Lockport, New York''s G.R.E.A.T. School-Year Program To Benefit 280 7th Grade Students and Summer Program To Benefit 40 7th and 8th Grade Students

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 coordinates 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 Lockport Police Department will use FY 2010 Bureau of Justice Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program funds to support middle school and summer components. The G.R.E.A.T. Program is a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum. The program's primary objective is prevention and is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership. G.R.E.A.T. lessons focus on providing life skills to students to help them avoid delinquent behavior and violence to solve problems.

The curriculum will be offered to 280 seventh graders and 40 eighth graders. Grant funds will be used to pay for salaries, travel for training and conferences, and supplies associated with the costs of implementing the G.R.E.A.T. program. The program's goal will be to work in conjunction with the respective school districts in preventing gang violence, drug abuse, and gang related crime within the City of Lockport.

CA/NCF