Targeted Outreach - Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention ...

Appendices 49
Appendix A
Descriptions of Sample Sites
In May and June 1998, two P/PV researchers visited three
Gang Intervention Through Targeted Outreach sites. In
October 1998, two P/PV researchers visited three Boys &
Girls Clubs implementing Gang Prevention Through
Targeted Outreach.
On the site visits, we interviewed staff directly involved in
the projects and other staff who participated indirectly
through their involvement at the Clubs. We also asked the
Clubs to identify their partner agencies and conducted
individual interviews with representatives of those agencies.
Each project is unique, serving a population different
from those of other sites and working with different partner
agencies. In the following descriptions of each Club,
we begin with an overall view of the initiative and goals.
Next, we examine the gang problem in the area, as it was
described to us during interviews, and provide a brief history
of how the project was initiated and developed. In the
remaining sections, we describe how the sites recruited
youth—the staffing; intake and tracking processes; the programming
and services provided to youth; and changes
that the Clubs made to accommodate the initiative.
Because the intervention projects have their own unique
philosophies and approaches, each description starts with
a general project overview.
The information in this section presents a picture of each
initiative at the time of P/PV’s visit in 1998.
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Fort Worth:
“Comin’ Up”
Project Overview
The Comin’ Up Gang Intervention Program was described
as a collaborative effort by the city, the courts, the police
and other service providers to combat the problem of
gang violence. The program operates from eight facilities—two
of which are Boys & Girls Clubs and six of which
are city parks and recreation facilities. All are located in
different high crime and violence areas of the city. Comin’
Up provides interest-based recreational activities, late
hours and a safe place to hang out, all of which draw
youth to the program. Once youth are drawn in, they
develop relationships with the staff, who provide encouragement
and incentives to participate in the nonrecreational
programming provided, such as job skills and
placement, drug abuse treatment, AIDS awareness classes,
nonviolence training, and GED or educational courses.
Goals
The Comin’ Up program is a collaborative community
effort with an overarching goal of decreasing the extent of
gang violence in the Fort Worth area. Under this overall
goal are nine specific goals and objectives:
• To identify gang members in need of the program’s
services;
• To provide extended services to involve 100 ganginvolved
youth at each of eight facilities;
• To target 25 gang members at each site for more
intense case management and service provision;
• To assess the needs and interests of youth and
develop specific plans of action to meet their needs;
• To provide needs-focused services directly through
the project as well as through a network of collaborating
agencies;
• To refer family members to appropriate services;
• To establish relationships and respect between youth
from different gangs;
• To employ program participants to serve as part-time
community outreach workers; and
• To support positive interaction between and among
rival gangs.
Comin’ Up does not try to get the youth to leave the gang;
rather, the initiative focuses on redirecting the youth
toward positive behaviors and goal-setting in the areas of
education, employment, nonviolent interaction, and
reducing drug and alcohol abuse. All staff, literature and
outside agency representatives agreed on these basic goals.
Gang Problem in Ft. Worth
At the time of our visit in June 1998, the executive director
described the gangs in Fort Worth as being primarily territorial,
with a few drug-related gangs. He estimated that
there were approximately 3,000 members. Drive-by shootings
prior to the start of the intervention project (i.e.,
prior to 1994) occurred about once a week.
The youth who are part of the evaluation are from two of
Comin’ Up’s eight facilities in the Greater Fort Worth area.
One of the intervention facilities (Fireside) is a recreation
center dominated by one large Hispanic gang, the VC. This
gang is very territorial and most members get involved
because it operates where they grow up and commonly stay
as adults. The program director described this gang as
more territorial than violent. The other facility (Como) is a
recreation center in a neighborhood with identifiable
boundaries. There is one gang in the area, the Crips.