Gang Resistance Is Paramount (GRIP)

Gang Resistance Is Paramount (GRIP), originally Alternatives to Gang Membership, began in 1982 in an attempt to curb gang membership and discourage future gang involvement in Paramount, CA. The program is run by staff familiar with gang activity who live or have lived in Paramount. GRIP uses school-based curriculum, parent education, counseling, and community involvement to prevent and reduce gang involvement. The school curriculum consists of 23-24 lessons for second and fifth graders. The lessons focus on peer pressure, drugs, alcohol, family, crime, gangs, and vandalism. Students are discouraged from joining gangs through video presentations, activities, dialog between students, and the promotion of recreational activities as an alternative to gang activity. An in-school program for ninth graders completes the program and includes discussions about gang related teen pregnancy, leaving the gang style, and making positive life choices.

Parent education is conducted at neighborhood meetings, or through presentations at Neighborhood Watch meetings. Parents are taught warning signs of gang involvement, and are provided tools to keep their children out of gangs. Handouts are provided in English and Spanish and include information on recreational activities and programs, city services, graffiti hotline numbers, and information about tattoo removal programs. Counseling is also available for parents and youth regarding gang activities. The sessions are set up by request or referral and occur in the home, over the phone, or in the office.

The goal of this program is to educate students about the dangers of gangs, discourage gang membership, educate parents about the signs of gang involvement, and provide families with resources to reduce gang activities in their homes and neighborhoods.

In a nonrandomized posttest design, only 6% of ninth graders who participated in GRIP reported being involved in gang activity compared with 9% of youth in the control group. A larger proportion of students in the intervention group believed that drugs and alcohol play a significant role in gang life than students in the control group (72% vs. 57%). Both groups displayed levels of anti-gang sentiment when questioned about safety, tattoos, graffiti, and violence. Both groups also responded favorably to the importance of high school, making sure family members did not join a gang, not spending time with gang members, and not getting arrested. The majority of each group recognized that family and friends would be affected if they joined a gang, and reported that they would not join a gang if their friends did.