Dr. Ralph Anderson, Professor of Nonprofit Management, has received $5,497 from the City of Cleveland, Tenn. to evaluate the Blythe Neighborhood Weed and Seed Program, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Weed and Seed program makes grants to communities to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in targeted high-crime neighborhoods across the country. The Blythe Neighborhood Weed and Seed focuses on both (1) weeding out criminals who participate in violent crime and drug abuse and (2) bringing human services into the community to encourage prevention, intervention, treatment, and neighborhood revitalization.
In addition to providing services critical to the success of the Blythe Neighborhood program, this project offers an experiential learning opportunity for a nonprofit management student.
An undergraduate student will serve as Research Associate for the evaluation, which will consist of three phases: (1) an analysis of five years of data outlining the program's activities and achievements, (2) a retroactive SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, and (3) interviews with community members.