Breakout Sessions
TRACK I: PLANNING AND EVALUATION
Second Chances: Planning a Reentry Program
What can a community do to ensure a successful reentry of offenders who have paid their debt to society? This session will highlight ways to effectively assimilate the ex-offenders back into Weed and Seed communities, reducing recidivism, and assisting offenders in ways to help them become productive members of their respective communities. Presenters will discuss how to establish community-based reentry programs and examples of effective programming.
Promoting Neighborhood Restoration through Accessing Capital Markets
In a world of shrinking federal resources, the role of the private sector is more critical than ever. Banks, foundations, and other financial institutions all have resources that they can bring to bear in the areas of community development and affordable housing. This presentation will provide participants with an opportunity to hear directly from some of these financing sources about how capital markets operate, the work they are already doing, and the resources that might be available for your community.
Leveraging VITA Centers to Strengthen Neighborhood Restoration Strategies
The National Community Tax Coalition will provide an overview of utilizing Earned Income Tax Child Tax Credits to assist families with building assets for homeownership, education, and small business development. The IRS provides the tools to help sites establish Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Centers to serve low income residents and then Weed and Seed sites can demonstrate the connection to a comprehensive neighborhood restoration strategy.
Best Practices for Site Administration
Come find out how the “ideal” Weed and Seed site should run and how your site compares. Find out if your steering committee or sub-committees are maximizing and leveraging available resources. See what impact timely submissions of financial and programmatic reports can have on your site.
TRACK II: IMPLEMENTATION
Workforce Development
The characteristics of a city’s or regional workforce have significant implications for its vitality and the quality of life experienced by its citizens. This presentation will discuss promising strategies that will assist communities in overcoming barriers and implementing successful employment training and workforce development initiatives. Best practices for working with low income communities and families will be highlighted as well as strategies for cultivating employer and industry relationships.
Crime Stopper Initiatives: Using Media, Local Resources, and Technology to Support Your Weeding Strategy
This session will examine the innovative methods used to mobilize the community including 911, Amber Alerts, security videotapes, America’s Most Wanted, Internet crime sites, candlelight vigils, and computer assisted background screening. Law enforcement is increasing its utilization of the media, community relations, and technology to fight crime on a more sophisticated level. Learn about the use of the media, community events, local businesses and technology to address crime in your neighborhood.
Micro-enterprises: A Strategy for Moving Residents Out of Poverty
Learn how neighborhoods can build on and build up the business skills of local residents including young, startup entrepreneurs. Small and micro-businesses in our communities struggle for both access to capital and training in business skills. This workshop examines the framework for developing and implementing neighborhood micro-businesses. Hear from national leaders in the field and clients who have been recognized for their successes on how to build the infrastructure to support effective micro enterprise strategies and the potential impact on residents.
Marketing Your Weed and Seed Site
Knowing how to effectively promote the accomplishments of your Weed and Seed site is essential to building support for and continuing interest in your efforts. Learn how to market your successes and publicize events through outlets such as local newspapers, community bulletins, pubic service announcements, public speaking opportunities and residents’ word of mouth.
TRACK III: BUILDING CAPACITY
In Many Different Languages, Help is There
Weed and Seed sites provide foreign-born populations in their communities with meaningful access to services and benefits. The Community Capacity Development Office, through its Limited English Proficiency (LEP) policies and practices, has reached out to sites with foreign born populations.
Looking for Funds: Grant Seeking Basics
The Foundation Center will present their training class on grant seeking basics. This class provides an overview of the grant seeking process for those individuals seeking grants from foundation, corporations and grant making public charities.
Sustainability: Resource Development Effort
CCDO has learned that sustainability planning extends beyond a single dimension for Weed and Seed sites. Three dimensions were identified: Structural Effort, Community Impact, and Resource Development Effort. Despite a site’s best efforts to leverage local resources, the loss of Weed and Seed funding can potentially stall implementation of the strategy. The session looks at identifying and securing diverse and reliable resources to support the ongoing activities to meet the Weed and Seed goals and objectives.
Making Homeownership a Reality on Your Block
Learn the fundamentals of developing an effective homeownership strategy for your neighborhood. Where do you find the best training materials to assist first-time homebuyers with improving their credit profile? How do you make the process of shopping for a home and getting a mortgage loan clearer? How do you promote home maintenance once the homes are purchased?
Indian Country: Financing Tribal People for Sustainable Communities
The development of solid economic and social structures and programs is key to community health and wealth. A large number of Native communities have addressed these aspects of their communities with innovative institutions and programs to create thriving individual and organizational well-being. In this session you will hear from experts in the areas of Native financial institutions, financial education, IDA’s (Individual Development Accounts) and a variety of other tools for prevention and seeding from the economic side of community development.
TRACK IV: PREVENTION STRATEGIES
Help Wanted: Seeking Volunteers
Learn how to recruit, “care for,” and maximize volunteer help from residents and businesses in your community efforts. This session explores the value of a volunteer awards night and how to persuade major volunteer organizations to be part of implementing your Weed and Seed strategy.
Mobilizing Youth
This session provides strategies for getting and keeping youth involved as resources and volunteers. This workshop explores the rationale for engaging young people as active participants on local Weed and Seed Steering Committees and involving young people in conceptualizing and planning program activities.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T Program
The R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Program is designed to equip incarcerated and recently released youth with the necessary skills to prevent recidivism and deal constructively with real-life challenges. The program provides mentoring, tutoring, pre-release planning services, case management, conflict resolution and team building skills and also runs a speaker’s bureau.
TRACK V: WEEDING SRATEGIES
Indian County: Basic Community Oriented Policing
Indian Country Law Enforcement is as diverse as Indian Nations. The constant challenge for Indian Country Law Enforcement is to find strategies to bridge the gap between traditional American law enforcement, peacekeeping and modern law enforcement and justice system needs. This session will focus on the three prominent law enforcement agencies in Indian country to share their respective philosophy, policy, and practices in Indian country, how they relate to the community, and how they address violence and victimization.
CSI: Weed and Seed Style
Taking a smart approach to crime is a productive use of scarce financial and human resources. This breakout session will present innovative and dynamic approaches to reducing crime in your site with a focus on crime mapping, asset mapping, statistical targeting, DNA analysis, improved communication techniques, crime trend analysis. Learn how communities are incorporating and integrating technology to strengthen law enforcement as well as intra and interagency networking to effectively reduce neighborhood crime.
