Madisonville Recreation Center and Bramble Academy. This year we will be
focusing to get John P Parker on board and work with the faith based community
as well as other partners that will help to make Madisonville a better place to
live, work and play and to provide services to our residents.
The Weed & Seed
Steering Committee is made up members of the community, police, Federal agents,
minister, pastors, and social agency leaders. If you are interested in
participating, please contact the Madisonville Community Council office at
561-9343.
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