In 1990, the Alum Rock Counseling Center, a private, nonprofit corporation that provides counseling, training and educational services in Santa Clara County, Calif., worked to develop a project, Join Together, designed to significantly reduce illegal drug use and alcohol abuse on the East Side of San Jose, Calif.

This planning project was part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) national program, Fighting Back®: Community Initiatives to Reduce Demand for Illegal Drugs and Alcohol.

Key Results and Conclusions
Both the RWJF program officer and the National Program Office of Fighting Back expressed doubt that San Jose Together could become an integrated program under its proposed organizational structure.

The structure featured an executive advisory committee, a governing team, various working groups and a project review committee-each of which was insulated from the others.

Therefore RWJF did not make an implementation grant under the Fighting Back program.

The Problem
San Jose, Calif., was the most racially and ethnically diverse area in Santa Clara county in the late 1980s:

• Some 49 percent of residents were minorities.
• 50.5 percent were under age 25.
• 57.8 percent were high school graduates.

In the late 1980s, the sale and use of drugs and alcohol on the East Side rose sharply, with narcotics incidents increasing 12.5 percent per year from 1985 to 1987, according to the San Jose Police Department.

The Planning Project

• A coalition of health care providers, criminal justice agencies, religious organizations, schools, community organizations and city and county government agencies worked on the initial implementation proposal. The proposed project included activities to:
  • Increase public awareness.
  • Improve early identification of people at risk.
  • Expand available treatment services.
• RWJF, however, rejected the proposal for the implementation phase of the project. The foundation had concerns that the Alum Rock Counseling Center was:
  • Too small to handle a project of this size.
  • Lacked the clout necessary to unite government, business and community organizations.
• The City of San Jose took over as lead agency, reorganized the project hierarchy and submitted a second proposal that included activities involving a range of organizations from grassroots community groups to official government agencies.
• This proposal also was rejected, in part because it appeared to lack a unifying theme and focus:
  • "The program resembled a 'patchwork' of disparate but well-intentioned organizations trying to weave themselves into an integrated and focused program," the RWJF program officer wrote in a site visit memo.

After the Grant
After the planning grant ended, San Jose Together evolved into San Jose BEST (Bring Everyone's Strengths Together), a program designed to address the problems of youth violence and gang activities.

BEST was a focus on providing prevention, intervention and suppression services to reduce gang activity, was coordinated by the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force.

Funding
RWJF provided a $199,996 planning grant to support the project from 1990 to 1992.