2008 Award Winners
LISC is proud to announce the winners of the 2008 MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Awards. In the seventh year of giving the award, LISC received over 500 applications from around the country. The six winners for the Neighborhood Revitalization category and five winners for our Special Strategy Awards were selected with the help of an outside review panel of police chiefs and community development leaders. The eleven winners clearly articulated examples of community organizations and police departments working together to reduce crime and revitalize neighborhoods. These collaborations achieved significant results and illustrated how the power of purposefully combining community building and crime prevention strategies led to safer communities. We were very encouraged to learn about the diversity of community safety and economic development programs underway across the country, and look forward to disseminating case studies on each of the winners.
Neighborhood Revitalization
First Place ($25,000)
Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services (GENS) & Providence Police Department
Project Name: Parkis Avenue/North Elmwood Revitalization
Providence, RI
The partnership between Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services and the Providence Police Department is focused on the revitalization of dilapidated historic homes on Parkis Avenue and North Elmwood in Providence, RI. This block is home to approximately 100 very low-income households and the area previously harbored significant trade in illegal drugs and prostitution, accompanied by frequent assaults. Many neighbors had grown angry and distrustful; some participated in the unsafe behavior, while others had become indifferent, assuming that their dangerous environment was synonymous with life in an inner-city neighborhood. The objective of the community-police partnership was to restore safety to the area and simultaneously create healthful, affordable, environmentally friendly and well maintained homes. Through a comprehensive revitalization process, partners began to share knowledge and build appreciation for mutual interests and roles in holistic community development. Through this collaboration, community organizers have learned about the power of interactive neighborhood mapping; police have learned about the complexities of development finance; parole officers have learned about challenges of providing affordable housing to parolees; and the work has demonstrated that outcomes for the neighborhood can multiply through well facilitated community-police-parole-data analysis. In addition to these achievements, GENS and the Providence Police Department have done groundbreaking work around housing returning former offenders.
Indiantown Non-Profit Housing, Inc (INPHI) & Martin County Sheriff's Department
Project Name: Indiantown Revitalization Project
Indiantown, FL
The partnership between Indiantown Non-Profit Housing, Inc (INPHI) and the Martin County Sheriff's Office is focused on the revitalization of Indiantown, FL with a primary focus in the Booker Park neighborhood. The partnership provides an integrated approach to community revitalization in working to create both safe homes and streets for the target community. Over the last 10+ years, this collaboration has helped increase community awareness; ensured greater code compliance by property owners; reduced trespassing, loitering and drug sales; increased security measures taken by local business to reduce theft; and provided crime victim support services. As one example, the partnership along with other community leaders undertook the revitalization of an area in Indiantown known as "Rogers Quarters", a 12 acre site comprised of roughly 100 one-room shacks and other dwellings, many of which were destroyed in a 2004 hurricane. Already known as a hub of drug activity, Rogers Quarters experienced increased crime following the storm. Through the community-police partnership, damaged homes have been repaired, new homes have been built, and properties beyond repair have been demolished. The revitalization project has resulted in a significant decrease in crime and an improvement in the quality of life for residents.
Second Place ($15,000)
Friends of the Ypsilanti Police & Ypsilanti Police Department
Project Name: Community Policing Action Council (CoPAC)
Ypsilanti, MI
The Community Policing Action Council (CoPAC) is a federation of neighborhood, business and community groups in the City of Ypsilanti that act as an advisory council to guide the long-term community policing philosophy of the Ypsilanti Police Department. The Gateway Community Council represents residents alongside community institutions such as the Ypsilanti Area Chamber of Commerce, Eastern Michigan University, and other neighborhood and business organizations that make up CoPAC. This federation brings together citizens and police in determining problems and priorities, and implementing linked enforcement and development projects to improve long-term safety. Through explicit collaboration with police, CoPAC has helped neighborhoods previously known for loitering and illegal activity become ripe for new business ventures and property renovations. Developers are now not only seeing a return on investment, but they are renovating historic properties back to their original splendor, enhancing the uniqueness of this community. Statistics confirm a significant reduction of crime within the City of Ypsilanti since the formation of this collaboration.
