[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 11, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42728-42729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-16712]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

[OJP (OJJDP)-1287]


Program Announcements for OJJDP's Fiscal Year 2000 Gang-Free 
Schools and Communities Initiative

AGENCY: Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Justice.

ACTION: Notice of solicitations.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
(OJJDP) is requesting applications for two new programs to address the 
youth gang problem and one new evaluation program under its Fiscal Year 
2000 Gang-Free Schools and Communities Initiative. This initiative 
represents a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and 
the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, 
and Treasury. The two new programs are the Gang-Free Communities 
Program and the Comprehensive Gang Model: An Enhanced School/Community 
Approach to Reducing Youth Gang Crime Program. An evaluation of the 
second program, An Enhanced School/Community Approach, will also be 
competitively awarded.

DATES: Applications for two of the three programs (the Gang-Free 
Communities Program and the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive 
Gang Model: An Enhanced School/Community Approach to Reducing Youth 
Gang Crime) are due by 5 p.m. ET on Friday, September 1, 2000. The due 
date for applications for the Comprehensive Gang Model: An Enhanced 
School/Community Approach to Reducing Youth Gang Crime is 5 p.m. ET on 
Friday, September 15, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All application packages should be mailed or delivered to 
the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, c/o Juvenile 
Justice Resource Center, 2277 Research Boulevard, Mail Stop 2K, 
Rockville, MD 20850; 301-519-5535. Faxed or e-mailed applications will 
not be accepted. Interested applicants can obtain the three program 
announcements (which are contained in one document) and the OJJDP 
Application Kit from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 800-638-
8736. The program announcements are also available on OJJDP's Web site 
at www.ojjdp.ncjrs.ogr (click on ``Grants & Funding'' for the program 
announcements). The Application Kit is available online at 
www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/grants/about.html#kit. (See the ``Format'' section 
in each program announcement for instructions on application 
standards.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Burch, Gang Programs Coordinator, 
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 202-307-5914, or 
(for the National Evaluation of OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model: An 
Enhanced School/Community Approach to Reducing Youth Gang Crime) Phelan 
Wyrick, Program Manager, Research and Policy Development Division, 
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, at 202-353-9254. 
[These are not toll-free numbers.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Authority This action is authorized under Title II, Part D, of 
the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as 
amended (42 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.).

Background

    In 1998, more than 4,000 urban, suburban, and rural communities in 
the United States were experiencing youth gang problems. More than 
30,000 youth gangs and 800,000 youth gang members were reported in the 
most recent systematic, annual nationwide survey of law enforcement 
agencies conducted by OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center.
    Research findings from OJJDP and the National Institute of Justice 
(NIJ) suggest that youth gangs continue to present a serious threat to 
public safety, despite the recent downturn in juvenile crime. OJJDP's 
Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency found 
that youth who are involved in youth gangs commit three to seven times 
as many delinquent and criminal offenses as youth who are not gang 
involved. The studies found this trend holds true even when comparing 
gang youth to nongang youth who were delinquents. Involvement with the 
juvenile and criminal justice systems is usually not a new experience 
for youth who join gangs. Many of these youth not only have come into 
previous contact with the justice system, but in many cases have also 
been involved in or in need of child protective, mental health, and 
other services. These youth are known to experience significant risk 
factors in numerous domains and pose a threat not only to their own 
safety, but to the safety of their families and their communities as 
well.
    The threat of gang crime and violence is not limited to the 
streets. According to the 1998 National Youth Gang Survey, 40 percent 
of youth gang members in the United States are estimated to be under 
age 17. Presumably, most of these youth are still in school. The 
percentage of public school students who reported that gangs were 
present in their schools nearly doubled from 17 percent in 1989 to 31 
percent in 1995, according to the U.S. Departments of Education and 
Justice. Thus, youth gang activity is also a threat to the very place 
sometimes assumed to be free from safety threats: the classrooms. These 
issues present a continuing need for communities to seek progressive 
and promising approaches to address the problem.
    The purpose of the Gang-Free Communities Program is to provide up 
to 12 communities an opportunity to implement the OJJDP Comprehensive 
Gang Model as a way of addressing its local youth gang problem. The 
purpose

[[Page 42729]]

of the second program, which is jointly sponsored by the U.S. 
Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, and the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Mental Health 
Services, is to provide up to four communities an opportunity to assist 
in developing and implementing the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model and 
enhancing the Model's school component. The evaluation effort will 
focus on the latter program in order to measure its success. Under each 
program, the initial funding year will consist of a planning and 
assessment process to better identify the youth gang problem locally 
and to better develop a plan for addressing the problem(s) using the 
OJJDP Model.

    Dated: June 27, 2000.
John J. Wilson,
Acting Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 00-16712 Filed 7-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-18-P