I'm way past being fed up with the grant-writing pimps. I have seen them come and go, and it's time to call them out for taking advantage of the pain of others to make a profit.

Don't get me wrong, there is a need for efforts to tackle many of the woes that perplex most of us. My issue is with that phrase "crime doesn't pay." It does pay. It pays those hounds waiting to jump at the next opportunity to fund their experiment.

They prey on inner-city woes. They wait for money from the government to continue the game. It's all designed to pay them for what they do best -- trick us into believing they make a difference.

The most recent allotment is the $1.25 million in federal anti-gang grants for Durham. Nonprofits, church groups and other organizations that help youth are positioned to take a stab at that cash. They will promise to put an end to gangs in Durham.

Don't be hoodwinked into searching for the white flag of surrender. Most of that money will be wasted. Look for poor accountability, few results and more misery at the end of the grant cycle.

Call me a cynic if you wish. There was a time when I, too, believed in the power of all that federal grant money. I've seen my share of programs like 'Project Safe Neighborhood,' which used the money to set up a plan to purchase guns back from those who might use them to harm others.

Are you serious? Why would a person turn in a gun not knowing its history? Given that many of the guns on the streets are purchased illegally, what person with an ounce of street smarts would take the chance on turning in a gun used in a crime? How would that person explain to the police that it's not their gun, but they purchased it from some dude who ... whoops, sorry, that's a crime too.

Programs like these are poorly managed. They hire the wrong people, suffer from turnover, fail to reach those who need the services and lack measures of success.

The city and county together paid $65,000 to researchers Deborah Lamm Weisel of N.C. State University and James C. "Buddy" Howell of the National Youth Gang Center to produce a "Comprehensive Gang Assessment." The report was a waste of taxpayer's money. Weisel and Howell pimp-slapped Durham all the way to the bank.

The report complained that Durham Public Schools did not allow them to survey middle-school students and lashed out at the local press for failing to request information on the assessment. In the end, the money was spent, and the recommendations of the report have not been followed.

Tim Henderson, Durham's coordinator of anti-gang programs, is holding community presentations to instruct local groups on how to apply for the funds coming from the Governor's Crime Commission. A steering committee will identify gaps in services and effective programs, and an oversight committee will help close those gaps and identify effective programs.

Most of the $1.06 million city officials are asking for would go toward "Operation Bull's Eye," a campaign in a 2-square-mile area in North East Central Durham to inundate the area with police and social services in an effort to reduce crime; $192,875 has been approved for re-entry for gang-involved offenders returning to Durham after prison. Is the project about gangs, or is it about crime?

The pimps are at it again. It's yet another way to use the pain of others to experiment with program models. The money isn't being used to address gangs; it's a crime-abatement initiative hiding under the guise of a gang-reduction agenda.

Gangs and crime are not the same thing. Jim Brown, the Hall of Fame football star and founder of Amer-I-Can, presses this point every time we talk.

"Gangs aren't bad," he says. "It's the crime that comes with some of the gangs that is bad. Instead of trying to end gangs, take some of that energy and use it for a greater good."

We are destined to fail, once again, because those pimps are so consumed with proving and funding their own models that they can't see the glaring truth.

Like I said, crime does pay when you have the foresight to understand how to manipulate the system to create jobs with broken promises.

I'm all about making a difference. I'm simply fed up with the pimps in the streets.