Friday, June 16, 2000

WILMINGTON -- Seventh District Congressman Mike McIntyre today announced grant awards totaling $2.4 million to fight crime in Southeastern NC. Singled out were six New Hanover County grantees, including two awards to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Allocation of these funds is done by the Governor's Crime Commission, which last week announced awards of $21.7 million in federal grant money to 228 local and 36 state agencies in 87 North Carolina counties. Two colleges and eight universities were awarded GCC grants. UNCW was the only university to receive two of these grants. UNCW projects are:

UNCW CROSSROADS CO-OP Program -- $60,000 for one year

The project will provide for alcohol, drug, and tobacco awareness programs for high school students in New Hanover County. This continues and expands a pilot program successfully established at New Hanover High School in the 1999-2000 school year. The $60,000 in federal grant money is being matched with $20,000 from the Cape Fear Memorial Foundation to bring the total value of the project to $80,000. CONTACT: Jessica Burtt, facilitator, 910/962-4136



UNCW Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice -- $53,911 for one year

The project will provide an evaluation study of a new comprehensive anti-gun violence strategy to be implemented in Wilmington. With the match of $4,492 from the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and $13,477 from the Pritzker Cousins Foundation, Chicago, Il., the grant totals $71,882. CONTACT: Dr. Cecil Willis, project director and chair of the department, 910/962-3420



Below is more detailed information.

CROSSROADS CO-OP is a unique, comprehensive outreach service of the UNCW's substance abuse prevention and education program called CROSSROADS. This grant-funded program provides education and prevention measures about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs to local high school students. During the 1999-2000 school year, the CO-OP peer education program was piloted and successfully established at New Hanover High School through seed money from Cape Fear Memorial Foundation.

A recent grant award of $60,000 from the Governor's Crime Commission (GCC), matched with $20,000 from the Cape Fear Memorial Foundation, will continue and expand the program through 2001 in all area high schools (New Hanover, Laney, Hoggard, and Lakeside).

CROSSROADS CO-OP peer facilitators, who are hired UNCW students, serve as mentors to the high school students through recruitment, training, and program development and implementation. The program features peer-educator directed programs that address a range of substance abuse issues, special events to promote awareness and prevention, individual and group education, consultation and training, a resource library, and referral information. The goal of CROSSROADS CO-OP, like UNCW's CROSSROADS, is to directly challenge students' thinking about their decisions to use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and the consequences associated with different levels of use. During last yearís pilot at New Hanover High School, the program worked with 2,500 students through programming and presentations.

The grant budget is largely used to pay the wages of the program facilitator, assistant, and UNCW peer facilitators. Operating expenses are for training, programming, and equipment. Jessica Burtt is CROSSROADS CO-OP facilitator.



The award to the UNCW Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice grant is for an evaluation study of a new comprehensive anti-gun violence strategy that will be implemented here in Wilmington. The details of the strategy are still being determined, and the announcement of this new effort will be made in the near future by the Wilmington Partnership to Cease Firearm Violence. The strategy includes the cooperation of the local, state, and federal law enforcement authorities and courts in an effort to reduce the level of violence, especially gun violence, associated with drugs in the community. Until the announcement is made, details of the strategy will not be available.

UNCW's project will be to evaluate this violence-reduction initiative using empirical data from police records, court records, surveys, and crime-mapping analyses. We will identify the underlying nature of violent crime in Wilmington and the sociological correlates of violence in the community. In addition, we will document what aspects of the anti-violence program works. We will also monitor the impact of the strategy and recommend modifications as the program progresses. The GCC grant is for $53,911.50. Matching funds of $4,492 from the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and $13,477 from the Pritzker Cousins Foundation, Chicago, Ill, bring the total value of the grant to $71,882.

There are three researchers involved in the study -- Dr. Darrell Irwin (principal investigator), Dr. Ronald Everett (co-principal investigator), and Dr. Cecil Willis (project director). We have also hired four research assistants to assist with interviews, surveys, data analysis, and crime mapping. Earlier this year, UNCW received funding from the Office of Justice Programs ($29,984) to initiate the research for this program. The GCC will provide funding for the evaluation of the anti-violence project through next year (1 July 2000 - 30 June 2001).



Colleges receiving grants were:

Chowan College Campus Police -- $9,867.75

CJIN Compliant Reporting Project



Lenoir Community College -- $69,789.75

Lenoir Community College Outreach Program



Universities receiving grants were:



UNCW -- CROSSROADS CO-OP -- $60,000.00

Crossroads Co-op



UNCW - Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice -- $53,911.50

A Study of the Effectiveness of Anti-Gun Violence Strategy



N. C. A&T State University -- $112,500.00

Entrepreneurial / Employment After-School Program



UNCG -- Center for the Study of Social Issues -- $249,676.76

High Point Youth Violence Initiative



Institute of Government -- $50,000.00

IOG Juvenile Law Assistance



Elizabeth City State University -- $110,000.00

Community Youth Explorers With Promise (CYEP)



Johnson C. Smith University Campus Police -- $40,000.00

Integrated Justice Information Systems



Western Carolina University Police Department -- $12,205.50

WCU Police - Mobile Data



Shaw University Police Department -- $10,587.75

I-Base System Implementation