FY 2008 G.R.E.A.T. Program

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 curricula help students develop values and practice behaviors that will help them avoid destructive activities. G.R.E.A.T. program staff coordinate project activities with federal, regional, state, and local agencies, as well as individuals from community and civic groups. The goal of the program is to train criminal justice professionals to deliver a school-based curriculum that teaches life-skills competencies, gang awareness, and violence-avoidance techniques.

The Columbus Police Department (CPD) will use its FY 2008 G.R.E.A.T. award to implement the middle school, summer, and families components. The CPD has taught the G.R.E.A.T. curriculum to students in Muscogee County School District for the past 12 years. The school district and CPD have collaborated and implemented a number of programs to help reduce student violence in schools.

The G.R.E.A.T. Program will be implemented in three phases. In phase one, the curriculum will be taught in all middle schools at the seventh grade level, serving approximately 2,670 seventh grade students in 11 middle schools. Phase two will implement the families component, offered twice during the fall and spring. The family component will place emphasis on reaching parents of the highest-risk youths and will be limited to 10 families per class. This will allow the families component to be taught to a maximum of 40 families. Phase three will continue the six-week summer program which shall serve about 250 G.R.E.A.T. students and about 150 students from the Boys & Girls Club.

CA/NCF