AURORA — Jazmin Hernandez, an 18-year-old college student studying to become a pediatrician, is proof positive that the city’s Weed and Seed program is working.
So too are the increased drug busts along a stretch of East Colfax Avenue, which has seen crime drop there significantly because of the program.
The Weed and Seed program, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, is designed to decrease crime in certain areas and improve the quality of life for residents there.
So far, it seems to be doing just that along the East Colfax corridor.
Overall crime in that area dropped by 30 percent by the end of 2008 compared with 2003, when the program started there.
Police received extra money to do more undercover drug busts, increase foot patrols and gang prevention, and work with business owners.
And programs for youths, such as Downtown Aurora Visual Arts, keep kids like Hernandez off the streets and focused on their futures.
“I think that we have kept our youth and families engaged in positive things, activities and events that have built the pride of this community,” said Dawn Barrett, manager of Original Aurora Renewal. “The crime part speaks for itself. We are seeing big reductions in crime.”
Aurora has the only Weed and Seed program in the state, according to Barrett, although Denver had one several years ago.
Aurora is in the fifth year of its second Weed and Seed program and is applying for another five-year grant to fund an area just north and east of the current area. The current program received $925,000 from the government, Barrett said. She said she is hoping to receive a similar amount if the third area is approved.
A steering committee of community members, such as church leaders and city officials, guides the program.
A key component of Weed and Seed is improving the quality of life in the neighborhoods, which tend to be low-income areas.
The Aurora program, for example, does a “mobile playground” that goes to low-income housing areas and lets kids play with pogo sticks, tricycles, stilts and board games.
Downtown Aurora Visual Arts, or DAVA, is funded in part by the Weed and Seed program. It offers art education that has a prevention aspect to it, said executive director Susan Jenson.
Earlier this month, middle- school students held their gallery show with the theme “Make It Green.”
Projects included a lamp made of materials they found and ground into a paperlike substance. It is powered by the juice of a lemon.
“It’s a safe haven for kids,” Jenson said. “Any kid in the neighborhood can come here to make art. Some of them want to become teachers. It’s a safe alternative to other activities they may be exposed to along the Colfax corridor.”
Hernandez started in the DAVA program in the sixth grade. Then, when she was in high school, Hernandez was a junior staff member.
She was awarded a scholarship from DAVA last year and is now studying science at the Community College of Aurora. She hopes to one day be a pediatrician. A recommendation from DAVA helped her land a job at Sears.
Hernandez recalls growing up in that rough part of town, with her family having little money to spare. She saw classmates get into gangs, use drugs and drop out of school.
Hernandez knows DAVA kept her from going that route.
“Thanks to DAVA, I am the first one in my family to go to college,” Hernandez said. “I was very proud, very excited.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
