County Weed and Seed Advisory Board Announces 2008 Officers

For immediate release: Date: January 16, 2008
Contact: Rosalind Murray 561-355-2332

Palm Beach County Weed and Seed Advisory Board is proud to announce its 2008 Officers. The swearing in ceremony was recently conducted by Anetta Jenkins, Executive Director and board member of South Florida Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Weed and Seed is division of the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission. The Weed and Seed program is funded federally through the US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and the Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO). It is also funded locally through the Board of County Commissioners. There are five sites throughout Palm Beach County: Delray Beach, two sites in West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, and Belle Glade.

Rolando Garcia, Deputy Managing U.S. Attorney for the South District was named chairman. Other board members include Community Advocate Denise Smith Barnes who will serve as first vice chairman, John Green, Director of Community Development for the City of Riviera Beach as second vice chairman, Capt. Tina Heysler of the Delray Beach Police Department as treasurer and Michael Greene, of the Palm Beach County Health Care Taxing District as secretary.

The program is a strategy which targets neighborhoods with a distinguishable number of high crimes. The “Weeding” is derived from work with local law enforcement or the Sheriff to eliminate crime by targeting specific sites for structured, localized, and intensive efforts. The State Attorney is funded to prosecute offenders and get them out of neighborhoods.

The “Seeding” portion encompasses services and activities taking place at Weed and Seed sites. These services include the coordination of efforts to revitalize problem properties, developing and staffing neighborhood advisory boards; community clean-up, tutoring and after-school programs.

The County Wide Weed and Seed Steering Committee meets monthly on the first Wednesday of the month. For more information about Weed and Seed, contact Countywide Coordinator Rosalind Murray at 561-355-2332.