Weed and Seed Erie

PA Weed and Seed

Under the leadership of the PCCD, Pennsylvania’s Weed and Seed effort adopts the core concepts of the federal Weed and Seed initiative, along with some new and promising strategies developed by the Governor's Policy Office, the State Police, and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency ("PCCD"). The initiative seeks to focus on smaller Pennsylvania communities that, nevertheless, face significant challenges to quality of life arising from crime and poverty.

PA Weed and Seed requires focus on a target zone within a community. The area is generally selected with reference to the following characteristics:

The rate of crime in the area compared with the surrounding community, especially with respect to drug crime and violent crime;
The presence of families with children in the area;
Signs of social deterioration in the area, for example, juvenile delinquency, vandalism, broken families, and alcohol and drug dependency, among others;
The rate of poverty and unemployment compared with the surrounding community;
Homes, businesses, and public spaces in need of cleanup, maintenance, and capital development; and
Community-based organizations (for example, churches, schools, and civic organizations) motivated to take responsibility for improving local quality of life.

In identifying a target zone, the initiative seeks to identify a community with which the residents feel a sense of attachment and identity. The target zone for a Weed and Seed site should be a neighborhood which presents severe challenges to the quality of life, but where grass-roots organizations and local citizens are motivated to accept responsibility for improving local conditions. The purpose of selecting a target zone is to ensure that dedicated law enforcement and community development resources achieve their maximum impact. Selection of a target zone reflects a realization that programs which attempt to work on a state-wide basis run a substantial risk of accomplishing little because their resources are spread too thinly.

The initiative requires teamwork in both the weeding and the seeding efforts. With respect to the weeding effort, the initiative requires that local law enforcement enter into a collaborative partnership with State Police law enforcement personnel.

The effort requires that this partnership go beyond information sharing to collaborative, inter-agency police operations. The purpose of this law enforcement collaborative is to expand the pool of human and financial resources, ingenuity, and leadership, so that the law enforcement team can address crime in the target zone with the utmost effectiveness. With respect to the seeding effort, the program requires collaboration at multiple levels.

First, the initiative requires nonprofit organizations serving the target area to collaborate. Such institutions, for example, would include agencies providing employment and training, education, and health services.

Second, the effort requires collaboration between the diverse public agencies serving the target zone. Such agencies would include the local, county, and state departments providing services and public funds to area residents and institutions.

Third, the initiative requires that each of these groups collaborate with private sector representatives, including local businesses and major corporations that have offices in or near the target community. The seed initiative thus relies on collaboration between and among nonprofit, public sector, and private sector organizations.

For More Information on how the program works click here

To contact the national Weed & Seed office, click here

Useful Links

The Strategy

Weed and Seed, a community-based strategy sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), is an innovative, comprehensive multiagency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization. Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) oversees the Weed and Seed initiative.

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