Tri-City Anti-Gang Partnership Assessment and Evaluation

The Tri-City Anti-Gang Partnership (Tri-City Partnership) was founded in 2008 and is funded by the Senator Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative grant.  The goal of the Tri-City Partnership is to reduce youth and gang violence across the three cities of Fitchburg, Gardner and Leominster. Funded partners implement gang prevention programming and activities as a part of the Tri-City Partnership. ICH was hired by the Tri-City Partnership to conduct a needs assessment in 2017 to help focus their 2018 strategy. The needs assessment included reviewing secondary community and crime data, implementing key informant interviews and conducting a youth focus group. The assessment highlighted the importance of youth leadership development and employment opportunities in preventing gang involvement, which has helped inform the Tri-City Partnership’s ongoing activities. In 2018, ICH is working with the Tri-City Partnership to develop a mission and vision statement to guide their work as they engage new partners in collaborative efforts. ICH is also supporting a process evaluation of the activities each partner is conducting, and assisting partners in developing data tracking systems and structures.