The mission of the Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) is to work with local communities to design strategies for deterring crime, promoting economic growth, and enhancing quality of life. CCDO, under the leadership of Director Dennis E. Greenhouse, helps communities help themselves, enabling them to develop solutions to public safety problems and to strengthen leadership to implement and sustain those solutions.

The highly successful Weed and Seed initiative is CCDO's flagship strategy. Weed and Seed is an innovative and comprehensive multiagency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization. CCDO oversees a network of more than 300 Weed and Seed communities. In addition to managing the Weed and Seed strategy, CCDO houses the American Indian/Alaska Native Affairs Desk, which coordinates training and technical assistance, advises Office of Justice Programs' leadership on Indian Country matters, and directs Indian tribes, tribal communities, and Alaska Native villages to funding opportunities and other resources.

CCDO also is working on reentry issues, helping state and local agencies access and leverage resources from existing state formula and block grants to support their efforts to integrate returning offenders. Preventing crime in public housing developments is a major CCDO focus as well. CCDO and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have joined together in a Public Housing Safety Initiative to assist in the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of violent crimes and drug offenses in public and federally assisted housing, including American Indian housing. Overall, CCDO is working to expand public and private partnerships that build and sustain local capacity for creating safe, thriving communities.