G.R.E.A.T. programs to be implemented in North Brunswick schools.

The Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program is a life-skills competency program designed to provide students with the skills they need to avoid gang pressure and youth violence. G.R.E.A.T.'s violence prevention curriculum helps students develop values and practice behaviors that will assist them to avoid destructive activities. The G.R.E.A.T. program coordinates with federal, regional, state and local agencies, as well as individuals from community and civic groups. The goal of the G.R.E.A.T. program is to train law enforcement officers in a school-based curriculum in which the officers provide instruction to school-aged children in life skill competencies, gang awareness, and anti-violence techniques. Training in the core G.R.E.A.T. program is provided to officers from any state or local law enforcement agency.

The North Brunswick Township Police Department currently provides the G.R.E.A.T. program to students in the form of a 13-week middle school curriculum. It is taught to all seventh graders within the Township schools. Funding through this grant would enable the police department to continue to provide this core curriculum and to offer a summer program in the form of a Junior Police Academy. The Junior Police Academy will be open to students from the sixth to twelfth grades. The curriculum will come from lessons created by the Junior Police Academy Organization, the G.R.E.A.T. Program, I-Safe Incorporated, the American Red Cross, and the North Brunswick Police Department.

CA/NCF