The designated Weed and Seed zone in Henderson.
The Henderson-Vance Weed and Seed proposal kept picking up steam Monday night, gaining unanimous support from the Vance County Board of Commissioners and the Henderson City Council.
The map of the proposed area and the intention to seek the federal Weed and Seed designation have now received the formal endorsement of both local governments, the Vance County Coalition Against Violence, the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, and the Vance Organization to Implement Community Excellence.
VOICE is operating as the steering committee for the application, which is due in October. A letter of intent is due to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh by the end of August. If Henderson is one of the 31 cities and counties expected to win Weed and Seed recognition this fiscal year, the designation will go into effect June 1, 2006, and will last five years.
Both local governing bodies received maps of the proposed Weed and Seed zone, which runs north to south through the eastern side of Henderson, stretching beyond the city lines at both ends. The area includes or is adjacent to three elementary schools and a middle school, four community watch groups, both former Harriet & Henderson Yarns complexes, ball fields, the city and county facilities downtown, and Flint Hill.
The map differs slightly from the description provided on this site last week. Rather than run along Main Street, the border extends northward along David Street to Harris Street, then back south on Old Norlina Road to encompass the North Henderson mill complex.
To win the Weed and Seed designation, an area of at least 3,000 residents must be high in crime, and it must have a strategy for driving out drugs and criminals (weeding) and for following up with concentrated services that address the area’s particular needs (seeding). Those services could range from homeownership training to teen pregnancy prevention, from SAT prep courses to recreational opportunities, from health clinics to literacy training.
Much of the power of the program comes from its flexibility to do whatever is necessary to improve the quality of life.
Operation Weed and Seed is “a comprehensive strategy before it is anything else,” Henderson police Lt. Perry Twisdale said in presenting the proposal to the Board of Commissioners. The official recognition comes with no money but allows the community to apply for Weed and Seed grants and moves the city’s application for other grants to the top of the pile.
“I think it’s very important,” Vance Sheriff Thomas Breedlove when asked to share his feelings about Weed and Seed with the commissioners.
Commissioner Deborah Brown asked about safe havens, which are centers of concentrated services under the Weed and Seed program. Police Chief Glen Allen said they have not been selected yet, but he anticipates that the application will designate three or more havens.
City Manager Eric Williams, who chairs VOICE, said the strategy won’t work without the havens. He also assured Brown that the strategy will be to remove the criminals, not just push them to other parts of Vance County. After five years, the city and county can apply for recognition for a different area and expand the program.
Williams said it’s crucial that the Weed and Seed process brings everyone to the table who can do something to reduce crime. Behind him, a dozen and a half members of VOICE sat in the audience to support the presentation, and they proceeded en masse to the City Council chambers afterward for the same presentation and same success there.
VOICE also will seek the endorsement of the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, the Vance chapter of the NAACP and the Vance Board of Education before submitting the letter of intent. Williams pledged to keep the commissioners and council updated as the process continues.