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Weed & Seed Program  One City Hall Place City of Coatesville, PA 19320 Phone: 610-384-0300 Fax: 610-384-3612 Community, Arts & Recreation Director - Vacant The City of Coatesville is both a Pennsylvania and a Federal Weed and Seed site. Components of these programs are fused by the City in order to provide safe streets and address the quality of life issues of all residents. Pennsylvania Weed and Seed Program During June 2003, as a result of the hard work and efforts of the Coatesville community and the success of the program, the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed Program awarded the City of Coatesville the “Pennsylvania Weed and Seed Community of the year,” award, and Renée C. Fairconeture, Coatesville’s Weed and Seed Coordinator, won the “Pennsylvania Weed and Seed AID Coordinator of the Year” award. Pennsylvania Weed and Seed is a unique community-building initiative launched by the Ridge-Schweiker Administration to assist Pennsylvania communities in fighting back against drugs, crime and poverty to restore neighborhood quality of life. Pennsylvania Weed and Seed is based off of the Federal Weed and Seed program. The program’s name describes its two critical components: To first “weed” out violent offenders in high-crime areas and to second, “seed” these neighborhoods with prevention, intervention, treatment and revitalization services. Long-term effectiveness is the key to a successful Weed and Seed Program. Coatesville was selected as the eighth site on August 29, 2001. Currently, there are 15 Weed and Seed communities throughout the state of Pennsylvania. This community-owned program uses a variety of strategies to work with residents to build better communities by providing funding and technical support to target communities that achieve local community and economic development objectives. This is achieved through law enforcement, community policing, the AID (Assistance for Impact Delegation) Team, AID Team Subcommittees, TALL (Target Area Local Leadership) Team and citizens. Through ongoing technical assistance from the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed staff, this initiative will work to ensure that the Weed and Seed strategies address the real risk factors of each neighborhood in a strategic and systemic manner. Federal Weed and Seed During the fall of 2003, the City of Coatesville applied for Official Recognition for the Federal Weed and Seed program to the U.S. Department of Justice. In recognition of its rapid progress in reducing crime, increasing community awareness and participation in crime prevention, and mostly, its successful city-wide revitalization efforts, The City of Coatesville received Official Recognition from the U.S. Department of Justice and was designated as a Federal Weed and Seed site on March 8, 2004. U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, Congressman Jim Gerlach, Representative Tim Hennessey, and Chester County District Attorney, Joe Carroll, announced the designation at a joint meeting with City officials at Coatesville City Hall. Weed and Seed, a U.S. Department of Justice community-based initiative, is an innovative and comprehensive multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization. The goal of the Weed and Seed program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, is similar to the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed program. The only exceptions are that the entire City was designated as a Weed and Seed site under the Federal program, and the Federal program does not have a TALL Team component. Even though hundreds of communities across the country have applied, Coatesville was included in a small percentage of sites that received Official Federal Designation during 2004. As with the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed Program, the Federal program provides provisions for activities in the four Weed and Seed emphasis areas which are law enforcement, community policing, neighborhood restoration and drug prevention, intervention and treatment that involves the community which is a pivotal partner in the Weed and Seed strategy. The City of Coatesville is eligible to apply for, and receive funds for five years which will help the City to empower community residents to restore their neighborhoods and become more involved in community policing efforts. Under both the Pennsylvania and Federal programs, the City of Coatesville will always remain a Weed and Seed site and will continue to receive technical assistance from the state and Federal Weed and Seed programs. Goal of Coatesville’s Weed and Seed To revitalize the target areas in Coatesville resulting in healthy, safe, secure and stable neighborhoods leading to the improvement of the quality of life for all residents in those areas. Vision Statement To reach the goal of healthy and stable neighborhoods, Coatesville’s vision for its residents is to enhance the quality of life of each resident by:
