The Bureau of Justice Assistance Comprehensive Communities Program: A Preliminary Report

This Brief examines preliminary results of an NIJ-sponsored process evaluation of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Comprehensive Communities Program (CCP) as implemented in 12 sites. Among the issues explored are the process by which sites implemented their comprehensive crime control and prevention strategies and the impact of preexisting ecological, social, economic, and political factors on implementation; the evidence and effects of partnership building aimed at combating crime and violence; and the extent to which CCP accelerated sites' implementation of community policing. Among the findings were: Comprehensive strategies supported by a Federal grant to combat crime and violence can be implemented but must be adapted to address specific local circumstances and issues and in many sites, the CCP process was a catalyst for establishing new anticrime community leadership while being inclusive of longstanding, active community leaders.