PROVEN ANTICRIME PROGRAMS SPURNED

Even the Few Prevention Models That Phila. Uses Lack Resources.

They are called the "gold standard" for violence-prevention programs:
11 models - out of more than 600 examined - that have proved most
effective at thwarting crime and violence.

At least five of these prevention efforts, aimed at children and
teens, are being used in Philadelphia, but often on a very small
scale or desperately short of funding or volunteers.

With gun violence and murders mounting in Philadelphia, the lack of
interest or investment in proven programs raises questions about why
the city hasn't done more.

"Once anybody learns about it, it's a no-brainer," said Peter W.
Greenwood, former director of the criminal-justice program at the
Rand Corp., a California think tank.

Since 1996, the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence in
Colorado has continually researched youth programs to determine which
work best to reduce violence. The effort, backed by the Justice
Department, has been instrumental in replicating the models across the country.

Pennsylvania has offered annual funding for the programs, called
Blueprints for Violence Prevention, but Philadelphia remains tentative.

This year, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, an
original funder of the blueprints research, awarded $6 million in
grants for evidence-based programs.

Of that total, Philadelphia received 5 percent - $300,000 to the
Philadelphia School District for the blueprint Olweus (Ol-VEY-us)
Bullying Prevention Program, which began in seven schools in 2001 and
is now in 22.

Philadelphia has received money in the past for evidence-based
programs, but those grants have expired, commission spokeswoman
Alison Everett said. She declined to say whether Philadelphia is less
aggressive than others in seeking the money. She described the
process as "highly competitive."

Choosing to champion these programs, experts say, runs into this
reality: They cost money, and the benefits may not be realized for years.

"Politicians always want to do something quick: 'Let's have a police
task force, a sweep,' " said Greenwood, who helped select the model programs.

The alternative to not investing in prevention programs for children
is the far greater cost of prisons, hospitalizations and death, advocates say.

In the meantime, the city supports programs such as Drug Abuse
Resistance Education, or DARE, which has police officers go to
classrooms to warn children about the dangers of drugs. The approach
has been criticized as ineffective in reducing crime.

"The police could be out there doing real police work," Lawrence W.
Sherman, a University of Pennsylvania criminologist, said of DARE,
calling police involvement "a wasted opportunity."

What Greenwood and Sherman endorse, and what hundreds of communties
around the nation embrace, are "evidence-based programs," which are
rigorously tested and have demonstrated success.

So What Is the City's Policy on Evidence-Based Prevention?

Mayor Street's office did not respond to requests for information and
an interview.

Family Court Administrative Judge Kevin Dougherty did not return calls.

However, John F. White, former head of the state Department of Public
Welfare, said the city was beginning to see the benefit of such programs.

White, chief executive officer of the Consortium Inc., a nonprofit
community mental-health agency, said Arthur Evans, acting
commissioner of the Department of Human Services, had told him that
the city wanted to expand Functional Family Therapy, a blueprint
program. Evans did not respond to an interview request.

The Consortium in 2002 took on the program, developed at the
University of Utah, with three specially trained therapists. Today it
still has only three. But the agency, with city money, will add three
more therapists by January, increasing the number of families served
from 35 to 70, White said.

Still, six therapists serving 70 families is a drop in the bucket.

Another blueprint program, the Nurse-Family Partnership, has 16
nurses in Philadelphia working with 400 low-income first-time
mothers. Obviously, the need is far greater.

When Shantea Minor of Nicetown found out she was pregnant, she signed
up for the free service, in which a nurse visits weekly for more than
two years.

Her daughter is now a healthy 15-month-old, and Minor, 22, is doing
fairly well herself, considering her temper.

"Honestly, I'd be locked up," she said, if she didn't have her nurse,
Aleshia Smith, in her life. "I'd probably be another statistic,
again. Another black mother. A baby with a baby that don't know nothing."

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies, or PATHS, which helps
young children deal with confrontations, has just started in three
Philadelphia schools.

The district has 175 schools with elementary grades that could adopt PATHS.

Big Brothers Big Sisters, with its national headquarters in the city,
is among the 11 blueprint programs.

However, 1,300 youths, mainly African American boys in Philadelphia,
are on the waiting list for the mentoring program, which oversees
2,800 matches in Philadelphia, Delaware and Chester Counties.

When Michael Banks was 10, his single mother signed him up. He spent
five years on the waiting list.

Where Banks lives in lower Northeast Philadelphia, it's dangerous to
be a teenager. Last month, a 17-year-old boy was murdered three
blocks from where Banks lives.

But Banks, now 17 himself, has a Big Brother, Donald Bush, 35, a
software tester who loves playing video games with Banks and taking
him to Sixers' games.

