Fiscal Year 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 City of Banning, through the Banning Police Department, will utilize fiscal year 2008 G.R.E.A.T. funds to continue to address the current gang problem through prevention, intervention, and suppression efforts. They will implement the middle and elementary school components through multiple collaborative efforts with organizations that include the Rotary Club of Banning, Kiwanis of Banning, the Boys and Girls Club of the San Gorgonio Pass, the Banning Cultural Alliance, and the Police Activities League. The middle school component will serve 414 students at Coombs Intermediate School, the elementary school component will serve 415 4th graders at Hoffer, Central, Hemmerling, and Cabazon elementary schools, and the summer component will serve 60 middle school students. To raise their level of commitment, the department will implement the families component in the fall of 2008. G.R.E.A.T. officers will recruit 10 families who are committed to raising their level of commitment and involvement, which will in turn create a better family environment. School officials and G.R.E.A.T. officers will work closely with students involved in gangs or those that have demonstrated at risk behavior of gang involvement in order to provide a means of redirecting focus away from negative social behaviors and to bridge the gap between youth and law enforcement officers.

CA/NCF