WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana — Many Americans will probably remember the GREAT program (Gang Resistance Education and Training) from their years in elementary and middle school. The program involved police officers coming to the classroom to teach children about the dangers of gangs. In recent years, the program has expanded abroad. The GREAT Program for youth in Central America is currently attempting to combat gang activity.
Central America’s Northern Triangle is comprised of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and is considered one of the most violent regions in the world. Between 2011 and 2014, there were 48,947 reported homicides in the Northern Triangle. Gangs are responsible for a majority of the violence. As a result, many people migrate to the U.S.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, 10 percent of the population in the Northern Triangle have left to enter the U.S., including 100,000 unaccompanied minors. Those who left mention violence, forced gang recruitment, extortion and poverty as reasons for leaving. The United States is addressing the issue of gang violence in Central America in order to decrease immigration.
The U.S. in the past has given aid to law enforcement agencies, counternarcotics and anti-gang operations. However, they are turning their attention to the youths in the Northern Triangle. Lower socioeconomic preteens and teens who are not in school or working are often recruited into gangs voluntarily and involuntarily.
The GREAT Program for youth in Central America is hoping to decrease gang recruitment. The program is funded by the U.S State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). It was originally founded in 1991 by the Phoenix Police Department and community educators. The INL decided to expand the program throughout Central America in 2009. Initially, the program was only implemented in a few select towns to test its effectiveness. It is now expanding to more areas in the northern triangle and the rest of Central America.
Classroom sessions are led by GREAT certified instructors and activity books are provided to the children. They read and answer questions about the consequences of gangs and how to avoid them. Furthermore, police officers occasionally come into the classroom and interact with students, which promotes a good relationship between citizens and law enforcement. In Santa Ana, El Salvador, as part of the program, police officers visit the school and teach sixth graders how to use computers. This relationship is highly valuable since there is usually a distrust of police in these countries.
The program also offers after school activities in order to keep the children occupied. Some schools who participate in the program have been given new soccer fields. In Lourdes, a county in El Salvador, the program organized a soccer league and provided two mini-buses to take them to games.
Across El Salvador, officials report that 30,000 students have graduated from the GREAT Program from over 50 schools. Just in 2015, 950 students in Honduras graduated along with 48 newly certified instructors.
The INL and GREAT officials hope to see more students graduate from the program especially in the Northern Triangle. The GREAT Program for youth in Central America hopes that through teaching children about the risks of gangs it will decrease gang membership and violence.
– Karla Umanzor
Photo: Flickr