Banks' mother, Alicia Banks, 34, had given up hope that her son would
get a match.

"I couldn't believe it," she said, when she finally got the call. "I
wish every man [could] be like Donald."

Locally, Big Brothers Big Sisters is supported largely by private
donations. In 2003, the chapter started getting about $500,000 a year
from the city. But the program needs more to reduce the waiting list.

"The only thing holding us back, frankly, is the financial resources
to do our work," said Marlene Olshan, chief executive of Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

In repeated studies, and studies of the studies, the blueprint
programs have consistently shown results.

In October, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy reported
on the costs and benefits of various programs.

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, which is not used in
Philadelphia, yielded a net benefit of $77,798 to taxpayers and society.

Life Skills Training, which helps students bolster self-esteem and
resist peer pressure, has been studied more than a dozen times. It
reduces tobacco, alcohol and drug use from 50 percent to 75 percent,
according to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence.

The program is not used in Philadelphia.

Instead, 15 Philadelphia officers teach the 10-week DARE to 8,000
students in more than 100 public schools.

The Police Department, which has taught DARE since 1987, got a
$289,488 grant from the state this year for the program.

In response to criticism from researchers that the program was
ineffective, DARE America revised its curriculum.

Capt. Benjamin Naish, a police spokesman, defended it as "one of the
ways we try to have a positive influence on the children of the city."

The state Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which advocates
evidence-based programs, also funds DARE.

Police officials throughout Pennsylvania "overwhemingly say they feel
it's effective," said Everett, the commission spokeswoman.

Sherman, who was just appointed by Gov. Rendell to serve on the
commission, said programs like DARE, despite the evidence, thrived
because they "feel good."

He added, "It's very hard to change how we think about crime to the
way we think about medicine."

Proven Violence-Prevention Programs

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF AMERICA

www.bbbs.org

Participants were 46 percent less likely to try drugs or like to
drink or hit; and more likely to do well in school.

Cost: $1,000 to make and support a match relationship.

NURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP

www.nursefamilypartnership.org

A 15-year study showed children were 56 percent less likely to be
arrested and mothers were far less likely to engage in abuse or drugs.

Cost: $3,200 per family per year for first three years.

MULTISYSTEMIC THERAPY

www.mstservices.com

Reduced the rearrest rate of juvenile offenders by 25 to 70 percent,
with improvements in family functioning and juveniles' mental-health problems.

Cost: $4,500 per youth.

LIFE SKILLS TRAINING

www.lifeskillstraining.com

Tobacco and marijuana use by students was cut 50 to 75 percent. Six
years after intervention, poly-drug use was cut by up to 66 percent.

Cost: $7 per student per year (plus $2,000 to train teachers).

INCREDIBLE YEARS SERIES

www.incredibleyears.com

Problems at home and school were reduced by teaching parents praise
and limit-setting skills, rather than harsh discipline.

Cost: $775 to $1,300 for curriculum material costs.

PROJECT TOWARDS NO DRUG ABUSE

http://tnd.usc.edu

A 12-session youth program significantly cut use of cigarettes,
marijuana, hard drugs and alcohol.

Cost: $70 for teacher's manual; $10 per student workbook. Trainer fee: $2,500.

FUNCTIONAL FAMILY THERAPY

www.fftinc.com

It was shown to help keep delinquent or violent adolescents from
entering the adult criminal system.

Cost: $1,350 to $3,750 for 12 home visits over 90 days.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL TREATMENT FOSTER CARE

www.mtfc.com

Youth with chronic disruptive behavior spent 60 percent fewer days in
jail; also less drug use.

Cost: $2,691 per month for seven months.

MIDWESTERN PREVENTION PROJECT

The middle school-based program cut cigarette and marijuana use
through high school by 40 percent.

Cost: $175,000 over three years for 1,000 students.

PROMOTING ALTERNATIVE THINKING STRATEGIES (PATHS)

www.prevention.psu.edu/

projects/PATHS.html

Self-control and the ability to tolerate frustration were improved,
and there were fewer conduct problems, including aggression.

Cost: $15 to $45 per student per year.

OLWEUS BULLYING PREVENTION PROGRAM

www.clemson.edu/olweus

Bullying, victimization and antisocial behavior, including truancy,
were substantially reduced. The social climate of class improved.

Cost: $200 per school, $65 per teacher plus cost of on-site coordinator.

SOURCE: Blueprints for Violence Prevention, Center for the Study and
Prevention of Violence in Colorado

For previous coverage of violence in Philadelphia, including a
homicide map and a list of homicide victims, go to http://go.philly.com/violence