Weed and Seed
The Western District of New York is fortunate to have three Weed and Seed Communities in the cities of Buffalo, Rochester and Niagara Falls. Weed and Seed is a strategy to reclaim and rejuvenate embattled neighborhoods and communities. Weed and Seed uses a neighborhood focused two part strategy to control crime and provide social and economic support to communities where high crime and social ills are prevalent. The Weed portion of the program is a multi-agency which links and integrates Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies to combat violent crime, drug use and gang activity in high crime neighborhoods. The goal is to weed out crime from targeted neighborhoods and then to seed the targeted sites with a wide range of crime and drug prevention programs. Law enforcement agencies work with community organizations to combat the problems afflicting the targeted sites.
Buffalo Weed And Seed Communities
The City of Buffalo Weed and Seed initiative is centered within the boundaries of Police District C. There are two safe havens within our current site, located on the lower East Side. "Safe havens" are sites which operate after-school programs for children and community residents. The former East and West side sites have applied for graduated status. Our Law Enforcement Component has recently been expanded to include Project Safe Neighborhood. As a result of Project Safe Neighborhood a number of repeat offenders, who had used illegal weapons in the commission of multiple crimes, have been "exiled" from our community and are serving federal sentences in penitentiaries outside of New York State. This award-winning program has also been instrumental in developing better relations between community members and police officers through a series of "notification" meetings. These meetings allow police and community representatives an opportunity to intervene in the lives of the individuals who have demonstrated a propensity towards crime. The Weed and Seed initiative in Buffalo is administered by Program Coordinator Antwan K. Diggs, Sr., who can be reached at 716-851-4281.
Niagara Falls Weed And Seed Communities
The City of Niagara Falls program encompasses the North side of the city. There are three safe havens located within the target area that operate after school programs for youth and community residents. These programs include: I Can Read, Kid’s Café, Biddy Basketball, Computer Training and Planned Parenthood Youth Development workshops. The current sites are the Doris W. Jones Family Resource Building, Packard Court Community Center and Niagara Falls High School. The Niagara Falls Weed and Seed program continues to implement successful programs aimed at reducing crime in the target area. The Niagara Falls Youth Police Academy and Youth Leadership Retreat are highly successful programs aimed at recruiting future Law Enforcement officers, as well as grooming future community leaders. The Weed and Seed Program in Niagara Falls is administered by Program Coordinator Allen P. Booker, who can be reached at 716-285-4789.
Rochester Weed And Seed Communities
The City of Rochester Weed and Seed program encompasses numerous ongoing strategies to reduce crime. The ROPE program targets repeat offenders and violent subjects. The Quick Solve program uses digital photo image storage to link violent crime with electronic photo images of suspects. The Neighborhood Enforcement Teams ("NET"), bring together all the services of Federal, State and Local agencies and direct these resources to solve neighborhood concerns and problems. The Exile/Project Safe Neighborhood program, which targets illegal weapons and weapon traffickers in the City of Rochester is a highly successful joint law enforcement component. The Safe Havens operating within Rochester's Weed and Seed include an established network of neighborhood associations like CONEA, NEBCA, Upper Falls and South Market View Heights. Long standing human service organizations such as Baden Street and Lewis Street Settlement Houses, the Catholic Family Learning Center and the City community/ recreation centers at North Street and Avenue D locations contribute greatly to the Weed and Seed effort. The Weed and Seed program in Rochester is administered by Program Coordinator Ann Daniels who can be reached at 585-428-8832.
