Operation Weed and Seed

For tough neighborhoods with high-crime rates, the federal government since 1991, has been pouring funds into a fairly interesting program; the "Weed and Seed" program. This program is suppose to combine the uprooting process of gangs, violence, drug abuse in a community while rebuilding the community through neighborhood revitalization.

What struck me about this program is how simple it sounded yet how ambitious it is. As most understands, the issue of gangs, violence, and drug abuse is often coupled with low employment rates, low-income, and general community disparity. However, this issue of coupling is a bit like the chicken and the egg syndrome, no one is entirely sure who came first. The violence or the unemployment.

However, this program is amazing in the fact that it is not spending time solving one problem at a time. After all, if we're not sure which came first, how does solving one stop the overall problem. So this program tackles both at the same time. Who cares if the chicken came first or if the egg came first. The important thing is to take out the chicken and the egg, figuratively speaking.

The results, as documented last in 1999 by the Department of Justice, is that this program shows promise; alot of promise. Researched communities established leadership, involvement, and decrease in crime rate. Simultaneously since this program's conception, many counties across Florida have "graduated" from this program!

In essence, this combined program has made this a force to be reckoned with.

However, there are still many questions that needs to be addressed. Questions like, can the momentum continue? With the recent downturn in overall economy, how much money can the government maintain in this program? Just because counties have graduated, does that guarantee they will not revert back to a state of disarray if unemployment or violence gain footing again?