Weed & Seed Community Organizing
Consisting of a diverse network of community-based organizations, residents and governmental partners, these partnerships have joined together to form an effective coalition that strives to solve a variety of community problems utilizing the Weed and Seed four components. Specifically, the community policing and law enforcement strategies will be implemented with the extensive support of the Lawrence Police Department, the lead agency of the project. The prevention /intervention/treatment strategies will be implemented with the assistant of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, whose has various offices in the target area. The neighborhood restoration strategies will be implemented with the assistant from the Office of Planning and Development.

Background Information
The Lawrence District C Weed and Seed Coalition was found by a group of 22 residents appointed by the District C City Councilor in January 2000 to form the District C Planning Board. This Board was recognized as a Weed and Seed Site in January of 2001. Upon recognition, the board shifted to become the Lawrence District C Weed and Seed Coalition. The Lawrence Police Department is the lead agency.

Target Area
The target area represents the Lawrence City Councilor District C. District C is the most distressed and disadvantaged in Lawrence. The district is home to 54% of arrests for drug possession, 35% of robberies, 24% of car thefts and 15% of home break-in More than 46% of District C residents live below the poverty line, compared to 27% citywide and nearly 9% statewide. More than a third of the city’s boarded and vacant properties are in the district. These are some examples of the social and health issues facing the district. The Weed and Seed effort should help reduce those numbers.

Steering Committee
The Steering Committee includes residents, community leaders, community-based-organizations, elected and appointed officials, city agencies, sheriff’s department, human service professionals and the US Attorney’s Law Enforcement Coalition Manger. The Office of the District Attorney as well as the Office of the State Attorney General participate in Weed and Seed meetings.

Community Policing
The goals of community policing are to increase the number of foot and bike patrol officers in District C, conduct regular meetings with the community, and improve the relationship between the community and the police.

Law Enforcement
The goals of law enforcement are to improve communication with the district attorney, the establishment of crime watch and support the citizens in proposal city ordinances that benefit the targeted area.

Prevention / Intervention / Treatment
The goals of prevention/intervention/treatment are to increase access to substance abuse treatment for offenders, offer min grants to community groups for substance abuse prevention projects and education, and develop a network of safe havens in the district.

Neighborhood REstoration
The goal of neighborhood restoration is to increase the quality of life for residents of District C.

Save Haven Plan
So far the Coalition has one sit as a Safe Haven. The Lawrence Housing Authority has signed a Memorandum of Agreement to use its Multi-Service Center as a Safe Haven to make available designated youth activities and various community uses. The Lawrence Housing Authority has accessed public and private funds to create the existence of this first Safe Haven. The goal of the Coalition with the assistant with the other partners is to establish a second safe haven within the first year.

Program Highlight
Without yet being funded, the Coalition has enjoyed tremendous successes, i.e. decrease in crimes.