Weed The weed portion of the program involved an initial undercover operation intended to rid Coatesville’s target area communities of street-level criminal activity. Lead by the Law Enforcement and Legal Coordinators, on-going saturation patrols involving local and state police provide highly visible law enforcement efforts which continue to reduce criminal activity in the City. Community policing strategies involve a community and law enforcement partnership which include nuisance abatement and criminal prosecutions. Weed members include the Coatesville Police Department, Law Enforcement Coordinator, Chester County District Attorney’s Office, Legal Coordinator, Pennsylvania State Police and the Chester County Detective Services Department. Law enforcement and citizens of target communities form a bond to ensure that their community policing efforts are effective. Even though the Weed and Seed Coordinator manages the entire program, the Law Enforcement and Legal Coordinators conduct actual “weeding” activities which includes monitoring illegal activities and arresting, convicting, and prosecuting criminals. Seed This phase directly follows the initial saturation in which community-driven development of the target communities occurs. Community, Federal and state partnerships rebuilt the quality of life through the AID (Assistance for Impact Delegation, also known as the Steering Committee) Team, AID Team Subcommittees, TALL (Target Area Local Leadership) Team and law enforcement community policing strategies. The AID Team and Subcommittee members find or develop programs to improve living conditions, enhance home security, develop long-term efforts to renovate and maintain housing, increase home ownership and provide educational, economic, social, health and recreational and other vital opportunities. The AID Team developed the City of Coatesville’s Weed and Seed Neighborhood Revitalization Plan which outlines the needs of the residents of the City and helps the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed staff to understand the City’s vision. This community-owned program uses a variety of strategies to work with residents to build better communities by providing funding and technical support to target communities that achieve local community and economic development objectives. This is achieved through law enforcement, community policing, the AID Team, AID Team Subcommittees, TALL Team and Citizens. Through ongoing technical assistance from the Pennsylvania and Federal Weed and Seed staff, the program will work to ensure that the strategies outlined in Coatesville’s Weed and Seed Revitalization Plan addresses the real risk factors of each neighborhood in a strategic and systemic manner. The Community Development Coordinator, who is also the Weed and Seed Coordinator, oversees the activities of the AID Team, facilitates the AID Team Subcommittees, and liaisons with the TALL Team Coordinator to ensure that the TALL Team’s activities are in-sync with the objectives and goals outlined in Coatesville’s Weed and Seed Neighborhood Revitalization Plan. Long-term effectiveness is the key to a successful Weed and Seed Program.
1. AID Team – Made up of leaders of public and private organizations, agencies, and faith-based organizations who are charged with assembling an issues and data assessment of the target communities, reviewing assisting and needed services, then finding suitable resources to support. They were responsible for completing the City of Coatesville’s Weed and Seed Revitalization Plan. 2. AID Team Subcommittees – Are made up of six subcommittees which
are as follows: 3. TALL Team – Are made up of highly motivated, potential leaders who are drawn from across the Coatesville area. They receive leadership training provided by the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed program. Weed and Seed Participants include:
Target Area Communities Pennsylvania’s Weed and Seed and the Federal Weed and Seed programs support specific target areas in a municipality. Residents who reside in target communities need access to various services and resources that are currently not available to them. For the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed program, three areas in the City of Coatesville qualify as target communities: Hope VI Project Area (the center part of the City), Northeast Revitalization Area (part of the northeast section of the City) and the West End Project Area (a portion of the west end of the City). The Federal Weed and Seed program acknowledged that the entire City has benefited from the City’s successful revitalization process. As a result, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded Federal Weed and Seed Designation to the entire City of Coatesville.
Data collection on crime rates, demographics, health statistics, housing
and educational characteristics will lead to identification of critical
social/economic variables that impact the target communities. The AID Team
does an assessment of these variables in combination with available resources
that will lead to identifying system gaps, culminating in the visioning
process and development of Coatesville’s Neighborhood Revitalization
Plan. The success of the plan lies in its comprehensive approach to identify
system components and their interrelationships, and use those connections
as a basis for focused plan development of all residents. |
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