Blackfeet G.R.E.A.T.

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 Blackfeet Nation's Department of Housing has identified several risk factors among its youth that are indicators of gang-related activities (e.g., graffiti, youth delinquency, school violence, alcohol/drug use, and a breakdown in family support). Four Tribal officers will be trained and certified as G.R.E.A.T. officers and they will deliver the G.R.E.A.T curriculum to elementary and middle school students and provide instruction to their families. The officers will teach the middle school curriculum to approximately 111 sixth graders, 125 seventh graders, and 137 eighth graders. The elementary school component will focus on fourth and fifth grade students and an estimated 275 youth will participate. The families component will target families with high-risk youth in grades four through eight and will involve about 90 percent of those targeted.

CA/NCF