G.R.E.A.T. Midwest Regional Training Center

The Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program is a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance in cooperation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The primary objective of the program is to prevent gang and youth violence. The program is intended to immunize students against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership. G.R.E.A.T. lessons focus on providing life skills to students, in grades 4 through 8, to help them avoid engaging in delinquent behavior and violence to resolve problems.

The La Crosse Police Department G.R.E.A.T. Program is a Regional Training Center (RTC) that will provide assistance to local G.R.E.A.T. programs and support G.R.E.A.T. Officer Training to sworn law enforcement officers. As an RTC, the project will promote the G.R.E.A.T. Program by organizing, preparing for, and conducting training programs, providing technical assistance to G.R.E.A.T. agencies within their region, disseminating G.R.E.A.T. information, and maintaining a G.R.E.A.T. Regional web page. RTCs also recruit a minimum of three new agencies within their region to teach the G.R.E.A.T. curriculum in their schools, develop at least one new regional or national partnership annually, and publish a G.R.E.A.T. regional newsletter three times during each 12-month period.

CA/NCF