"It's My Life" Gang Awareness Collaborative

The Center for Community Safety (CCS) in partnership with All God's Children Ministry, El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services and United Metropolitan Ministries designed this collaborative summer program to reduce participation in gangs by helping families develop the skills and knowledge necessary to communicate effectively about gang culture.

Forsyth County Domestic Violence

The United Way has been collecting data related to domestic violence in Forsyth County courts.  The Center for Community Safety (CCS) is working with the United Way to discern any trends related to domestic violence offenses, plaintiff/defendant demographics and judges in relation to outcomes.

Gang Impact, Assessment, & Design

This project incorporates multiple sets of data to understand the extent and nature of youth street gangs.  Data research and analytics are used to determine general trends related to youth street gangs, plus the locations of youth street gang offenses.  By using this aspatial and spatial information, non-profit agencies, schools and researcher can determine where gangs are most prevalent and how to remediate these issues.

Lead Safe Winston-Salem

The Lead Safe Winston-Salem program is a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sponsored project designed to improve the housing stock of owner occupied and rental housing units through lead-based testing, abatement and property rehabilitation; as well as educating the public on utilizing evidence-based techniques to minimize the hazards associated with lead dust. The Center for Community Safety (CCS) is designing and coordinating the implementation of an independent evaluation plan to document the results of the program strategy, analyze the information needed to enhance program strategies, and provide feedback to implement a strategic planning process for ongoing program operations.

Winston-Salem Geoscience Training

The Center for Community Safety (CCS) was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to provide training in the geosciences to Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) faculty and students.  Selected WSSU faculty and students will serve as mentors to grade 7-12 school children in Winston-Salem.  CCS will provide training specific to geographic information systems (GIS) and how GIS and associated mapping technologies can help support science education in middle and high schools.

Metadata 101

Metadata serves as the formal technical and conceptual framework by which administrative, descriptive and structural information is stored about a GIS data layers.  The Center for Community Safety (CCS) recently completed a FGDC (Federal Geographic Data Committee) grant to provide GIS metadata training for members of the North Carolina GIS community.  The data research & analytics team currently supports metadata training by fielding metadata-related questions and regularly contributing to the North Carolina Arc/Info Users Working Group newsletter on the subject of metadata.

Communities Empowering Youth (CEY)

CEY, a federally funded initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to improve the overall capacity of faith-based partners to design and implement common strategies for working together to assess the needs of at-risk youth in well-defined geographic areas, and develop coordinated responses to those needs. CEY funded partners can be better able to develop and sustain their work through partnerships with existing organizations and governmental agencies.


Project Safe Neighborhoods:  A Comprehensive Response to Gun Violence

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a nationwide commitment to reduce violent crime in America. PSN, started in 2001, is made up of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working in partnership with local practitioners and grassroots agencies that address violent gun and gang crime. CCS serves as the training and outreach partner to the Middle District of North Carolina and delivers training and technical assistance for communities on the PSN strategy, community justice issues, gang violence, prisoner reentry, and in building community capacity to reduce crime and build stable neighborhoods.


Smart Policing Initiative

The Center for Community Safety (CCS) is providing research, community capacity building, and community mobilization support to the Winston-Salem Police Department for its Smart Policing Initiative (SPI), a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)-sponsored initiative that supports law enforcement agencies in building evidence-based, data-driven law enforcement tactics and strategies that are effective, efficient, and economical. Smart Policing represents a strategic approach that brings more “science “into police operations. Winston-Salem is one of ten national sites participating in this BJA effort. Other SPI sites include Boston, Glendale, Lansing, Los Angles, Memphis, Palm Beach, Philadelphia, Reno, and Savannah. 

Weed and Seed Reentry Employment Initiative

Through funding and support from the U. S. Department of Justice Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO), the CCS is currently leading a technical assistance project for eight cities to improve public safety by implementing or strengthening workforce development initiatives and strategies.  This project seeks to reduce recidivism by helping ex-offenders gain employment and take ownership of their communities as productive and law abiding citizens.  The customized technical assistance will focus on coordinating programs and policies and strengthening existing labor and employment services to help ex-offenders overcome employment barriers they face upon reentry from prison.


Weed and Seed Juvenile Crime Prevention Initiative

The U.S. Department of Justice Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) and the CCS invited Weed and Seed sites to apply for a 13-month technical assistance program designed to help establish and/or enhance juvenile reentry and anti-gang initiatives. Since 2009, the CCS and expert consultants have been providing assistance to eight Weed and Seed to address juveniles returning to the community from secured confinement and juvenile involvement in gangs. The CCS team and consultants visited each site to explore local priorities and opportunities in reentry and anti-gang efforts and is assisting each site in developing a strategic plan.