The PanZOu Project, Inc. -North Miami Beach Gang Reduction Program

 The PanZOu Project, Inc. in North Miami Beach, FL began as a gang reduction grant funded program through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).  The grant, awarded to the Florida Governor’s Office of Drug Control, is one of four pilot sites in the nation to receive the $2.5 million grant. Other sites include Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and Richmond, VA. The main goal of the PanZOu Project, Inc. is to significantly reduce Haitian youths’ involvement in gang activity in the North Miami Beach area.  The programs and services incorporate a broad spectrum of proven, research-based interventions designed to address the full range of personal, family, and community factors that contribute to high levels of juvenile delinquency and gang activity. This comprehensive gang model focuses resources in primary and secondary prevention, intervention, and enforcement initiatives to stabilize and build pro-social influences in challenged neighborhoods.

The following in an excerpt from the Urban Institute's Mid-Term Evaluation Report of the Gang Reduction Program:

GANG REDUCTION PROGRAM FRAMEWORK.

The GRP was formulated around a multi-pronged implementation framework to achieve OJJDP's goal. This framework called upon local stakeholders to develop their own local plans that addressed family, peer, school and community needs. Next they were to identify local human and financial resources that could be utilized to meet these identified needs. By meeting these planning objectives, it was thought that local communities could then build their capacities with federal support to deliver the appropriate resources and services to meet local needs.

The categories of programmatic approaches initially included in the GRP framework were (1) primary prevention; (2) secondary prevention; (3) intervention; and (4) gang suppression. A fifth category of programmatic approaches, reentry, was later added prior to the actual implementation of the GRP. Reentry programs were to focus on the provision of services and support to gang members who were returning to the targeted communities after being incarcerated in juvenile detention facilities, jails, or prisons. The objective of these programs was to prevent these individuals from returning to their previous gangs and re-engaging in serious crimes.

For an overview of the programs PanZOu has implemented click here!

For PanZOu's outcome information click here!

For PanZOu's Staff & Board click here!