TEEN ANTICRIME PROGRAMS WITH RELIGIOUS BASE TO GET AID

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton is reaching out to religious-based
organizations to help battle youth violence, gangs and truancy by promoting
positive values, White House officials said yesterday.

Inspired by a Boston program credited with reducing youth killings, Clinton
plans to announce today that he is awarding $2.2 million to groups in 16
cities, including Philadelphia, that have been working to stem crime among
juveniles.

While the dollars are relatively few for a government program, officials
said it was an attempt by the White House to try a new, creative way to
tackle a growing problem.

"It isn't much money; it's the innovation," said Rahm Emanuel, a top
adviser to the President.

The new crime-fighting program is minuscule compared with the $250 million
Clinton requested from Congress under a more comprehensive juvenile-crime
bill that remains bottled up in the Senate. Emanuel said Clinton's latest
proposal was part of a "patchwork" of things the President was trying to do
to circumvent a Congress that, he contended, is unwilling to take on the
National Rifle Association.

Under the new Values-Based Violence Prevention Initiative, which does not
require congressional approval, organizations in each of the 16 cities will
receive $135,000 for antiviolence programs. The groups are to use the money
to offer youths alternatives to guns and crime.

The Philadelphia recipient of the Justice Department money is United
Neighbors Against Drugs, led by Sister Carol Keck, director of the Norris
Square Neighborhood Project.

Money will also go to organizations in Miami; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.;
Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington; Baltimore; Indianapolis; Seattle;
Portland, Ore.; San Antonio, Texas; Richmond, Va.; Charleston, S.C.;
Salinas, Calif.; and Hempstead, N.Y.

Each of these cities already participates in other anticrime programs to
track illegal gun traffickers, combat juvenile gun use, and crack down on
gangs.

Clinton asked Emanuel and Attorney General Janet Reno to devise a plan for
the new program last month after reading about the successful partnership
between clergy members and community and law-enforcement officials in
Boston.

Because of constitutional requirements separating church and state, Emanuel
said, the money will go not directly to religious organizations but rather
to groups that are affiliated with them.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)