Recently in Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Category

POMONA - A community group has begun preparing to focus their efforts on drawing young people away from unhealthy lifestyles and putting them on a path leading to productive lives.

The first step to carrying out their mission involved an all-day training session with a member of the National Gang Center to learn about an approach to working with teens and young adults who are already involved in things such as gangs and drugs.

City residents, educators, law enforcement, clergy, representatives of social service agencies, non-profits and members of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board were among those who gathered at the Pomona Valley Mining Company late last week to learn about the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Comprehensive Gang Model.

"Gang violence is a complex issue and requires a comprehensive solution," said Community Board member Bernardo Rosa.

Rosa said he's been following how cities have used the federal model since 1994 and has observed the impact it can have on a neighborhood, he said.

"I've been watching it galvanize a community," Rosa said.

Among the components of the model is creating teams made up of educators, law enforcement, parole, social services, and outreach workers who together concentrate on providing services ranging from job training to substance abuse counseling to young people.

Before the model can be implemented crime data must be collected to identify crime problems connected to gang activity, said Michelle Arciaga, senior research associate with the National Gang Center, which works with the federal government to teach communities to use the model.

Gathering the data is critical because it will show where the greatest need within the city exists providing a starting point for the model's implementation, she said.

Arciaga said Pomona is better prepared tha some who seek to use this model.

"They are way ahead of some cities" that trained under this model, Arciaga said. "That's huge because (the city) is much more organized."

What has given Pomona that head start is the work leading up to and following the creation of the Youth and Family Master Plan, Arciaga and others said.

The master plan is a strategy designed to create a healthier environment for youth and families where young people can reach their potential.

"The Youth and Family Master Plan is the foundation...It irrigated the field," Rosa said.

After listening to Arciaga's presentation some attendees said the federal model can have a significant impact in Pomona.

Pomona Police Chief Dave Keetle said such a model can work as a piece in a three part approach to addressing some of the city's crime problems.

Prevention and suppression are the two other elements that complete the picture and must not be forgotten, he said.

"This can work but it can be one of the three pillars of an overall plan," Keetle said. "We need to work on all three pieces together to have a long term effect."

Community board member Nancy Matarrita said Pomona must start collecting data to use in identifying a part of the city where efforts can begin. Once that's done grants can be sought and written agreements developed with those who will be part of the teams working with future clients.

Pomona Unified School District's Interim Superintendent Richard Martinez also believes this is an approach that can help teens and young adult who are taking part in risky behavior.

Martinez said such approaches have been used and worked in other parts of Los Angeles County.

One important ingredient is the use of outreach workers who have direct contact with young people they work with and makes sure the youths are using the services they need.

Jobs are another critical piece of the formula that requires working with businesses to make sure young people pulled away for gangs and violence don't go back to that life, Martinez said.

A concern Martinez has about implementing the model is funding.

City Manager Linda Lowry said during the training session the city can serve as the lead agency if the decision to move forward with the model is made. As the lead agency it would seek grants and help from county and federal elected officials to secure funds for some parts of the model.

Using the federal model would fill a gap that is not being addressed now in dealing with certain types of negative behavior such as gangs, Martinez said.

"We have a lot of programs that deal with prevention but this fills the gap in intervention," he said.

POMONA - Take a large party drawing young people from hither and yon, mix in underage drinking and unruly behavior and the formula can lead to tragic events.

For this reason members of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board recently voted to send a letter to Pomona City Council members asking they consider drafting and adopting a social host ordinance.

More than 20 cities in the state have adopted such ordinances, said Rev. Rick DeBruyne, pastor or Lincoln Avenue Community Church and a member of the community board.

Such an ordinance wouldn't affect family gathering or children's parties, he said.

What such local laws do is provide a way to deal with properties that are regularly the site of large scale parties that are a nuisance, DeBruyne said.

"It's really just an attempt to give the police department another tool so where there is a party with underage drinking or is getting out of hand to confront it," DeBruyne said.

The focus of such ordinances are property owners or the renters of the property where the parties take place, he said.

