Local groups to be in anti-crime video

7/26/2001

Representatives of Toledo organizations will attend the U.S. Justice Department's semiannual Weed and Seed national conference in Philadelphia in late August.

The city's two community development corporations that started Weed and Seed sites - Lagrange Development Corp. and Organized Neighbors Yielding eXcellence (ONYX) - will be recognized in a video presentation describing best practices by Weed and Seed programs around the country.

Weed and Seed is a national crime prevention and neighborhood development program, designed to help communities “weed out” crime and “seed” crime prevention and economic development in its place.

Jon Farley, a program manager with the national Weed and Seed office in Washington, said ONYX, Lagrange, and other organizations that will be featured in the video were selected based on comments gathered by Weed and Seed officials throughout the country.

Richard Bray, the Weed and Seed coordinator for ONYX, located in the city's central city in the Collingwood Boulevard and Dorr Street area, said ONYX's program philosophy is that crime prevention and neighborhood restoration should start at the grass-roots level.

Jennifer Wise, Lagrange Development's Weed and Seed coordinator, said she hopes Langrange and ONYX's success can be duplicated in more communities to help revitalize neighborhoods. Lagrange covers the city's old Polish Village and a portion of North Toledo.