Middle District of North Carolina Project Safe Neighborhoods Program

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a nationwide commitment to reducing gun crime, links existing local programs together and provides them with necessary tools. PSN takes a hard line against gun criminals, using every available means to create safer neighborhoods; seeks to achieve heightened coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement; and emphasizes tactical intelligence gathering, more aggressive prosecutions, and enhanced accountability through performance measures. The United States Attorney in each federal judicial district will lead the offensive. The fiscal agent, in coordination with the PSN Task Force, will allocate funds throughout the community.

The North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, serving as the fiscal agent for the Middle District of North Carolina, will use the grant to address gun crime and gang prevention initiatives. The following programs will be funded: 1) the city of Burlington will continue Project SAFE Alamance, a re-entry program, and will fund a community resource coordinator to enable five ex-offenders to learn skills in plumbing and carpentry after they complete a set number of volunteer hours of work with Habitat for Humanity construction projects; 2) the city of Chapel Hill will support Project SAFE Orange and utilize funds to establish a notification of ex-offender program, hire a resource coordinator, and establish a community partnership for gun violence zones; 3) Salisbury/Rowan SAFE Project will allow the retention of a community resource coordinator position, who will work all normal aspects of a offender notification program, including providing resources for notified ex-offenders enrolled in the program, conducting community awareness programs and preventative programs with at-risk youth; 4) Winston-Salem State University will reduce violent gun and gang crime in the district through training and outreach for three new PSN sites (Orange, Davidson, and Rockingham Counties), and enhance the capacity of all sites' crime analysis efforts to develop the most effective data-driven strategies; and 5) UNC-Greensboro will use grant funds to hire graduate students and a project coordinator to implement a project that informs and supports evidence-based strategy development for PSN sites in the district to reduce gun and gang-related violent crime. UNC-Greensboro will establish baseline data, evaluate effectiveness, and identify and disseminate information on local and national research, trends, and evidence-based practices throughout the district. Also, a pre-release video that focuses a deterrence 'notification' message geared toward incarcerated persons preparing for release will be developed with PSN funds.

NCA/NCF