People who fail to control activities on their property can then be subject to civil penalties, he said.

Youth and Family Services Manager Andrea Rico said she will be drafting a letter which will be presented to the community board for review and approval.

Once approved it will the be forwarded to the City Council, mayor and city manager along with a staff report explaining the social host ordinance concept.

When the matter would go to the council has not yet been determined, she said.

POMONA -- A doctor and a forensic crime scene investigator seemingly don't have much in common -- but they do.

The common link is that their work involves a great deal of science.

Doctors, crime scene investigators, scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, teachers and other people will showcase their work on Saturday at the second annual Nancy McCracken Science, Math, Service Learning and Arts Expo.
The free event at Fairplex will include a variety of science and art exhibits produced by Pomona Unified School District students.

In putting together the expo, organizers had two goals in mind, said Sarah Ross, chairwoman of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board's Promoting Academic Achievement Task Force.

On one hand, "We're hoping to raise (students') interest in education and math and science," Ross said. "Secondly, we want families to spend more time together."

The expo makes it possible to work on both goals, she said.

Families will find something that interests every member regardless of age, she said.

POMONA -- Programs to improve parent-child communication, community resource centers and assistance for residents in tackling neighborhood concerns are just some of the tangibles coming out of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan.

"We've done a lot and it's exciting," said Andrea Rico, youth and family services manager with the city. "We're really starting to see the fruits of our labor."

Programs ranging from the Boys & Girls Club of Pomona Valley efforts to reach and draw high-risk youth away from negative behavior to efforts to establish a community foundation to help raise the money to support effective programs are all taking place.

All these, and others, are part of the effort to create a healthy environment in Pomona where young people have a chance to reach their full potential rather than following a path that leads to negative behavior.

Such efforts are the result of a violent act five years ago that shook the community profoundly.

POMONA - On the surface the third annual Citywide Beautification Day taking place May 9 is about sprucing up the city.

Go a bit deeper and the beautification project is a community building exercise that can result in many new relationships from non-profits connecting with other similar groups to residents meeting neighbors, said Rev. Rick DeBruyne, pastor of Lincoln Avenue Community Church and a member of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan.

Plans call for matching up college students with younger children and having them work side by side, DeBruyne said.

By bringing the two groups together, "we're getting the (younger) kids exposed to college and the college-going idea," he said.

The clean-up also offers residents who may have little contact with neighbors a way to meet them.

"They're ridding themselves of the fears of a neighborhood and of blight," DeBryne said.

POMONA - Information on topics and efforts related to youth and families will be among the things found in the first issue of "One Pomona One Voice" an electronic newsletter of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan.

The first issues of the electronic publication was distributed this week, said Andrea Rico, the city's youth and family services manager.

"This was a low-cost way of getting out information," Rico said.

One of the goals of the Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board has been to step up its public relations efforts and this is one way of doing so, she said.

In every issue readers will find information on studies relevant to youth and families along with pieces on activities or work local organizations are carrying out that supports Pomona's Youth and Family Master Plan, Rico said.

Plans call for distributing the newsletter on a bi-monthly basis and efforts are under way to have it posted on Pomona's Web page.

Also in development is a Web site, PomonaYFMP.org, where visitors will find information related to the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan including the  plan itself, agendas and minutes of past meetings, links to the newsletter and to the cyber resources center - www.pomonafamilyresources.org.

The cyber resource center offers visitors general or personalized information on a wide range of services including counseling in areas such as domestic violence, mental health or substance abuse.

Information for services such as after-school programs, recreation classes, health services or gang intervention can also be found there.

Rico said PomonaYFMP.org could be ready to launch in another month or two.

POMONA -- Jeronimo Ortega works with an organization that
provides job training and life skills to at-risk youth and young
adults.

Laura Arellano-Gonzalez works with teenagers in foster care who are
about to leave the system and are preparing to be independent.

On Thursday morning, Ortega and Arellano-Gonzalez found they each
have something their clients can benefit from.