Rhodes College & Memphis Police Department
Project Name: Police and Joint Agency (PJA) Committee
Memphis, TN
The purpose of the collaborative partnership, led by Rhodes College, is planning crime prevention and improving community physical conditions through community partnerships. In this context, the College and the Police helped to mobilize and support resident involvement in implementation of a three-part safety plan guided by these objectives: (1) Increase responsiveness of law enforcement to residents' and businesses' concerns; (2) reduce violent and drug-related crime in the neighborhood; and (3) cooperate with other groups to improve the neighborhood's physical and economic landscape. The community policing and economic development activities are part of a comprehensive "weed and seed" strategy to promote neighborhood revitalization and capacity building. One of the key strategies for dealing with crime was establishing the Police and Joint Agency (PJA) Committee. Under the leadership of Rhodes College, this group meets monthly to analyze crime patterns and design strategies that address crime generators in the neighborhood. This college-based partnership has brought together many public agencies, including the police department, to work directly with concerned residents at the grassroots level. Analysis of weekly and monthly crime data from the police department database has shown that overall crime rates have fallen in the neighborhood. Residential and commercial litter has also been significantly reduced through cooperative clean-up efforts. The partnership has developed a more efficient process for dealing with dilapidated houses in the neighborhood. With code enforcement agencies participating in PJA Committee meetings, responsiveness continues to increase.
Third Place ($10,000)
Madison Park Development Corporation & Boston Police Department
Project Name: Orchard Gardens/Commons Public Safety Committee
Boston, MA
The Orchard Gardens/Commons Public Safety Committee is a highly networked crime watch. The Orchard Gardens Resident Association initiated the group at a community meeting convened to address growing area crime. Once a haven for drug dealing, the Orchard Gardens development was transformed by a $60 million HOPE VI renovation in the late 1990s. By 2003, crime was rising again, as drug dealing and prostitution in surrounding neighborhoods filtered into the development, and as incarcerated gang members began to exit the prison system and returned to the neighborhood. In response, the Public Safety Committee's strategy has been to identify priority issues with the police and to lobby city agencies as a coalition to bring about needed changes in crime enforcement and the physical environment, thereby encouraging broader economic redevelopment. Madison Park Development Corporation heads the Public Safety Committee while serving as the lead area developer, revitalizing Orchard Gardens, renovating vacant commercial properties, bringing in new businesses and building new housing.
Capitol Weed & Seed Partners
Project Name: Capitol Weed & Seed Program
Phoenix, AZ
The goal of the Capitol Weed & Seed Coalition in Phoenix is to "weed out" violent crime, drug use, and gang activity from targeted neighborhoods and to plant the "seeds" of rehabilitated homes, spruced-up streetscapes, and a wide range of programs and social services. The Coalition has built long-term partnerships between police, community developers, faith based organizations, businesses and residents, that have led to a reduction in crime and improved quality of life. Strategies include affordable housing development, a Volunteer Income Tax Center, youth prevention programs, neighborhood patrols, blight elimination, and other creative efforts to reduce gang activity, drugs and violent crime. Since 1998 approximately 300 drug houses have been shut down, block watches and neighborhood patrols were created, and a strong community police partnership was initiated and maintained. The partnership is also responsible for creating a steering committee and a model law enforcement committee where residents meet monthly to address public safety and revitalization issues.
Special Strategy ($15,000)
Aesthetics & Green Space Improvement
Coalition for Responsible Community Development and the Los Angeles Police Department
Project Name: South Los Angeles Graffiti Free Zone Project
Los Angeles, CA
As part of a long-standing community-police partnership, the Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD) collaborated with the Los Angeles Police Department-Newton Area and eight community partners in 2007 to improve public safety and reduce graffiti in the Vernon-Central neighborhood of South Los Angeles. The target community, Vernon-Central, is a City of Los Angeles Redevelopment Project Area that struggles with crime and violence perpetrated by 47 different local gangs. As a group, the community partners identified common interests and decided to combine their financial and human resources for a strong impact in a concentrated geographic area. The program strategy was to establish a Graffiti Free Zone, based on a similar model previously implemented in the adjacent Trinity Park neighborhood. All community partners agreed to report graffiti to CRCD for removal within 24 hours. CRCD's South Los Angeles Beautification Team (SLABT) dedicated a graffiti removal crew and truck to remove and cover graffiti immediately. The Los Angeles Police Department-Newton Area provided enforcement support, coordinating closely with CRCD's SLABT and the City Attorney's Neighborhood Prosecutor. One of the most effective and creative elements of the project was involving local youth and young adults in the solutions to neighborhood concerns; approximately half of CRCD's SLABT crew members were at-risk and transition-age youth (17 to 25 years old) living in the neighborhood who gained valuable work experience and on-the-job training while contributing to community beautification.
