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SAUNDRA AMRHEINLacoochee residents hear a speaker discuss the federal Weed and Seed grant program, which targets crime and drug use.
LACOOCHEE - About 70 people turned out Tuesday night for what could be the first of several meetings about a federal strategy to strengthen community policing and revitalization in the next few years.
About 54 of those people were residents of Lacoochee; the rest were social service workers or Pasco County sheriff's deputies.
The group gathered on hard benches in the cafeteria of Lacoochee Elementary School to listen to Will Daniels of the U.S. Attorney's Office explain the benefits of the Weed and Seed grant program. The intent is to weed out crime while seeding drug treatment and neighborhood revitalization programs.
Weed and Seed is a "holistic" approach to a community's problems "beyond just putting people in jail," Daniels said.
More than 300 sites across the United States, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have been designated Weed and Seed target zones, he added.
In the successful programs, crime rates have dropped and job opportunities have grown.
Weed and Seed must be community driven, he told the audience, made up of white, black and Hispanic residents. Partners in the effort must be local government and law enforcement and the U.S. Attorney's Office, which represents the Department of Justice.
Once the Lacoochee area becomes designated as a Weed and Seed site, it will become eligible for federal grants.
The idea to investigate the program came during brainstorming sessions at recent gatherings of community leaders who are focusing on redevelopment efforts around Lacoochee in the wake of the fatal shooting of sheriff's Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison on June 1.
The group will not apply for the Weed and Seed program this fall, said organizer Isa Blanford, who works in Lacoochee for the Pasco County Housing Authority. The group will have a general meeting within the next few weeks to decide if it wants to apply for the Weed and Seed program next year.
Residents asked about how to define a Weed and Seed area's boundaries so that residents who need services or a recreation center aren't forced to travel long distances. Daniels said that the community needs to do research so its application to the federal government for a plan is backed up by statistics to show where the need lies in its neighborhoods.
- Saundra Amrhein covers social services in Pasco County. She can be reached in east Pasco at 352 754-6108, ext. 23, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6108. Her e-mail address is amrhein@sptimes.com