Richmond anti-gang program applauded

Justice Department officials yesterday praised a faith-based, anti-crime program in Richmond as a national model to fight gang violence.

In a meeting with representatives from the Richmond Police Department and the Virginia attorney general's office, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey credited Virginia's Gang Reduction and Intervention Program with stunting violence in South Richmond's Broad Rock corridor, where homicides dropped from 19 in 2005 to two this year.

Major crime dropped 43 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to police statistics for the Broad Rock corridor, the area targeted for gang prevention.

The program works with organizations ranging from the faith-based Richmond Outreach Center to the public library system to reach at-risk teenagers and provide after-school programs and counseling.

Justice Department officials argued that Richmond's program and similar ones in other cities should continue to receive funding when President-elect Barack Obama takes office next month.

The anti-gang program was started in 2004 with a $2.5 million federal grant and now has 400 volunteers from 50 faith-based and community groups working with about 4,000 at-risk youths a week.

"You talk about a bang for the buck

-- this is the ultimate," said Lt. Harvey Powers of the Richmond Police Department.

Steve McFarland, who directs faith-based and community initiatives at the Justice Department, said: "Nobody's police budget is going to be able to put that many boots on the ground."

Remy Hernandez, 19, who attended the Washington meeting with Richmond police, said the program has helped bridge a gap between Spanish speakers and local law enforcement.

The immigrant from the Dominican Republic volunteered to help police after he saw friends lured into South Richmond gangs.

"It's all about the trust," Hernandez said. "It's the way you approach the person."

The targeted area in South Richmond is bordered on the north by Midlothian Turnpike, Belt Boulevard, McGuire Drive and Cofer Road; to the south by Walmsley Boulevard; on the west by Broad Rock Boulevard and Warwick Road, and on the east by Jefferson Davis Highway.

President George W. Bush oversaw a major expansion of social-service programs run by church and community groups. Obama has expressed support for funding faith-based government programs.

Virginia anti-gang advocates said they have no reason to believe the Richmond program will end next year.

"I can't imagine a new administration changing something that is working," said Esther Welch Anderson, director of the gang program at the Virginia attorney general's office.

She noted that the anti-gang program survived the transition of three U.S. attorneys general and two Richmond mayors.

Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-3rd, is pushing for more federal spending on such programs that steer youths from joining gangs.

In the past three years, Richmond has dropped from the fifth most-dangerous city in the U.S. to the 49th, according to CQ Press.

Police now are meeting with community groups to replicate the gang-enforcement program in North Richmond.

"The list is growing. People are calling and want to be a part of it," Anderson said.

Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or .