Applied Technology
Fax Net 1 & Phoenix Police Department
Project Name: Fax Net 1
Phoenix, AZ
Fax Net 1 is a communications network that links local, state and federal law enforcement agencies operating in Maricopa County to each other and to community members for the purpose of safety education and rapid crime incident response. Using relatively simple technology-a database with contact information (particularly fax numbers) for residents and business owners-Fax Net 1 has given police agencies in the Phoenix area the capacity to mobilize community members to assist in gathering information about crime incidents. In addition, education alerts disseminated through the Fax Net database have empowered community members to protect themselves in the face of specific crime trends. The database system was initially created by property managers seeking a way to better protect their residents. Today it is managed and maintained by a non-profit organization representing the interests of both community members and police. Evidence of success includes documented reductions in crime in areas that have used the Fax Net communications network strategically, as well as consistently high usage by law enforcement officers who see Fax Net as a trustworthy tool for crime prevention education and response.
Diversity Inclusion & Integration
Dwa Fanm and the New York Police Department
Project Name: Haitians against Violence at Home (HVAH) Precinct Project
Brooklyn, NY
Dwa Fanm is a grassroots organization working to end discrimination, injustice and violence against black immigrant women, particularly those with immigration and/or language issues. The organization pioneered the first partnerships with police ever to exist in Haitian and other Caribbean immigrant communities of New York City on behalf of victims of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. Through a multi-phase collaboration involving the leadership of violence survivors, Dwa Fanm partnered with New York City Police to create mutually trusting relationships between criminal justice personnel and community members. Working with the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence, Dwa Fanm hosted focus groups and private forums between victims and police. Police Headquarters supported roll call trainings to help officers become familiar with issues specific to black immigrant cultures, gave access to domestic incidence report logs for the purpose of early intervention and allowed escort during follow-up home visits to Creole-speaking victims of domestic violence. Working with the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, Dwa Fanm used radio, public television and community churches to educate women on how to use the criminal justice system without fear of being penalized for immigration status. As a result, victims from these communities are reporting better communication with police, demonstrating willingness to report crime, increasingly working with the criminal justice system and seeking safety. Dwa Fanm witnessed a reduction in the dual arrest complaints brought to its counselors, as well as a reduction in reports of cross complaints. Surveys and radio response now show that black immigrant community members in general are learning more accurate information about police officers and Dwa Fanm's partnership with the NYPD has expanded to four additional precincts in their community. The project is an example that organizations, community and police can work together and keep community members safe.
Gang Prevention & Youth Safety
Miami Dade County Schools Police Department and Community Partners
Project Name: Miami Partnership for Action in Communities Task (MPACT) Force
Miami, FL
The Miami Partnership for Action in Communities Task Force is a community-wide collaborative effort created by the Miami-Dade County Schools Police Department (M-DCSPD). The collaborative partnership between the School District, local law enforcement, juvenile justice system, community based organizations, service agencies, plus local businesses and the community at large, strives to ensure that all students are provided the opportunity to learn in a safe, secure and supportive environment. MPACT targets "at-risk" youth between the ages of 12-22 who drop out, enter the criminal justice system or demonstrate gang affiliation. The program is designed to benefit the youth, the family, and the community through case management, life-skills training, and job skills programs, thus giving students "hope" for a future. Unlike other similar youth intervention programs, MPACT's strategy includes providing youth with training and jobs in construction of affordable homes and community facilities through a local community development corporation. By fostering positive life choices, MPACT demonstrates that when youth are given opportunities to become productive citizens, they are less likely to engage in criminality. This program exemplifies a successful community-wide collaborative effort that benefits at-risk youth and their families, while creating a positive long-lasting effect on their school, neighborhood and surrounding community.
Seniors & Safety
Madison Villa Safety Partners & the Cincinnati Police Department
Project Name: Madison Villa Project
Cincinnati, OH
This Madison Villa Project is a collaboration between the Cincinnati Police Department, Madisonville Community Problem-Oriented Policing Team, Cincinnati Community-Police Partnering Center, Resident Council of the Madison Villa apartment complex and several other community stakeholders. Madison Villa is a HUD operated apartment complex for seniors and adults with mental or physical disabilities. The Madison Villa apartment complex was experiencing multiple problems including drug dealing, prostitution and public drunkenness, most of which was perpetrated by trespassers who entered through doors left open or at the invitation of residents involved in the illegal activity. Many of the seniors living at Madison Villa were fearful to leave their apartments due to the people and activities they encountered in their laundry room, recreation room and in the hallways and stairwells at all times of day and night. The police and Resident Council responded with a comprehensive problem-solving effort that mobilized building management, tenants and concerned neighbors to improve the situation. While many physical improvements were made, the most impressive tangible achievement has been the positive responses from the residents of Madison Villa since the project was initiated. Residents who had felt intimidated by the police now look at them as friends and allies in their problem-solving efforts. These same residents express feeling safer in their homes and the neighborhood.