In 2017, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) engaged the assistance of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (JohnJayREC) to support a comprehensive initiative focused on the safety and well-being of New York City residents living in public housing communities. JohnJayREC’s involvement in the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP) was supported by $28M in contracts and memoranda of agreement between the New York City government and the City University of New York (CUNY) as managed by the Research Foundation of CUNY (RF-CUNY), fiscal agent for all research projects at CUNY campuses, including John Jay College.

JohnJayREC assisted MOCJ with the implementation and evaluation of MAP in housing developments operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The communities served by MAP were disproportionately affected by crime in recent years. MAP was designed to enhance coordination between NYCHA and its residents as well as other City agencies. Together, the partners focused on an array of physical, economic, and social conditions to create safer and stronger neighborhoods. Various strategies were implemented to strengthen problem-solving approaches with residents and police, to expand access to youth employment, to improve the security of NYCHA buildings and related infrastructure, and to create routine and sustainable ways for residents to work with City officials on public safety. Staff members at JohnJayREC led the evaluation of the MAP initiative. In addition, JohnJayREC helped to organize the efforts of various subcontracted partners.

Products
Read reports from the MAP project.

Funding
$28.7 Million over 60 months.

JohnJayREC Staff
Jeffrey Butts (PI), Wogod Alawlaqi, Nicole Alexander, Justice Banks, Rebecca Balletto, Patricia Cobar, Sheyla Delgado, Richard Espinobarros, Gina Moreno, Rhoda Ramdeen, Kathleen Tomberg, and Kevin Wolff (affiliated faculty).

MAP Advisory Committee
JohnJayREC’s evaluation of the MAP initiative is guided and supported by an Advisory Committee with members recruited from universities and research organizations.