G.R.E.A.T. Local project

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 Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (MGNDC) will utilize the FY 2010 G.R.E.A.T. Evaluation Sites program funds to continue to deliver all four program components: Middle School, Elementary School, Families Sessions, and Summer Camp. The MGNDC evaluation site will assist the G.R.E.A.T. evaluator with the data collection process, which is critical to the program's evaluation, by gaining the cooperation of schools in their respective cities. Because the evaluation site is teaching multiple components of the program, this level of funding will allow them to continue supporting the non-school based families and summer components of the program, in addition to the school-based elementary and middle school components.

All four components have already been implemented and continue to be taught by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD). The plan of the MNPD G.R.E.A.T./School Resource Unit is to continue the G.R.E.A.T. Program, in its entirety, with the goal of increasing the number of participants. Depending on which school the G.R.E.A.T. Officer is assigned, the elementary program will be taught in either the 4th or 5th grade. The middle school curriculum is currently taught in the 6th grade; the goal is to continue to provide this vital component to at least 5,000 middle school students in the 2010-2011 school year. Plans are to conduct at least six more G.R.E.A.T. Families Sessions after July 2010 and into 2011. The goal is to recruit at least ten families per session with 30-50 participants. The target areas for the G.R.E.A.T. Families Sessions are in known areas for gang recruitment and activity in the Metro Nashville area. Also, the MNPD's goal in 2011 is to conduct six summer camps with at least 125 students each.

CA/NCF