NCJ Number
161591
Date Published
1990
Length
127 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the results and lessons of the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation's demonstrations during the last decade; describes the resulting next generation of private-sector ventures; and proposes new, politically feasible national policies for the inner city that build on the Foundation's practical experience in daily street-level implementation.
Abstract
The Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation has worked since the early 1980's to implement the agendas of the President's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders and the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. In so doing, it has focused on reducing urban violence and drug abuse through youth empowerment, community revitalization, and grassroots action. In 1982 the Foundation launched a neighborhood self-help crime prevention program in 10 inner cities, based on the aforementioned principles. Through trial and error over the last decade, the Foundation has learned as much from failure as success. As a result, there are now some answers to formerly intractable questions. Issues examined in this report are the effectiveness of specific anticrime and antidrug strategies such as neighborhood watch in the inner city, the relative roles of minority nonprofit community organizations and the police, the relative roles of private organizations and public agencies, and the uses and limitation of volunteers in inner cities. Also addressed is whether a policy should invest simultaneously in both individual high-risk youth and the neighborhoods where they live. The current political feasibility of inner-city youth empowerment and community reconstruction is discussed, along with funding issues. The central conclusion of this report is that community-based organizations can create effective strategies to reduce crime and drug abuse in inner cities, so long as comprehensive programs are carefully designed and adequately funded. 134-item bibliography and an outline of the Youth Investment Act of 1993