Sessions Announces $2.5M in DOJ Anti-Gang Funding for Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex
California Political Desk
April 01, 2006
Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) today announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has awarded the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex $2.5 million in grant funding under the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative. Under the initiative, the DOJ will devote significant resources to defeating gang violence in the Dallas community and across the country.
The Dallas-Fort Worth region is one of six areas around the nation targeted by the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative. Each area received $2.5 million in funding today, for a total of $15 million in grant funding. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales first announced the initiative in February 2006, as a complement to other DOJ programs designed to combat gangs and reduce gun-related crime throughout the country.
"I was pleased to learn that the Department of Justice, under the leadership of Attorney General Gonzalez, has chosen to award this funding to the Dallas-Fort Worth community," said Sessions. "Gang violence is on the rise in our community and in areas across the country, and this funding will help us take steps to better enforce our laws and to prevent our youngsters from getting involved with gangs in the first place."
According to DOJ, the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative will incorporate prevention and enforcement efforts, as well as programs to assist released prisoners as they re-enter society. By integrating prevention, enforcement, and prisoner re-entry, this new initiative aims to address gang membership and gang violence at every stage. The funding for Dallas-Fort Worth will be divided among these priorities as follows:
Each of the six targeted areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, were selected by DOJ to receive anti-gang grant funding under this initiative based on the severity of the gang problem, the availability of infrastructure to support the initiative, and the existence of entities able to focus intensely on solving gang-related problems in the community. The U.S. Attorneys in the six locations selected today will be responsible for coordinating federal, state, and local efforts under this initiative.
The Attorney General's strategy to combat gangs, says DOJ, is two-fold: First, prioritize prevention programs to provide America's youth, as well as offenders returning to the community, with opportunities that help them resist gang involvement. Second, ensure robust enforcement policies when gang-related violence does occur.
Each of the six targeted areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, were selected by DOJ to receive anti-gang grant funding under this initiative based on the severity of the gang problem, the availability of infrastructure to support the initiative, and the existence of entities able to focus intensely on solving gang-related problems in the community. The U.S. Attorneys in the six locations selected today will be responsible for coordinating federal, state, and local efforts under this initiative.
The Attorney General's strategy to combat gangs, says DOJ, is two-fold: First, prioritize prevention programs to provide America's youth, as well as offenders returning to the community, with opportunities that help them resist gang involvement. Second, ensure robust enforcement policies when gang-related violence does occur.
The Dallas-Fort Worth region is one of six areas around the nation targeted by the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative. Each area received $2.5 million in funding today, for a total of $15 million in grant funding. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales first announced the initiative in February 2006, as a complement to other DOJ programs designed to combat gangs and reduce gun-related crime throughout the country.
"I was pleased to learn that the Department of Justice, under the leadership of Attorney General Gonzalez, has chosen to award this funding to the Dallas-Fort Worth community," said Sessions. "Gang violence is on the rise in our community and in areas across the country, and this funding will help us take steps to better enforce our laws and to prevent our youngsters from getting involved with gangs in the first place."
According to DOJ, the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative will incorporate prevention and enforcement efforts, as well as programs to assist released prisoners as they re-enter society. By integrating prevention, enforcement, and prisoner re-entry, this new initiative aims to address gang membership and gang violence at every stage. The funding for Dallas-Fort Worth will be divided among these priorities as follows:
- Prevention - The Department will make available approximately $1 million in grants to support comprehensive prevention efforts such as the Gang Reduction Program, which focuses on reducing youth-gang crime and violence by addressing the full range of personal, family and community factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang activity.
- Enforcement - The Department will make available approximately $1 million in grants to help support enforcement programs that will focus law enforcement efforts on the most significant violent gang offenders.
- Prisoner Re-entry - The Department will make available approximately $500,000 to create re-entry assistance programs that will provide transitional housing, job readiness and placement assistance, and substance abuse and mental health treatment to prisoners re-entering society.
Each of the six targeted areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, were selected by DOJ to receive anti-gang grant funding under this initiative based on the severity of the gang problem, the availability of infrastructure to support the initiative, and the existence of entities able to focus intensely on solving gang-related problems in the community. The U.S. Attorneys in the six locations selected today will be responsible for coordinating federal, state, and local efforts under this initiative.
The Attorney General's strategy to combat gangs, says DOJ, is two-fold: First, prioritize prevention programs to provide America's youth, as well as offenders returning to the community, with opportunities that help them resist gang involvement. Second, ensure robust enforcement policies when gang-related violence does occur.
Each of the six targeted areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, were selected by DOJ to receive anti-gang grant funding under this initiative based on the severity of the gang problem, the availability of infrastructure to support the initiative, and the existence of entities able to focus intensely on solving gang-related problems in the community. The U.S. Attorneys in the six locations selected today will be responsible for coordinating federal, state, and local efforts under this initiative.
The Attorney General's strategy to combat gangs, says DOJ, is two-fold: First, prioritize prevention programs to provide America's youth, as well as offenders returning to the community, with opportunities that help them resist gang involvement. Second, ensure robust enforcement policies when gang-related violence does occur.