National Gang Center at IIR

The National Gang Center at IIR serves as the nation’s leading authority in providing training and consulting services to communities implementing comprehensive strategies to reduce violent gang-related crime. Our approach is comprehensive, but simple: Smarter Strategies. Safer Streets. With more than 30 years of experience leading this work, we know that implementing and sustaining comprehensive evidence-based strategies that integrate prevention, intervention, and focused enforcement reduces gang violence and saves lives.

The Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) has hosted the National Gang Center, which was established in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and later jointly supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, since 1995. For three decades, the National Gang Center provided comprehensive training and consulting services to more than 140 communities, 20,000 law enforcement officers, and thousands of community stakeholders across the nation, providing comprehensive solutions to gang-related crime.

After a reduction in federal funding in 2025, IIR committed to continuing this valuable work, and we are now proudly extending these services as the National Gang Center at IIR.