Shannon Community Safety Initiative: Massachusetts Statewide Research Partner

The Senator Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative supports regional and multi-disciplinary approaches to combat gang violence through coordinated programs for prevention and intervention. These multi-disciplinary approaches include, but are not limited to, law enforcement initiatives such as anti-gang task forces and targeting of enforcement resources through the use of crime mapping; focused prosecution efforts; programs aimed at successful reintegration of released inmates and youth from juvenile detention; and programs that provide youth with supervised out-of-school activities. Working in partnership with the City of Worcester, the Worcester Police Department, the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester, Straight Ahead Ministries, the Worcester Community Action Council, and the Worcester Youth Center, Ross and Safford-Farquharson serve as the Local Action Research Partner for Worcester, providing strategic research support and program evaluation of city-wide gang violence prevention and intervention.